Current Affairs Pocket PDF

Current Affairs Pocket PDF
Current Affairs Pocket PDF March 2017
INDIAN AFFAIRS
Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launched the week
long Swachh Shakti Saptah at national level on March 1, 2017 in Gurugram, Haryana to highlight the role of
women in Swachh Bharat Mission and to recognize their leadership.
The Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has informed that the
number of ODF (Open Defecation Free) districts in India has crossed 100, making it a milestone achievement
under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Besides, over 1.7 lakh villages over the country has also become ODF.
The Ministry of Women & Child Development is observing the Swachhta Pakhwada from March 1, 2017 to
March 15, 2017 and raise awareness about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan among women and children.
The Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya presented Rs.1,85,564.27 crore Budget for 2017-2018
in the state Assembly on March 1, 2017. The Minister announced Deendayal Rasoi Yojna and allocated a sum
of Rs 10 crore for creating necessary infrastructure to implement the scheme in order to provide food at
subsided rate to the poor in urban areas. The Year 2017 is the birth centenary year of Pandit Deendayal
Upadhyaya and will be celebrated as Garib Kalyan Varsh.
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has launched a portal named after late chief Minister
Jayalalithaa ammakalviyagam.in which will be a hub of learning, interaction, opportunity, and connection on
the occasion of her 69th birth anniversary celebrations.
Union Health Ministry led by J P Nadda announced that it had approved 4000 Post Graduate seats in medical
colleges and hospitals across the country for the academic session 2017-18.
The Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated four key freight sector initiatives on
March 2, 2017 at National Rail Museum, New Delhi to attract more freight towards Railways.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unanimously cleared
the crucial Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) draft bills on March 4, 2017 during its 11th
meeting at Vigyan Bhavan.
The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development in its notification on February 28, 2017, made it
mandatory for the students across the country to have an Aadhaar number for getting the their midday meals.
As per the new business plan 2017-18, unveiled by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on March 2, 2017,
railway will soon make Aadhaar number compulsory for booking railway tickets online.
In a cabinet meeting on February 28, 2017, the Assam government led by the Chief Minister Sarbananda
Sonowal decided to make Sanskrit a compulsory language for students up to class 8 in the state.
The West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Bill, 2017 was passed
by the state legislative assembly on March 3, 2017 with full support.
The West Bengal government has given an official status to Kurukh language in the state which has been
listed as an endangered language by the UNESCO. The language was given the official status on February 21
on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day.
The Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has decided to implement
the Maharashtra City Taxi Regulations 2017 to regulate the web-based taxi services in the state.
North Eastern state Tripura has agreed to supply an additional 60 MW to Bangladesh over the 100 MW of
power the north-eastern state is supplying to the neighbouring country.
The Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu presented the proposed budget of Rs 1,02,329.35 crore for
the fiscal 2017-18 on March 6, 2017 in the state assembly.
New Schemes
Deenbandhu Haryana Gram Uday Yojana: Develop 1,500 villages with populations between 3,000 and 10,000
to be implemented in three years with an outlay of Rs 5,000 crore. The scheme is funded by NABARD and
during the current fiscal Rs 1,200 crore to be spent.
Mangal Nagar Vikas Yogna to be implemented with outlay of Rs 1,000 crore for maintenance of existing
infrastructure.
Saksham Scheme to provide up to Rs 9,000 earning potential for unemployed youth and 5 percent rebate for
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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the
proposal for revival of 50 un-served/under-served airports/airstrips of the State Governments, Airports
Authority of India (AAI) and Civil enclaves on March 6, 2017.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has also approved the Revised Cost Estimate-I of 400 MW
Koteshwar Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Uttarakhand.The estimated completion cost of the project is Rs.
2,717.35 crore and is being implemented by Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) India Limited.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has also given its approval for Indias
accession to the Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets (TIR
Convention) and for completion of necessary procedures for ratification, for its entry into force.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for
settlement of Legacy Food Cash Credit Accounts (upto crop season 2014-15) of Punjab Government for food
procurement operations.
The High Court of Manipur on March 3, 2017 declared the economic blockade in Manipur called by United
Naga Council (UNC) as illegal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a special commemorative postage stamp on 100 years of Yogoda
Satsang Math on March 7, 2017
The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh presented the annual budget of Rs 76,032 crore for 2017-18 in
the state legislative assembly on March 6, 2017.The main focus of the budget is on digital inclusion and
infrastructure development and on welfare of poorest of poor and inclusive growth.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a comprehensive web-based
platform Pratibimba to showcasing the governments performance and achievements to the citizens on March
7, 2017.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government of Delhi presented Rs 48,000 crore tax-free budget for 2017-18 on
March 8, 2017 with main focus on improving education, transport, health and water distribution.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented Rs.1,66,000-
crore state budget for 2017-18 in the Legislative Assembly on March 8, 2017 with focus on aiding farmers
and promoting tourism in the state.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched 24*7 helpline number 181 to assist women in distress on the
occasion of International Womens Day on March 8, 2017.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed by the Lok Sabha by voice vote on March 10,
2017 that will benefit about 1.8 million women working in organized sector.The bill seeks to increase
the maternity leaves to 26 weeks by amending the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961 that provides for 12 weeks of
maternity leave.
2017 Assembly Election Results -Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur
State Party which formed Govt Chief Minister Governor
Uttar Pradesh Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) won 325 Yogi Adityanath (21 st Shri. Ram Naik
seats of the 403 seats CM)
Uttarkhand Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) Won 57 of Trivendra Singh Rawat Krishna Kant
the 70 constituencies (Eighth CM) Paul
Punjab Indian Nationtal Congress won 77 of Capt. Amarinder Singh, V. P. Singh
117 (26th Chief Minister) Badnore
Manipur BJP formed Alliance Govt after winning Nongthombam Biren Najma A.
17 seats in the 60 Seats Assembly. Singh (12th Chief Heptulla
Congress won 28 seats. Minister)
Goa ( First time - BJP formed Alliance Govt after winning Manohar Parrikar Mridula Sinha
entire state in India 13 seats in the 40 Seats Assembly:
which saw the Congress won 16 seats.
implementation of
VVPAT)
The Arunachal Pradesh Finance Minister Chowna Mein presentedan Rs 285 crore deficit budget for the 2017-
18 fiscal in the state Assembly with focus on women empowerment, infrastructure development and law &
order.In the budget estimate of 2017-18, the state is projecting a revenue receipt of Rs 14,599 crore and
a capital receipt of Rs 1,436.75 crore. This is an increase of over 15 percent from the budget estimates of
2016-17.
Rajya Sabha passed a bill on March 10, 2017 by voice vote to amend a 49-year-old law regarding claims of
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succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China in the 1960s or later .
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made six subjects mandatory for class 10th standard
board exams from 2017-18 instead of five subjects which includes two languages, social science, mathematics
and science.
The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill, 2016 was passed in Lok Sabha on
March 10, 2017. The bill seeks to make changes in the existing laws on civil matters of admiralty jurisdiction
of courts (jurisdiction of courts of law over cases concerning ships or the sea), proceedings on maritime
claims, and arrest of ships.
Central Railway zone of Indian Railway unveiled Indias first air-conditioned rail ambulance on 9 March
2017. The four-coach air conditioned ambulance will be station at Kaylan (Maharashtra) and has been made
by modifying AC coaches used for passenger services.
The Telangana State Finance Minister Etala Rajender presented the budget estimate of Rs. 1,49,646-crore for
2017-18 on March 13, 2017 in the state assembly.The Rs 4,471.30 crore revenue surplus budget mainly
focuses on the development and welfare measures.The 2017-18 budget is Rs 15 lakh crore more when
compared to Rs 130 lakh crore in the 2016-17 Budget.
The Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Footwear Design and Development
Institute (FDDI) Bill, 2017 in the Lok Sabha on March 14, 2017 in order to declare the FDDI as an Institution
of National Importance (INI).
The Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma
Bharti introduced Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in Lok Sabha on March 14, 2017
to set up a single permanent tribunal to effectively resolve inter-state river water sharing disputes.
The Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Mukul Sangma, who also holds charge of Finance department,
presented Rs 1236 crore deficit budget for the financial year 2017-18 on March 15, 2017 in the state assembly
with focus on development expenditure.
The Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu presented Rs 1,56,999 crore budget for the
financial year 2017-18 in the Legislative Assembly on March 15, 2017.The proposed budget for 2017-18 is
about 15.70 percent more than the budget for 2016-17.
The Executive Committee (EC) of National Mission for Clean Ganga has given approval for 20 new
projects worth nearly Rs 1,900 crore during a meeting held on March 2, 2017. Out of the 20 projects, 13 are
in Uttarakhand, and rest in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
The Centre has also approved to increase the Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees
and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners to 4 percent from the existing rate of 2 percent with effect from
January 1, 2017.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved. Introduction of
the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Public Private Partnership (IIIT PPP) Bill, 2017; to grant
statutory status to the 15 Indian Institutes of Information Technology set up under Public Private Partnership
and declare them as Institutions of National Importance.
The Cabinet has also approved the National Health Policy 2017 to address the current and emerging
challenges which arise due to the changing socio-economic, technological and epidemiological landscape.
