APPOINTMENTS: 1) 68th Secretary of State of the United States : John Kerry.

2) New High Commissioner of India to Maldives : Rajeev Shahare. 3) New Chief Minister of Nagaland : Neiphiu Rio. 4) New Chief Minister of Meghalaya : Mukul Manda Sangma. 5) New Pope (head of the Roman Catholic Church) : Jorge Bergoglio. 6) Nagaland Governor : Former CBI Director Ashwani Kumar appointed Nagaland Governor. 7) Interim President of Venezuela : Nicolas Maduro sworn in as the Interim President of Venezuela. 8) New Prime Minister of Nepal : Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi. 9) New President of China : Xi Jinping. 10) New President of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) India : Rajan Bharti Mittal AWARDS: 1) Liberation War Honour Award : The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee was conferred with the Liberation War Honour Award by the President of Bangladesh, Zillur Rahman. 2) Man Asian Literary Prize 2012 : Tan Twan Eng. 3) National Bioscience Award for 2012 : S. Venkata Mohan won the National Bioscience Award for 2012. 4) Pritzker Architecture Prize 2013 : Toyo Ito, the Japanese Architect. 5) Saraswati Samman 2012 : Sugathakumari, the Malayalam Poetess. 6) 60th National Film Awards:

a) Best actor: Irrfan Khan for Paan Singh Tomar and Vikram Gokhale for Marathi film Anumati. b) Best film : Vicky Donor. c)Best actress: Usha Jadhav for Marathi film Dhaag. 7) Ponds Femina Miss India 2013 : Navneet Kaur Dhillon Crowned Ponds Femina Miss India 2013 OBITUARIES: 1) Hugo Chavez Died : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died at 58 due to Cancer. SPORTS: 1) ATP Mexican Open 2013 Tennis Tournament : Rafael Nadal Defeated David Ferrer to Win ATP Mexican Open 2013.

2) ATP Dubai Open Tennis title 2013 : World Number one Novak Djokovic defeated third seed Czech Republics Tomas Berdych in the finals. 3) Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open 2013 (Men): Rafael Nadal of Spain won Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open after defeating Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the final. 4) Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open 2013 (Women): Maria Sharapova won womens final of the tournament by defeating Caroline Wozniacki. 5) Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament : Australia, the World Champions won the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament title for the seventh time. Australia defeated Malaysia in the final match in Malaysia. MISCELLANEOUS: 1) Bihari Puraskar for 2012 : Rajasthani author Hariram Meena for the for Hindi novel Dhooni Tape Teer. 2) Parliamentarian Award for 2010, 2011 and 2012 : The Parliamentary Award Committee selected BJP leader Arun Jaitley, Congress MP Karan Singh and MP Sharad Yadav for Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. 3) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 per cent from 7.75 percent. The reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.5 per cent from the earlier 6.75 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 8.5 per cent with immediate effect. th 4) The 5 BRICS Summit took place in Durban, South Africa from 25 March 2013 to 28 March 2013 5) Eighth India-Yemen Joint Committee Meeting Held in New Delhi. 6) The India-UK Summit talks took place on in New Delhi during the visit of British Prime Minister, David Cameron to India. 7) 12 March 2013, Mauritius celebrated its 45th Independence Day. The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee was the chief guest. 8) New High Courts in India : Three High Courts opened in Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya. 9) Arunachal Pradesh became the First State to Introduce e-GPF system. 10) United Nations announced 20 March as International Happiness Day