Cabinet Approved for the special assistance measure for the successor state of Andhra Pradesh by way of
dispensation in funding of Externally Aided Projects (EAPs). It also approved funding of irrigation component
of Polavaram project.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal for opening of 50 new Kendriya
Vidyalayas (KVs) under Civil / Defence Sector in India.The total project cost based on Kendriya Vidyalaya
Sangathan (KVS) norms for the proposed 50 new KVs is Rs.1160 crore.
The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister D Jayakumar presented a tax free and revenue deficit budget for the fiscal
2017-18 on March 16, 2017 in the state Legislative Assembly.Total Revenue Receipts (TRR): Rs 1,59,363
crore and Total Expenditure: Rs 1,75,293 crore and Revenue Deficit pegged at Rs 15,930 crore.
Goa Chief minister Manohar Parrikar won the floor test in the Goa state assembly with 22 legislators
support out of legislators out of 40-member House while the opposition Congress has only 16 votes.
The Goods and Service Tax (GST) council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cleared the State GST
(SGST) and Union Territory GST (UTGST) laws during its 12 Council meet on March 16, 2017. The Council
will take up the exercise of fitment of various commodities in the GST tax slabs of 5 percent, 12 percent, 15
percent and 28 percent.
The Lok Sabha passed the Demands for Grants of Ministry of Defence for 2017-18 on March 17, 2017 after
negotiating with the opposition. In 2017-18, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated Rs 3,59,854
crore (including pensions) for expenditure across the various services, production establishments and research
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and development organisations.

The Union Ministry of Labour & Employment has proposed a preliminary draft of Labour Code on March 16,
2017 to provide social security cover to the entire workforce in the country including self-employed and
agricultural workers.
The Punjab government led by new Chief Minister Amarinder Singh chaired his maiden Cabinet Meeting on
March 18, 2017 and announced to provide 33 percent reservation for women in all government jobs. The
reservation would apply even in the contractual appointments of women in the state government jobs.The
representation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies would go up from 33 percent to
50 percent.
With the coming of the new BJP government in Manipur, the five-month-long economic blockade imposed
by United Naga Council (UNC) on two National Highways of Manipur finally came to an end on March 19,
2017.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the four supporting GST
legislations on March 20, 2017.The four supporting legislations are the Compensation Law, the Central-GST
(C-GST), Integrated-GST (I-GST) and Union Territory-GST (UT-GST).
The government has planned to soon launch India's state of the art dictionary depicting the sign languages
used by hearing and speech impaired people across the nation to bring uniformity and bridge the
communication gap.
The Assam state government lead by Sarbananda Sonowal has approved the recommendation of the Seventh
Pay Commission and also decided to give the six months arrear salary to its employees before the ensuing
Bohag Bihu.This new pay structure would be effective from April 1, 2016.
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has celebrated it's fifth foundation day on
March 20-21, 2017 with the theme BIRAC@5: Impacting the Biotech Ecosystem.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (Prevention
and Control) Bill, 2014, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 21, 2017 by voice vote.The Bill aims to
prevent and control the spread of HIV and AIDS by providing treatment and prohibiting discrimination
against persons afflicted with it, placing obligations on establishments to safeguard their rights.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation on March 21, 2017 approved construction
of new 1,17,814 affordable houses under the Prime Ministers Awas Yojana (Urban) for the benefit of urban
poor in six States namely Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Kerala and Karnataka.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its
approval for development of 403 kms of National Highways in Meghalaya and Mizoram.
The Cabinet Committee has also approved the Deepening and Widening of Mumbai Harbour Channel and JN
Port Channel (Phase-II) project with fresh estimates.
The Union cabinet, in its meeting chaired by PM Modi has decided to amend the Constitution for setting up
the National Commission for socially and Educationally Backward Classes (NSEBC) as a constitutional body
for socially and economically backward classes.
The Union Cabinet approved amendment to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act,
1981 to enable the Central Government to increase the authorized capital of NABARD from Rs. 5,000 crore
to Rs. 30,000 crore.
Gujarat State Assembly passed Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 2017 amending Gujarat
Animal Preservation Act, 1954. The bill seeks adopting stringent measure for stopping illegal slaughter of
animals protected by the law
The government also gave its approval to amend the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
(RTE) Act, 2009 on March 22, 2017.The amendment is to ensure that all teachers, in service as on March 31,
2015, acquire the minimum qualifications prescribed by the academic authority to extend the period for such
training for four years up to 31st March, 2019.
The Union Cabinet led by PM Modi approved the following proposals with regard to the Fund of Funds of
Start-ups (FFS) which was established in June 2016 with a corpus of Rs. 10000 crores.
Further, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the closure/winding up of CREDA HPCL
Biofuel Ltd (CHBL) and Indian Oil- Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA)
Biofuels Limited (ICBL).
The Ninth Gorkhas celebrated 200-years of its raising in Secunderabad, Telangana on March 16, 2017. The
first battalion of the Ninth Gorkhas was raised by the British government in 1817 as the Fatehgarh Levy.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an advisory on March 22, 2017 to the chief secretaries,
administrators of all state governments, UT administrations and secretaries of all ministries to ensure
strict compliance of the provisions contained in the 'Flag Code of India, 2002' and 'The Prevention of Insults
to National Honour Act, 1971'.
The Chief Minister of Meghalaya Mukul Sangma, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented Rs 13,048
crore annual budget for the year 2017-18 in the state Assembly on March 24, 2017.
The move which is followed by the difference in opinion between Animal Welfare Board of India
(AWBI) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the Central government made a bright move to
combine both by appointing senior official of MoEF to chair AWBI.
As Indian government is trying to digitize the whole of India through DIGITAL INDIA campaign, Bihar state
made a good move to help this by providing free-Wifi for students in colleges and universities which will be
helpful for the student studies.
On the event of demonetization, more number of Jan Dhan accounts came into existence and it is seeded
through Aadhaar card numbers. Out of this, Andhra Pradesh tops the list with most number of aadhaar cards
linked with Jan dhan accounts.
The Government of India has given its approval to the action plan of Food Corporation of India (FCI) for
construction of 10 Million MT capacity steel silos by FCI as well as State Governments in Public Private
Partnership (PPP) mode in a phased manner (3 phases) by the end of year 2019-20.
The government of India has made another move to make Aadhar card mandatory for getting new mobile
connections. By this new move nearly 1.1 billion telecom subscribers will have to go through a new
verification exercise and a total of Rs 1 billion amount must be spent by the telecom industries.
Andhra Pradesh and Telengana get Indias first Mobile Clinic Service which is launched by Employees State
Insurance Corporation (ESIC). This service is flagged off by The Union Minister for Labor and Employment,
Bandaru Dattareya.
The four holy cities of Hindus namely Ayodhya, Mathura, Varanasi and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh are to be
provided with 24*7 power supply on the event of its chair took by Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of UP.
The state government also banned the usage of PAN and TOBBACO products in Schools, Colleges, Hospitals
and other Government buildings. On the account of this, the officers are made to take a pledge of
spending 100 hours a year for cleanliness.
The Finance Minister of India, Mr. Arun Jaitely introduced four bills on Goods and Service Tax (GST) on
March 27, 2017. These bills mainly focus on the Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) bill which will
amalgamate all the indirect central government levies.The four bills are Central Goods and Service Tax
(CGST) Bill,Union Territory GST Bill,Integrated-GST Bill andGST (Compensation to States) Bill.
On March 27, 2017 a bill stating the inclusion of Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and
Manufacturing (IIITDM)-Kurnool as an Institute of National Importance is introduced in Lok Sabha.
With the growing dependence on Aadhaar card for all kinds of monetary and social benefits, the Supreme
Court of India on March 27, 2017 ruled out that Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory for central welfare
schemes. However, the apex court also accepted that it cant stop the government from linking the Aadhaar
card for opening bank accounts or filing tax returns.
Union defence ministry has given approval for implementing comprehensive military reforms which was
primarily based on a recommendations made by the Lt General (retired) DB Shekatkar committee.
Once again, the protest against hydrocarbons exploration in Tamil Nadus Neduvasal village is grabbing
media attention. Following the signing of contract by Government of India with GEM Laboratories on
27th March 2017, the local villagers have intensified their protest which started a few months ago.
The Government of India is soon to amend the definition of Blindness to bring it in line with the definition
stated in World Health Organizations (WHO) criteria. As per National Programme for Control of Blindness
(NPCB), in India, a person unable to count fingers from a distance of six metres is categorised as blind.
Mental Healthcare Bill, 2016 has secured parliamentary approval as Lok Sabha on 27th March 2017, passed
the Bill through a voice vote. Earlier in August 2016, Rajya Sabha had passed the Bill with 134 official
amendments.
Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu presented deficit in budget of Rs 1437.84 Crore for the Fiscal
Year 2017-18 (FY-18) on March 28, 2017. He added that the total income (gross receipt) for the State
government will be Rs16657.26 crore and expenditure at Rs 16365.17 crore.
In a first of its kind move, the Supreme Court has directed the High Courts of all the states and union
territories to install close circuit (CCTV) cameras without audio recording to increase transparency in court
proceedings.
The Supreme Court of India has also ruled out on March 29, 2017 that no vehicles which are Bharat Stage-IV
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emission non-compliant will be registered or sold in the country after April 1, 2017.
On 30th March 2017, the Indian parliament passed Finance Bill 2017. The passage of this bill before the
beginning of next financial year justifies Govt.s move of advancing the date of presenting Union Budget and
thus will lead to early implementation of proposals.
To commemorate the Centenary year of Cub Scouts in India and abroad, Minister of Communications and
Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha released a Postal Stamp on Cub Scouts on March 30, 2017.
India, the worlds third-largest oil consumer has now joined International Energy Agency (IEA) as an
associate member.With Indias inclusion, IEA now has 70% of worlds energy consumption under its ambit.
The Himachal Pradesh State Assembly on 30th March 2017 passed the annual budget for the financial year
2017-18 and the related Appropriation Bill. Owing to this, the state govt. is authorised to spend Rs 37,939
crore from the consolidated fund.
The state government of Chhattisgarh has announced to implement the Seventh Central Pay Commission for
the state government employees from April 1, 2017, the beginning of new financial year. The implementation
is expected to benefit 2.5 lakh state government employees with hiked payment.
PLACES IN NEWS
Jammu and Kashmirs first smart tribal village Habbi has inaugurated by Ch ZulfkarAli,
J & K Minister for food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Ch ZulfkarAli on March 6 2017 in J & K.
PM Modi Inaugurates Petrochemicals Complex at Dahej & Extradosed Bridge Across River Narmada at
Bharuch in Gujarat.
Bhagoria Festival, also known as Bhagoria Haat Festival, celebrated by the tribal people of
the Indian state Madhya Pradesh began on March 6, 2017 in Jhabua district.
Indias largest flag was inaugurated on March 5, 2017 by Anil Joshi, Cabinet Minister of Punjab, on the tallest
flag post at the Indo-Pak Attari Border in Amritsar just 150 m away from the border.
The Andhra Pradesh State Cabinet during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on
March 2, 2017 approved proposals to rename the Vijayawada Airport and the Tirupati Airport.
State-run National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has installed Indias largest floating Solar
Photovoltaic (PV) Plant of 100 kWp at Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant (RGCCPP)
at Kayamkulam in Kerala on March 10, 2017.
The Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh laid the foundation stone of
the Banana Research Centre at Gorole, Vaishali, Bihar Centre on March 11, 2017 to fulfill the aspirations of
the local banana growers.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation launched Indias largest municipal waste-to-power plant of 24
megawatt (MW) at Narela-Bawana in New Delhi on March 10, 2017.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh inaugurated a Crime and Criminal Tracking Network &
Systems (CCTNS) in Shimla on March 15, 2017 to connect all the police posts in the state with each
other. Thus Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in India to link its police posts in various districts
with CCTNS.
Indias first home made train for Western Railway Fleet, Medha was flagged off for its maiden run by the
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, via videoconferencing from Dadar to Borivali at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus
on March 18, 2017.
The longest road tunnel of India built at Chenani in Jammu's Udhampur district has successfully completed
its trail run and is ready for public opening. The 9-km-long tunnel passes through the Himalayas and is a part
of the 286-km-long four-lane project on Jammu- Srinagar National Highway.
Assam government has launched initiative to develop the Worlds largest river island, Majuli into country's
first ever Carbon Neutral district by 2020 as well as a biodiversity heritage site to preserve its rich heritage
and legacy.
Moving on the footprints of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Aditya Nath Yogi, BJP-ruled state of Jharkhand too
announced to impose ban on illegal slaughterhouses in the state on March 27, 2017.The state government has
given 72 hours to slaughterhouses to shut their illegal businesses in case they failed to obtain licence from the
relevant authorites.
The state government of Uttarakhand has been strictly directed by the Uttarakhand High Court on March 28,
2017 to stop all the mining activities in the state with immediate effect for a period of four months.
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the five-day Namami Brahmaputra River Festival
in Assam on March 31, 2017. The inaugural edition of the festival aims to showcase the trade, tourism and
rich cultural practices of Assam as well as is a tribute to the Brahmaputra River .
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FOREIGN VISITS
Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys Visit to United Kingdom and Nepal
The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was on a 5 day visit to United Kingdom from February 24-28, 2017
particularly to represent India at the royal event of 2017 UK-India Year of Culture. He was followed by a high
level delegation nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As a part of the visit, Jaitley delivered a lecture at the London School of Economics on the theme
Transforming India: Vision for the Next Decade, on February 25 and spoke about Indias desire to be a more
open economy.
Jaitley also attended the market opening ceremony at the London Stock Exchange followed by a Roundtable
meeting with foreign investors on February 27.
Jaitley visited the historic reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II to launch the UK-India Year of Culture
2017 at Buckingham Palace.
The Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, opened the London Stock Exchange (LSE) during a special
ceremony on February 27, 2017.
Queen Elizabeth II hosted a reception on February 27, 2017 in Buckingham Palace to launch the 2017 UK-
India Year of Culture.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed Nepal Investment Summit 2017 at Kathmandu during his day-
long visit to Nepal. The Minister will convey key note address at the Investment Summit 2017 with the theme
'Harnessing Investment Opportunities in Nepal.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution on February 28, 2017 to impose sanctions on Syria over the alleged
use of chemical weapons during the six-year war. This was the Russias seventh veto to protect the Syrian
government from UN Security Council action.
Ukraines self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic, state in eastern Ukraine, will use the Russian ruble as
its official currency, along with the Ukrainian Hryvnia.
The Syrian troops on March 2, 2017 successfully recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group for the second time in a year with support from Russian forces and
warplanes.
As per the report by the Border Security Force (BSF), India has completed the process of fencing half of
the 4,096 km of border area which it shares with Bangladesh and expects to finish fencing the rest by 2019.
Swedens coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens instituted a military draft for both men and
women to tackle the deteriorating security environment in Europe and around Sweden.
The International Monetary Fund reached a preliminary agreement with Ukraine on an updated Memorandum
of Economic and Financial Policies on March 4, 2017. The agreement will pave way for the IMFs Executive
Board to consider the third review of the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and disburse
fresh aid of $1 billion (0.9 billion euros) to Ukraine in the first half of March 2017.
Peoples Republic of China has increased its defence budget by 7% for 2017, the lowest increase in seven
years and second year in row. In real terms, the defence budget of the worlds largest armed forces, the
Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is likely to be close to the $ 145 billion-mark.
According to the Financial Times shows latest analysis, Chinas banking system has overtaken the
Eurozone to become the worlds biggest by assets.Chinese bank assets hit $33 trillion against $31 trillion for
the eurozone.
US State, Hawaii has become the first state to file a lawsuit against Donald Trumps revised travel ban on 6
Muslim majority countries.
The fifth edition of the mega cultural festival India by the Nile (IBN) began in Cairo, Egypt from March 8,
2017. It is the largest foreign festival in Egypt.
The Pakistans Law Minister Zahid Hamid introduced two constitutional amendment bills in the National
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Assembly (lower house) on March 10, 2017 for the revival of the military courts that had ceased to function
on January 7, 2017 after the expiry of their two-year term.
The Pakistan government is set to conduct its first national census in 19 years from March 15, 2017 for proper
allocation of funds and resources. For the census programme, an amount of Rs 18.5 billion have been
allocated by the government.
Jatiya Sangsad, the Parliament of Bangladesh unanimously adopted a resolution on March 11, 2017 to declare
March 25 as Genocide Day in remembrance of the brutality carried out by the Pakistani Army in the Black
Night of March 25, 1971.
In a bid to encourage women participation in workforce, Saudi Arabia has for the first time decided to launch
a Girls Council.
India along with other South East Asian Region countries signed a Call for Action on March 16, 2017 to
end tuberculosis (TB) and pledged to take efforts to end the disease by 2030. The call for action was signed
by the Health ministers of the WHOs South-East Asia Region countries and the World Health
Organization (WHO) on the concluding day of the two day ministerial meeting towards ending TB in the
region that began on March 15, 2017.
New Zealands Whanganui River on March 15, 2017 became the first river in the World to get the legal
rights as possessed by a human being. The third largest river of the country has gained its own identity with all
the corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person after a 170-year battle.
Sangin town in Helmand province of Afghanistan has been captured by the Taliban group after a year-long
battle with the Afghanistan Force. The officials have confirmed that the forces have been withdrawn from the
area and Sangin is now in militant hands.
Sri Lanka has been granted the two years of extension it sought from the UN Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) on March 23, 2017 to set up a mechanism to probe alleged war crimes committed during the 37-
year civil war which ended in May 2009. The two year extension was approved by total 40 countries by
adopting UNHRC resolution in Geneva.
The British Parliament tabled a motion on March 23, 2017 stating Pakistans move as illegal to declare
the Gilgit-Baltistan region, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as its fifth province.
With the growing tensions with Afghanistan, Pakistan has started constructing a fence along the Afghan-
Pakistani border to restrict the Islamist militants from Afghanistan to cross the border and launch attacks on
Pakistani soil. The announcement was made by Pakistan's Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa on March 25,
2017.
Montenegro, a tiny Balkan country, is set to become the 29th member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) soon after US senate ratifies its pending membership.
Doing away with former US President Barak Obamas initiative to combat climate change, President Donald
Trump has signed an executive order on March 29, 2017 to scrap Clean Power Plan that aims to reduce carbon
emission by power plants.
The military operation under the name "Euphrates Shield" undertaken by the Turkish troops in northern
Syria about seven months ago for national security, finally concluded on March 29, 2017.
American Astronaut Peggy Whitson floated outside the International Space Station (ISS), which makes
the eighth career Space-Walk by her on March 31, 2017. By this walk, Peggy Whitson broke the record of
seven Space-Walks which was previously held by American Astronaut Sunita Williams.
Central Americas smallest nation, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban Metals
Mining nationwide. This was made into a law, which was passed by the Law-makers of that country.
SUMMITS & CONFERENCES

The 13th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit, an inter-governmental regional group of 10
countries was held in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 1, 2017 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of
Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. The theme of the summit was Connectivity for Regional Prosperity.
Vice President Hamid Ansari was on a two-day visit to Indonesia to attend the 21-nation Indian Ocean Rim
Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 6-7, 2017. Theme: Strengthening Maritime
Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand via Video
Conferencing and voiced that there is ample substantiation that practicing ancient yoga to keep the fight
against stress and life-style related issues.
Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh presided over the hair the proceedings of maiden regional
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conference of Eastern States at Gangtok, Sikkim on 2nd March, 2017. The maiden regional conference will be
on the theme of Enhancing steel consumption in India
A day long National conference on Jal Kranti Abhiyan was inaugurated by Sushri Uma Bharti, Union Minister
for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation in New Delhi on March 7, 2017
India to host its first mobile congress with a special focus on reaching out to the South East Asian markets
at Pragati Maidan on 27th September 2017. This was announced by Rajan S Mathews, COAI Director
General
The three day long Destination North East-2017 festival was inaugurated in Chandigarh on March 6, 2017
by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region
(DoNER), Dr. Jitendra Singh.
The International Yoga Festival was inaugurated on March 8, 2017 by the Union Information and
Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi.
The 10th edition of the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV
2017) was held in New Delhi from March 7-9, 2017.The three-day long conference was organized by
the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, in collaboration with United
Nations University and UNESCO.Theme: Building Knowledge Societies: From Digital Government to
Digital Empowerment.
President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the two day 12th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India Africa
Project Partnership on March 9, 2017 in New Delhi.The first conclave has held in 2005.
The three-day annual Krishi Unnati Mela was inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh
at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute in Pusa, New Delhi on March 15, 2017 to provide information on
new farm schemes and technologies and other welfare scheme that will help to double the farmers incomes
by 2022.
The International Conference on the Vision Zero and its relevance to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH),
began on March 15, 2017 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
The first edition of the Haryana Sahitya Sangam began on March 17, 2017 at Indradhanush
Auditorium, Panchkula in Haryana. The three day event was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar and has been organized as a part of the Haryana Swarna Jayanti celebrations.
The three days International Buddhist Conference was held at the Rajgir International Convention Center
(RICC) of Nav Nalanda Mahavira Deemed University, Rajgir, Bihar from March 17-19, 2017. Theme: The
main theme of the conference was: Buddhism in the 21st Century Perspectives and Responses to Global
Challenges and Crises.
The two day G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet began in Baden-Baden, Germany on
March 17, 2017 to strengthen economic resilience in finance, digitalization and promote investment in Africa.
The Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Vijay Goel was invited as the Chief Guest at the
two-day Global Millennium Summit in Dubai on March 18, 2017. The Global Millennium Summit is a first-
of-its-kind initiative where an Indian institute has organized an International Summit. The theme of the
summit is Future of this Millennium.
Make InIndia Conference Held In Houston.This conference is conducted on 25th March, 2017 for two days
with the theme Make in India- The Inside Story
The second India-UAE conference on globalisation, organised by All India Management Association
(AIMA)was held in Dubai to promote cooperation between the two countries. Theme: "Resetting
Globalisation: Collaborating in a Fast Changing World.
The Ministry of Culture is organizing the 5th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) 2017 from March 23-31,
2017 in the North Eastern Region of India.
The three day 18th edition of FICCI Frames was inaugurated by Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez in the
presence of Union Information and Broadcasting Secretary Ajay Mittal on March 21, 2017 in Mumbai.
Theme: Digital: Divide or dividend'
23rd Conference of Auditors General of Commonwealth Countries and British Overseas Territories held in
New Delhi. Theme: Fostering Partnerships for Capacity Development in Public Audit
The National Theatre Festival 2017 was held in Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from March
16-24, 2017.
The 2017 International Diamond Conference was held from March 19-20, 2017 at Hotel Hyatt, Mumbai.The
two day conclave was organized by Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India
(GJEPC). Theme: Mines to Market 2017
As per the information given by the officials of Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), 105th Indian
Science Congress is to be hosted by Osmania University (OU), Hyderabad from January 3 to 7 next year.
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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Mar 25 2017 conducted the World Conference on Environment at the
countrys capital, New Delhi. The two day conference concluded with a high note in urging the importance for
the sustainable development balancing which is the need to protect the environment.
Third meeting of G20 Framework Working Group (FWG) is hosted by India from March 28 to March 29,
2017 at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh under the G-20 German Presidency. The meeting is co-hosted by Department
of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The meet is
arranged to discuss the challenges before the global economy and their possible solutions.
The 9th edition of the World Environmental Education Congress (WEEC) is scheduled to be held
in Vancouver, Canada from September 9-15, 2017. Theme: Culture Environment: Weaving New Connections
The United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons,
Leading Towards their Total Elimination, began at New York from March 27-31, 2017.However, India
abstained from voting on that resolution along with China and Pakistan. Britain, France, Israel, Russia and the
US protested the UN resolution voting no against the ban.
RANKING & REPORTS
Indias health index:

As per the latest health survey by the government, Indias health index has shown a notable
improvement over the last decade including an improvement in sex ratio at birth and a decline
in infant mortality rate.
As per the survey report, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) saw a decline from 57 to 41 per 1,000
live births between NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4
As per the survey, the sex ratio at birth (number of females per 1,000 males) improved from 914 to
919 at the national level over the last decade with the highest in Kerala (1,047), followed by
Meghalaya (1,009) and Chhattisgarh (977).Haryana also witnessed a significant increase from 762
to 836.
The institutional births increased by 40 percent from 38.7 percent in NFHS-3 to 78.9 percent in
NFHS-4.
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined to 2.2 children per woman from 2.7 in NFHS-3. This rate
shows that the country is moving closer to target level of 2.1.
The report stated that the Children within the age of 12-23 months have been fully
immunized (BCG, measles and 3 doses each of polio).
According to the fourth edition of the Annual Survey of Indias City Systems 2016 by Bengaluru-based
advocacy group Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala has been
ranked as the top Indian city to manage urban governance. London and New York, which top the global
benchmarks.
Kerala has achieved the maximum number of enrollment and registrations under the Goods and Services Tax
(GST) regime when compared to other states of India.
According to the GSM Association report released in Barcelona, India will lead the world in Smartphone
adoption with a net addition of 350 million connections in 2016-20. The report was based on the estimates of
the GSMA Intelligence Consumer Survey 2016 conducted across 56 countries on the mobile usage trend.
According to the Global Corruption Barometer for the Asia Pacific Region released by Transparency
International on March 7, in Berlin for 16 Asia Pacific countries, India tops the list for being the most corrupt
nation. According to the survey, about 69 percent of the population in India paid bribe to get their work done
it was the lowest in Japan (0.2%).
The Times Higher Education (THE) released its Asia University Rankings 2017 on March 16, 2017.The top
rank in the Asia University Rankings was attained by the National University of Singapore (NUS) for the
second consecutive year.According to the 2017 ranking, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has
been ranked best Indian University and has been placed at 27th position among the universities in Asia.
Singapore based Changi Airport was named as the Worlds Best Airport for the fifth consecutive year at
the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards on March 14, 2017 held at the Passenger Terminal EXPO
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
According to the Mercers 19th annual Quality of Living survey released on March 14, 2017, Vienna, the
capital of Austria has topped the list of cities offering the highest quality of life for the eighth year in a
row.Baghdad was ranked the worst place at 230 to live due to continuous violence in the city.In
India, Hyderabad emerged as the best city in terms of living standards among Indian cities for the third year in
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a row.
India ranks 148 in 2017 UN Women in Politics Map in New York.The Women in Politics 2017 Map is the
visual representation of womens political empowerment in executive government and parliament as on

January 1, 2017. As per the report, the top nations that have high representation to women in the government
and parliament includes: Rwanda, Bolivia, Cuba, Iceland, Nicaragua, Sweden, Senegal, Mexico, Finland and
South Africa.
The annual World Economic Forums 100 Young Global Leaders list released for the year 2017 have given
place to five Indians for their innovative approaches.
Five Indians Include
1. Vijay Shekhar Sharma: Founder & CEO PayTm
2. Shruti Shibulal: The Tamara Hospitality
3. Ambarish Mitra: Founder and CEO of Blippar, a mobile phone app
4. Hindol Sengupta: Editor-at-large, Fortune India
5. Rwitwika Bhattacharya-Agarwal: Founder and CEO of Swaniti Initiative.
An Indian-American CEO, Sandeep Matharani, has been ranked 4th on a list of top 25 overpaid CEOs in the
United States, as per the report by US based NGO As You Sow.Sandeep Matharani, CEO of General
Growth Properties, Chicago was paid a total compensation of USD 39.2 million in 2016. According to the
report, he was overpaid by USD 26 million.The list was topped by Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS.
According to the 2017 Bloomberg Global Health Index of 163 countrues released on March 20,
2017, Italy has been ranked as the healthiest country on Earth with a health score of 97.44 out of 100.
As insisted by our Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Mr. M.Venkaiah Naidu, 500 cities and
towns that account for the 65% of Indias urban population are to be credit rated by Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Out of these 500 cities, 94 cities got its rating from
AMRUT.
According to the 2017 Worldwide Cost of Living Index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on
March 21, 2017, four Indian cities are among the cheapest cities to live in globally.As per the
report, Singapore was the most expensive city to live among 133 for the fourth consecutive year while Almaty
in Kazakhstan was the cheapest city in the world, placed at the bottom of the list at 133.
According to the report released by Forbes, India has fourth highest number of billionaires in the World and
the Indian group is led by Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani. The list is topped by Bill Gates with $
86 billion revenue.
According to the UN Development Programmes Human Development for Everyone Report 2016, released
on March 21, 2017 in Stockholm, India has been ranked at 131 out of 188 countries in the 2016 Human
Development Index (HDI). The Ranking list is topped by Norway.
India has been placed at 87th position among 127 countries in the global Energy Architecture Performance
Index (EAPI) 2017 by World Economic Forum released on March 22, 2017.The 5th annual index has been
topped by Switzerland while Bahrain is ranked the lowest at 127th.
Fortune Magazine released their fourth annual ranking of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders 2017 on March 23,
2017. State Bank of Indias Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya has been ranked 26 among 50 leaders while
Indian-origin physician Raj Panjabi, founder and CEO of Last Mile Health, have been placed at 28th
position.The list has been topped by Theo Epstein, the President of Baseball Operations at Chicago Cubs.
India which is rising high in the field of aviation now attained a still higher position by pushing Japan back,
achieving a 3rd spot in domestic air traffic behind USA and China.USA topped the list with 719 million
passengers in 2016, which is followed by China with 436 million passengers. India attained 3rd spot with 100
million passengers in 2016.
Indias standing on various parameters in Global Nutrition Report 2016 that puts Anemia among Women in
170 th place out of 185 countries and Under-five stunting prevalence at 114 th place and Under-five wasting
prevalence at 120 th spot among 132 odd nations.
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BANKING & FINANCE

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has planned to further tighten the regulations for
algorithmic trading to minimise instances of misuse of such systems.
India & World Bank Signs USD 63 Million Financing Agreement for Tejaswini: Socio-Economic
Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women Project
The Government of India has officially notified the law that makes holding of more than 10 scrapped
notes punishable with a minimum fine of Rs 10,000. The law was signed by President Pranab Mukherjee on
February 27, 2017.
Reliance General Insurance is one of the leading private general insurance companies of India has announced
a bancassurance tie-up with Catholic Syrian Bank on March 1, 2017. Now RGI will offer its insurance
products to Catholic Syrian Banks customers across its branches in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
Indias leading private banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI, and Axis they will charge a minimum of Rs 150
per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals at bank branches beyond four free transactions in a month.
Long-term life insurance provider HDFC Life has launched of an exclusive Data-Led Group Term Insurance
Plan in partnership with personal finance appET Money of Times Internet on February 27, 2017.
The Vice-Chairman of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) on black money, Justice Arijit Pasayat on March
2, 2017 announced that an amount of Rs. 70,000 crore of black money has been so far detected through
different schemes of the government.
The Government of India has directed all the banks to provide mobile banking facility to all customers
by March 31, 2017.The decision is an effort of the government to boost the digital payment system.
Indias largest lender has State bank of India has revised service charges various transactions, as well as cash
deposits and for failing to maintain monthly average balance in their savings accounts.The lender announced
that three cash deposit transactions will be free in a month, beyond three transactions the bank will charge Rs
50 plus service tax for each transaction from April 1, 2017.
The Reserve Bank of India has clarified that currency notes which have messages scribbled on it are legal
tender bank branches that refuse to exchange soiled notes from people will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed to increase
the insurance premium to 50 percent for cars, motor cycles as well as commercial vehicles from April 1.
K V Thomas, Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has come out with a solution of Naming and
Shaming big corporate houses which default on repayment of bank loans to help financial institutions get
back their money. According to the government data, the Non Performing Assets (NPA) of the scheduled
commercial banks was about Rs. 6.8 lakh crore in September 2016.
National Peoples Congress, (NPC) of China has set its GDP growth target at around 6.5 per cent for 2017,
compared with a target range of 6.5 to 7 per cent last year.
The countrys largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to reintroduce penalty on non-maintenance
of minimum balance in accounts to be effective from April 1, 2017. In case of failing to maintain Monthly
Average Balance (MAB) in saving accounts, penalty of up to Rs. 100 plus service tax would be levied.
The Union Finance Ministry has given its in-principle nod to allow Public Sector Banks (PSUs) to offer stock
options to their employees from 2017-18.However, the Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) can only be
given by those banks which have earned substantial profit as well as made remarkable improvement in
managing NPAs.
Bengaluru based Vijaya Bank has recently opened its 2000th Branch in Tirupati by Sri Chadalawada Krishna
Murthy, Chairman, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
Mumbai headquartered HDFC Bank has launched Indias first AI(artificial intelligence) based banking
chatbot Electronic Virtual Assistant (EVA) for customer services .
Mumbai based HDFC Life has launched Indias first life insurance chatbot to help users choose the most
suitable life insurance plans and solutions on March 7, 2017.
The US based global rating agency Fitch on March 7, 2017 estimated Indias GDP to grow by 7.1 percent in
the fiscal 2016-17. However, the rating agency also projected the growth to see upward trend at 7.7 percent in
both 2017-18 and 2018-19.
ESAF Microfinance Company has issued Commercial Papers (CP) worth Rs.330 crore. Private Sector Banks
and NBFCs can subscribe for the CP.
IDFC Bank has launched Indias first biometric-based payment system Aadhaar Pay on March 7, 2017 in
New Delhi.
Karur based Karur Vysya Bank s Chief Executive K. Venkataraman has rolled-out of three technology
services FASTag, UPI and BBPS on March 8, 2017.The FASTag, United Payments Interface (UPI) is a
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mobile app and BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System) will make utility bill payments such as electricity bills,
water charges and gas cylinders, among others, at a single site instead of accessing multiple sites.
Mumbai based State Bank of India has launched a new facility Work from Home to enable its employees to
work from home on March 7, 2017. This facility was launched after Work from Home policy was recently
approved by the Board of the bank.
The the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has extended the last date of submission of Digital
Life Certificate through Jeevan Pramaan Patra up to 31st March 2017 from 28th February 2017.
SBI recently announced that penalty for non-maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB) from April 1,
2017. Government asked SBI to reconsider charges. Arundhati Bhattacharya, SBI chief clarify that
the condition of maintaining minimum balance will not be applicable to the Jan Dhan accounts
The Reserve Bank of India on March 9, 2017 notified that it is soon going to issue Rs. 10 denomination
notes with enhanced security features for circulation.Besides, RBI also notified that all the banknotes in the
denomination of Rs 10 issued in the past will also continue to be legal tender.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a draft rule titled Information Technology
(Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 on March 8, 2017 for digital wallet firms like Paytm,
FreeCharge and Mobikwik.
Indian payment and commerce company Paytm has withdrawn the 2 percent fee on adding money to mobile
wallets using credit cards on March 10, 2017, just two days after imposing the fees.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB) has opened its six new branches at the Silicon Valley of
India, Bengaluru on March 9, 2017 said by Samit Ghosh, MD &CEO, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank
The Reserve Bank of India has amended the provision for disbursement of loan by NBFC against the gold on
March 9, 2017 in line with the provisions of the Income Tax Act.As per the new provision, the Non-banking
Financial Company (NBFC) cannot lend more than Rs 25,000 in cash against gold as against the earlier Rs 1
lakh.
The German Development Bank (KfW) and Uttar Pradesh based Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
has signed a loan agreement for 200 million with a four year moratorium and a 12-year repayment period.
Mangalore based Karnataka Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pune based Bajaj
Allianz General Insurance Company for General Insurance business on March 10, 2017
The State Bank of India on March 11, 2017 has legally incorporated SBI Infra Management Solutions Pvt.
Ltd. (SBIIMS Pvt. Ltd.) as a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI. SBIIMS Pvt. Ltd. will now manage
the premises and estate related matters of SBI.
Private sector lender Yes Bank has signed three projects to provide payments-related solutions to smart cities.
The bank finds it as a good business opportunity. Yes Bank has currently ties up with Udaipur, Nashik and
Puducherry for the introduction of digital payment systems under the smart city initiative.
In order to comply with the pace of remonetization, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to remove
the restrictions on cash withdrawals from Saving Bank accounts (including accounts opened under PMJDY)
in a two step process. Effective from March 13, 2017, there will be no limits on cash withdrawals from
Savings Bank accounts.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to open up the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform for digital
wallets firms as part of the governments digitisation campaign.
An international financial institution, World Bank has agreed to provide loan to develop internal transmission
arrangements of the upcoming Rewa Ultra Mega Solar (RUMS) project in Madhya Pradesh. RUMS become
Indias first solar power project of the country to receive a loan under CTF.
The countrys largest lender, State Bank of India announced a One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme worth Rs
6,000 crore on March 14, 2017 for tractor and farm mechanization loans to improve the loan recovery. Under
the scheme, the loans disbursed before 2011 and falling in the doubtful or loss assets category as of September
30, 2016 would be considered.
Indias contribution to the United Nations has increased to Rs 244 crore from Rs 157 crore during the fiscal
year 2016-16 said by Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
HDFC Bank in collaboration with National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) has launched an
instant Digital Loan against Securities (LAS) product on March 15, 2017.
Private insurer Future Generali India Insurance Company (FGII) has announced tie-up with Kolkata
based UCO Bank for its products on March 15, 2017 to provide a window at its bank branches for marketing
FGIIs offerings.
The market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reviewed advertisement guidelines for
mutual funds on March 15, 2017, with regard to disclosing performance-related information about such
products.
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Indias public sector banking and financial services company State Bank of India(SBI) and real estate
developers body CREDAI have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which is valid for a period
of 3 years to jointly conduct various initiatives towards development of the realty sector and to promote
housing for all.
The World Bank has approved a $175 million loan on March 15, 2017 to India for the National Hydrology
Project to improve Indias ability to forecast floods and reduce the recurring chances of floods and droughts.
Keralas first private sector bank ESAF Small Finance Bank was launched by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi
Vijayan in Thrissur, Kerala on March 17, 2017. This bank is promoted by ESAF Microfinance and
Investments (P) Ltd and it is targeted to open 85 branches in unbanked rural centres in first year.
Kolkata based Bandhan Bank has signed an agreement with a payment solution provider Avenues India Pvt
Ltd on March 16, 2017 to provide merchants with seamless access to point-of-sales (POS) and payment
gateway products.
As per a data presented by Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar in the Parliament on March
17, 2017, in 2016 a total of 29 lakh debit cards were subjected to malware attack through ATMs that were
connected with the switch of Hitachi.
The Reserve Bank of India has got the approval from the Central Government to conduct the field trial of
plastic banknotes of Rs. 10 denomination prior to introducing it as legal tender. The field trial will take place
across five cities having diverse geographical and climatic conditions. These cities include Kochi, Mysore,
Jaipur, Shimla and Bhubaneswar.
State run United Bank of India on March 16, 2017 received a capital infusion of Rs 418 crore from the Centre
as a part of its turnaround-linked capital infusion plan.
CASHe, a fin-tech product promoted by Aeries Financial Technologies has entered into a strategic partnership
with Rubique, an online marketplace for financial products on March 16, 2017.
The Union Ministry of Finance has given the green signal to the turnaround-linked Rs.8,586-crore capital
infusion plan to support 10 weak and non-performing public sector banks (PSBs).
Essar Steel's Nand Niketan township at Hazira, Gujarat has become the first private township to go cashless
with the help of Mumbai-based financial technology company, The Mobile Wallet (TMW). TMW will
provide smartphone based application for mastercard-enabled mobile walletsand the wallet is powered
by RBL Bank Ltd.
Mumbai based ICICI Bank launched first banking mobile application Mera iMobile to provide agricultural
information in 11 Indian languages for rural people without internet connection to access banking services and
get information on agricultural services.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to cap the upper limit for Pre-paid Payment Instruments at Rs
1 lakh on March 20, 2017 due to the growing usage of PPIs for purchase of goods and services as well as
funds transfer.
The Government of India has decided to merge Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with Indias largest lender,
the State Bank of India (SBI) to ensure greater banking services outreach to larger number of women at a
faster pace.All the 103 branches of BMB and business of approximately Rs. 2,000 crore would be merged
with SBI.
Samsung Electronics officially launched the mobile payment service, Samsung Pay in India on March 22,
2017. With this, Samsung becomes the first company to launch a mobile payment service in India, ahead
of Apple Pay or Android Pay.
The Government of India has proposed to lower the limit of cash transaction from Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh per
month to further tighten and discourage payments by cash as well as curb black money. The new limit will be
effective from April 1, 2017.
The Russian VTB Bank has announced its intention to close its only office in India as part of its ongoing cost
optimisation strategy.However, the bank will continue operations in the country and further develop their
partner and client network in the country.The VTB Bank was launched in India in New Delhi in April 2008.
India and ADB Sign $350 Million Loan for Upgrading 1,500 kms of District Roads in State of Madhya
Pradesh.
Assam govt, SBI sign MoU over housing, educational loan at subsidized interest rates
Kerala based South Indian Bank has introduced Aadhar-based UPI mobile application SIB M-Pay on March
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23, 2017 to promote cashless digital transactions.

Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) will get Rs 1,100 crore capital infusion from the Government.
This was confirmed by Finance Ministry on March 22, 2017. This was approved after the bank achieved the
parameters set by the government as part of a turnaround-linked capital infusion plan.
The World Bank signed US dollar 100 million credit agreement with the Centre and the state government
of Uttarakhand on March 23, 2017 in New Delhi to improve quality of health care services in all 13 districts
of the state.
The Financial services company Tata Capital has launched a mobile application myLoan to offer personal
loans to young and mobile savvy audience. The maximum limit of the loan is Rs.13 lakh.
The Office of the Insurance Ombudsman, Delhi was awarded ISO 9001:2015 certification by Standardisation,
Testing and Quality Certification (STOC), under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology,
for Quality Management Standard (QMS) on March 24, 2017 in New Delhi.
Mangaluru based Karnataka Bank has launched a new card option for its premium and HNI (high net worth
individual) customers in line with the bank's digital banking initiative.The novel card named
MoneyPlantTM RuPay International Platinum Debit Card can be used for domestic and international cash
withdrawals and purchases.
Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will sanction a loan worth 13K Crore Rupees for
clean energy projects in FY18, which plays the major role in reducing the pollution in India.
On December 31, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an interest subsidy scheme named
as Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle Income Groups, CLSS-(MIG) for the tax-paying middle class
population, aspiring to have their own pucca house.Besides, for the implementation of the scheme, Repco
Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) signed an agreement with National Housing Bank.
Bengaluru based Vijaya Bank has inked an Mou with Italian vehicles manufacturer Piaggio Vehicles, on
March 27, 2017 for providing financial support for the purchase of vehicles under Small Road Transport
Operators (SRTO) scheme in Bengaluru.
Mangaluru based private sector lender, Karnataka Bank achieved a landmark installation of 10,000 Point of
Sales (PoS) terminals on March 27, 2017.Besides, an android mobile app, PoS Manager was also provided
to enable the merchants in monitoring and keep a track of their counter transactions.
In what can be considered as a path breaking development on financial inclusion front, Odisha became the
first Indian state to extend banking facilities to masses in unbanked areas through Self- Help Groups (SHGs).
Manipal headquartered Syndicate bank opens 40 Ananya transformed branches, digitally on March 27,
2017. The branches were inaugurated in the presence of Arun Shrivastava, its Managing Director and CEO.In
addition to that, bank also launched its first micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) hub in Bangalore.
Mumbai based private sector lender, ICICI Bank partnered with Truecaller app on March 28, 2017 to launch
a (Unified Payments Interface) UPI-based mobile payment service called Truecaller Pay.
In backdrop of demontisation, a question was raised in Rajya Sabha asking the Govt. to clear its stand on
status of virtual currencies including Bitcoin in India. Reply mentioned that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
cautioned about potential legal, financial and security risk arising on account of holding, investing or trading
in virtual currencies including Bitcoin.
Tata AIA Life Insurance have partnered with Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) to launch m-Insurance for the
prepaid customers of the Telecom Company. Beginning with, the pilot launch has been made in Andhra
Pradesh and Telengana and eventually would cover other states.
Indias largest Public Sector Lender State Bank of India has launched a unique credit card SBI Card
Unnati on March 28, 2017. This new brand credit card targets at all SBI customers, including Jan Dhan
account-holders across the country.
Mumbai based Axis Bank has signed an agreement with Wells Fargo, Americas third largest bank by asset, to
offer real time remittances by Indian Diaspora in US back to their relatives in India.
Private sector lender, Kotak Mahindra bank has launched an innovative account opening system on March 29,
2017 under the name 8-11 which can be used from anywhere and anytime. The name 8-11 is inspired from the
Prime Minister Narendra Modis November 8 demonetization move.
The Government of India has signed USD 350 million loan agreement with the New
Development Bank (NDB) on March 30, 2017.Development and up gradation of road project in Madhya
Pradesh to improve transport connectivity in the interior regions of the state and boost economic activity.
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BUSINESS
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed 10 unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) in
past one week with Indian taxpayers to provide certainty in transfer pricing. Out of these 10 agreements, 2 are
Bilateral APAs with the United Kingdom and Japan while 7 agreements have rollback provisions in them.
According to data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on February 28, 2017, the growth of eight
core sectors slowed down to a five-month low of 3.4% in January 2017 due to contraction in output of
refinery products, fertiliser and cement.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) signed a technology transfer agreement with
Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited (JSHL) on March 1, 2017 for manufacturing High Nitrogen Steel (HNS).
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), will house its regional entrepreneurship
centre at Bengaluru based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (CCAMP), a biotechnology innovation
incubator.
Social networking giant Facebook has launched a new initiative named SheLeadsTech to
support startups which are founded or co-founded by women population.
The Central government has approved outright sale of state-owned SAILs three special steel units Alloy
Steels Plant (ASP), Salem Steel Plant (SSP) and Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) on March 5, 2017
The government notified the Trade Mark Rules, 2017 that came into force from March 6, 2017. The Rules
2017 will replace the former Trade Mark Rules 2002 and will streamline and simplify the processing of Trade
Mark applications.
India has announced an Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) on March 7, 2017 for conducting oil and gas
exploration in India.
CBDT signs another APA with subsidiary of a Japanese Company taking the total APAs entered into by the
CBDT to 141
Indian Public Sector Undertaking company National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has
commissioned of 45 MW solar capacity at Bhadla in Rajasthan. Now the the total installed capacity of the
project is increased to 160 MW.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Executive Director of the UNEP, Erik Solheim have signed a Letter of
Intent (LOI) with Nairobi based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to formalise joint
cooperation in the area of environmental conservation in Indian Railways.
Koreas Hyundai Engineering Co has signed a deal worth 3 billion euros (USD 3.2 billion) with an Iranian
investment fund on March 13, 2017 to invest in a major Iranian oil project. This agreement covers
construction of the second phase of the Kangan Petro.
Chennai Port Trust and the Government of Puducherry has signed Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) for
handling EXIM cargo originating from Puducherry Port hinterland on March 15, 2017 in New Delhi.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited owned by the Government of India partnered with Karnataka Power
Corporation Ltd (KPCL) has commenced commercial operations of its first highest-rating coal-
based supercritical thermal power plant 800 MW unit.
Two Indian companies namely Tata Steel Limited and Wipro Limited have been named in the list of Worlds
Most Ethical Companies 2017 by American think tank Ethisphere Institute. Wipro is one among the two
Information technology category firm named in the list. The other firm in that category is US based Xerox
Corporation.
The Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan unveiled the new National Building Code on March 16,
2017 in New Delhi. The revised code has been prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under the
aegis of the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
Dehradun based Indian multinational oil and gas company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited
(ONGC) has planned to invest Rs 21528 crore to develop Indias deepest gas discovery in UD-1 find by 2022-
23.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) was asked the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) to re-examine the approval for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltds free offers Welcome
Offer and Happy New Year Offer which will continue till the end of March 2018.
In a bid to regulate the environment violators, the Union Environment Minister, Anil Madhav Dave has
decided to recommend closure of industrial projects if the developers are found to have started the
construction without the mandatory environment clearance (EC).
France based Aircraft maker Airbus will set up Asias first training facility for pilots and maintenance
engineers in New Delhi.The centre will formed by the European aviation major Airbus.It is expected to
be operational by the end of 2018.
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India and Russia have inked two pacts for long-term maintenance support for Sukhoi-30MKI jets on March
17, 2017 during the India-Russia Military Industrial Conference in New Delhi.
Boeing Co and the U.S. government have signed a $3.4 billion contract on March 16, 2017 under which
the US Army and an international customer outside US will acquire the latest Apache attack helicopter, the
Apache E variant. The contract to acquire AH-64E Apache will span over a period of five years.
A Maharatna Company, National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) commissioned the second unit
of 660 MW of Mouda Super Thermal Power Station Stage-II on March 19, 2017.
India and Mauritius have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to execute a US $ 20 million
(Rs.130 cr) social housing project in Mauritius during Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Housing and
Lands Showkutally Soodhun's visit to India on March 20, 2017.
The Government of India is set to increase the nuclear power generation capacity in India to nearly 15,000
MW by 2024. The information regarding the same was delivered by Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh
in the Lok Sabha on March 22, 2017. The minister also informed that in 2014, India's nuclear
power generation capacity was 4,780 MW.
The Government of India has officially notified the third Protocol amending India-Singapore Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) on March 23, 2017.The third DTAA will come into force from April 1, 2017.
New Delhi based Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has commissioned a 250 MW coal-based thermal
power unit at North East's largest coal based power plant Bongaigaon Thermal Power Station (TPS) in Assam
on March 23, 2017.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty of Rs 591 crore which is a well reduced fine
over Coal India Ltd for its misconduct of agreement in fuel supplies.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) is to be renamed as Central Board of Indirect Taxes &
Customs (CBIC) under the new regime of GST which is to be rolled out from July 1. It has been approved by
our Finance minister Arun Jaitely.
In addition to that existing training establishment, to be renamed as National Academy of Customs, Indirect
Taxes and Narcotics will have an all-India presence.
In the event to strengthen the Indian Air Defense system, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has finalized the major
plan to manufacture nearly 1000 military helicopters and over 100 planes in the upcoming years. For making
things easier HAL and Russian defense firms have finalized a Joint Venture agreement for production of light
weight multi-role 'Kamov 226T' helicopters in India which will replace the aging fleet of Cheetah and Chetak
choppers.
Paytm, one of the fastest growing mobile wallet and e-commerce industry in India has achieved a new
milestone by becoming the sole member of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
The state owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited commissioned a 55 Mega Watt (MW)
Bhadla Solar Power Project in Rajasthan on March 27, 2017. The power generating giant has planned a
capacity addition of about 1,000 MW through renewable resources by 2017.
As per data revealed by Central Electricity Authority of India (CEAI), India has become a Net Exporter of
electricity for the first time in history. This remarkable feat was accomplished by exporting 5,798
Million Units to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar against import of around 5,585 Million units from Bhutan
for the period from April 2016-February 2017
The Central Government has imposed 10 percent import duty on wheat and Turdal (Arhar) with immediate
effect from March 28, 2017.
State-run power generator NTPC Ltd commissioned another 260 MW Bhadla Solar PV Project in
Rajasthan on March 25, 2017.With this commissioning, the total installed capacity of NTPC has become
40,522 MW while that of NTPC has become 47,293 MW.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Restricted for release by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Indian movie, Lipstick under My
Burkha was awarded the third annual Audience Award at the Glasgow Film Festival 2017 on March 1, 2017.
Indian filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava directed Lipstick under My Burkha.
INHS Asvini, Mumbai was conferred with the Raksha Mantris Trophy and Citation for the best Service
Hospital in the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) for the year 2016 on March 2, 2017 by Defence
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Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar.

New Delhi based Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has bagged the annual Visitors Award for the best
University in the country amid the string of controversies. Besides Deepak Pant from Central University of
Himachal Pradesh has won the Visitors Award for Innovation while the Visitors Award for Research has
been jointly won by Shyam Sunder from Banaras Hindu University and Niranjan Karak from Tezpur
University.
Sri Lanka has bagged the most Popular Tourism Destination Award for the second consecutive year at
the International Travel Fair (GITF) Travel Fair in Guangzhou, China.
Eminent Malayalam author and journalist M P Veerendra Kumar was presented the 30th Moortidevi award by
Bharatiya Jnanpith organisation in Kozhikode Kerala.
Karnataka based Canara Bank has received medals in the Collateral Awards Category at the 11th Global
Communication Conclave held in Bangaluru on March 6, 2017
Keralas playback singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi created a new world record on March 5, 2017 by playing the
maximum number of songs in the shortest time on Gayathri veena during a programme in Kochi.
List of Winners of BCCI Annual Award 2017
Award Winner
Col. CK. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award Rajinder Goel, Padmakar Shivalkar
BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award For Women Shantha Rangaswamy
BCCI Special Award VV Kumar, Late Ramakant Desai
Polly Umrigar Award Virat Kohli
Dilip Sardesai Award (For Indias Best Cricketer In The West Indies Ravichandran Ashwin
Series 2016)
Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman Cricketer (Sr.) Of 2015-16) Mithali Raj Of Railways
Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman Cricketer (Jr.) Of 2015-16) Deepti Sharma Of Uttar Pradesh
Best Umpire In Domestic Cricket In 2015-16 Nitin Menon
Best Performance In BCCI Domestic Tournaments Of 2015-16 Mumbai Cricket Association
As per the THE Best Small Universities in the World 2017 ranking released by Times Higher Education
(THE )on March 7, 2017, IISc has been placed at 8th position among the list of top 10 global universities.
The list is topped by US based California Institute of Technology
GMR led Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has secured first position in the world in the
prestigious Airports Council International (ACI)-Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey in the 5-15 million
passengers per annum (MPPA) category for the year 2016.
Bollywood Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has won the best actress award at the International Film Festival
and Awards of Australia (IFFAA) for her movie Sarabjit. Directed by Omung Kumar, Sarabjit was the biopic
on Sarabjit Singh who was an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was
sentenced to death.
Former director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) Lalji Singh has been selected for
SERB Distinguished Fellow award by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) to support his
research.
Noted Konkani author Mahabaleshwar Sail has been honored with the 2016 Saraswati Samman for his
novel Hawthan. The 74-year-old Sails novel Hawthan was published in 2009 and was shortlisted from 22
books written in various languages.
The popular actress Viola Davis was awarded the 2017 Artist of the Year Award by Harvard Foundation
during its 32nd annual Cultural Rhythms Festival in Memorial Halls Sanders Theatre at Harvard University
in Cambridge on March 4, 2017.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat was conferred with the honorary degree
of Doctor of Science (DSc) by Maharashtra Animal and Fishery Sciences University on its 8th convocation
ceremony in Nagpur on March 9, 2017.
2017 IEEE Spectrum Technology in the Service of Society Award won by the Indian Institute of Technology-
Madras(IIT-M) for its solar-direct current (DC) inverter system.
Thailands Model, Jiratchaya Sirimongkolnawin was crowned Miss International Queen 2016 on March 10,
2017 in the 12th edition of the beauty pageant event in Pattaya City, Thailand.
An Indian-American teen Indrani Das(17) won the USs oldest and most prestigious science and math
competition Regeneron Science Talent Search Awards Gala on March 16, 2017. Arjun Ramani(18) from
Indiana won the third place honours worth USD 150,000 for blending the mathematical field of graph theory
with computer programming to answer questions about networks.
Mumbai based Central Bank of India won the first prize in the implementation of Official Language Policy in
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the western region for the year 2015-2016 at the Official Language Conference of Central and Western
Regions in Udaipur.
Eleven Indian women were honored with the Women Icons Award among 25 Asian Women on March 17,
2017 in Singapore for dedicating their lives to social work.
An Indian-American computer scientist, Anshumali Shrivastava, was honored with the National Science
Foundations prestigious CAREER Award for his research on redesigning current machine-learning
processes. Shrivastava, who is currently working an assistant professor of computer science at Rice
University, hopes to come up with clever algorithmic strategies to enable faster, more scalable computations
required by big data and machine-learning technologies.
Maggie MacDonnell, a Canadian school teacher was awarded the 2017 Global Teacher Prize worth $1
million on March 19, 2017 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Major Rohit Suri, the leader of the army team that carried out surgical strike in PoK in 2016, was presented
the Kirti Chakra by President Pranab Mukherjee during the military investiture ceremony held in the Durbar
Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 20, 2017.
Bengaluru based ABB India has won the India Smart Grid Foundation (ISGF)'s "Smart Technology of the
Year 2016"award for restoring the crucial power infrastructure of Sharavathi hydropower plant in Karnataka
Yves Meyer, a French mathematician, was honored with the 2017 Abel Prize, given by Norwegian Academy
of Science and Letters, for his contribution in the development of the mathematical theory of wavelets on
March 21, 2017 in a ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
The 26 year old English singer-songwriter and record producer Ed Sheeran from UK will be honoured with
the Songwriters Hall of Fame's 2017 Hal David Starlight Award.Sheeran will receive the award at the 48th
Annual Induction and Awards Dinner on June 15, 2017 in New York.
Ravish Kumar, the senior executive editor of NDTV India, was awarded the inaugural Kuldip Nayar
Journalism Award at New Delhis India International Centre on March 19, 2017 in recognition of his
outstanding contribution in the world of Journalism.
Six Indian-Americans individuals have been nominated among a total of 88 recipients for the prestigious Ellis
Island Medal of Honour 2017, the highest civilin award in the US for immigrants. Notably Indra Nooyi,
Fareed Zakaria,Dinesh Paliwal, Dr Annapoorna S Kini.
Indian photographer and photojournalist Raghu Rai has conferred with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu at 6th National Photography Awards. Rai
was honoured for his remarkable contribution in the field of photography.
In recent news, UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) has added five
Indian cities in its list of tentative world heritage site.
Aditya Puri, HDFC Bank Managing Director has made it to the list of the world's 30 best chief executive
officers (CEO), published by American financial magazine Barron's. The top position has been secured by
Mary Barra of General Motors, Gary Dickerson of Applied Materials is on the second spot, Stephen Hemsley
on third.
T-Hub, one of the largest start-up ecosystem builders in India have bagged four Acumen global
awards, 2017 by bringing up four startups to be emerging as the first choice of top Indian startups. This
competition is mainly meant for the emerging startups.The award function was held in Kenya.
Veteran actor Anupam Kher was felicitated with the Kala Ratan Award by Panjab University in Chandigarh at
its 66th convocation on March 25, 2017.The 62 year old actor received the honour by the Vice President of
India, Shri Hamid Ansari for his contribution in the field of cinema and arts.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) adopted Govardhan Eco Village has received
the 11th Water Digest Water Awards under the category "Best Water NGO-Water Education" in New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu based Karur Vysya Bank has been honored as the Best Small Bank for 2016 on March 28, 2017
at a function in Mumbai. The Bank was adjudged by Business Today in association with KMPG in Small
Bank category with balance sheet size of less than Rs. 1 lakh crore.
The Indian origin English film director and screen writer Gurinder Chadha gets Sikh Jewel Award, 2017 for
her contribution to the British film industries for the past 3 decades. She received this award from UK Defense
Secretary Michael Fallon at the Vaisakhi Dinner organized by the British Sikh Association.
The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented Dr. B. C. Roy National Awards and Hari Om Ashram
Alembic Research Awards at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on March 28, 2017.
On 28th March 2017, Indian-origin British Cabinet Minister, Priti Patel received Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
Award (PBSA) in London from Y K Sinha, the Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK).
Indian Installation Artist Sitaram Swain was presented the 2017 Glenfiddichs Emerging Artist of the
Year award on March 25, 2017 at Bestcollegeart Gallery at Lado Sarai, New Delhi.
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On March 28, 2017 Airports Authority of India (AAI) was awarded with Dainik Bhaskar's India Pride Awards
2016 -17 for "Excellence in Infrastructure Development" in the category of Public Sector Undertaking. In
addition to that, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited also won the India Pride Awards 2016
-17 for "Excellence in Performance in the Power Sector in the category of Public Sector Undertaking.
Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) on March 30, 2017 named SV Sunil as the Asian Player of the Year
2016 and Harmanpreet Singh as Asian Promising Player of the Year 2016 (Junior team).
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
Appointee Designation
Nand Kumar Sai Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
Gopal Baglay spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry
Shri Sudeep Lakhtakia Additional charge as DG CRPF
R Subramania Kumar Additional charge of MD & CEO of IOB
JS Deepak Ambassador to WTO
Amjad Hussain B Sial secretary general of SAARC
Hassan Saleh Sudans prime minister
P K Purwar MTNL CMD
Baichung Bhutia (Sacked) AIFF advisor
D. Bala Venkatesh Varma Ambassador of India to Andorra
Pradeep Nair Regional director for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka- Ford Foundation
Donald Tusk European Council president
Park Geun-hye (removed) South Koreas President
Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Mumbai Mayor
Bill Thomas Global Chairman KPMG
Sachin Tendulkar Ambassador of womens World Cup 2017
Manjeev Singh Puri Indian envoy to Nepal
Narendra Kumar New Chairman of Central Water Commission
Sam Ghosh (Quits) Reliance Capitals CEO
Justice Thottathil Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court.
Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan
Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.
Justice Hemant Gupta Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Justice Rajendra Menon, Chief Justice of the Patna High Court.
Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.
Mark Tucker New Chairman HSBC
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Defence Minister-Additional Charge
Amitabh Bachchan New Brand Ambassador OnePlus India
Manohar Parrikar Goa Chief Minister.
Nongthombam Biren Singh CM Manipur
Devang Mody CEO Reliance Commercial Finance
Babul Supriyo Vice-President Of FIFA U-17 World Cup LOC
Justice Sharma Upalokayukta of Assam
Seema Verma A top healthcare position in the Trump administration
Shashank Manohar (resigns) ICC chairman
Amarinder Singh Chief Minister of Punjab
Bibhu Prasad Kanungo Deputy governor of RBI
Mallikarjun Kharge Publics Account Committee Chairman
BV Papa Rao, Jwala Gutta Governing body of Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Subhankar Roy Chowdhury Heaad HR for Asia Pacific for Lenovo
Trivendra Singh Rawat Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
Manhar Valji Bhai Zala Head of Safai Karamcharis Commission
Yogi Adityanath Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Keshav Prasad Maurya and Deputy Chief Ministers of UP
Dinesh Sharma
Shahid Afridi Ambassador of Blind Cricket World Cup
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Sun Pharmas Dilip Shanghvi Member on RBIs western board

Jason Kothari FreeCharge CEO
Mahesh Kumar Jain, IDBI Bank's MD & CEO
Kishore Piraji Kharat CEO of Indian Bank.
Kumar Mangalam Birla Merged entity Chairman of Vodafone and Idea.
ICMR head Soumya UN group on antimicrobial Resistance Member
Swaminathan
Madhabi Puri Buch SEBI Whole-Time Member
Upendra Tripathy Full Time Interim Director General of ISA
P.V. Sindhu Ambassador of PepsiCo's sports drink Gatorade
Ankur Khanna New Chief Financial Officer of ICC
T S Anantharaman Part-time chairman of Catholic Syrian Bank
Tanushree Pareek BSF woman field officer
Carrie Lam Chief Executive of Hong Kong
Dr. Randeep Guleria Director of AIIMS Delhi
Siddhartha Upadhyay Governing body of Sports Authority of India
David Beasley New head of World Food Programme by UN
Sima Kamil First Woman Chief of United Bank Limited (UBL)Pakistan
AB de Villiers. Brand Ambassador- Montblanc International
Iqbal Surve Head of SA's BRICS Business Council
Vanaja N Sarna New Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs
Pakistani American Ali Javed First Muslim of New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Emergency
Mohan Das Government Terminates Service of Coal Indias Director
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

American multinational corporation Cognizant has pocketed a deal to acquire Japanese digital firm Brilliant
Service Co for an undisclosed amount.
Pakistan government on March 2, 2017 approved the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA) with its northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Bharti Airtel and Millicom International Cellular SA (Millicom) have entered into an agreement for Tigo
Ghana Ltd and Airtel Ghana Ltd to combine their operations in Ghana.
Mumbai based Software services firm Tech Mahindra Ltd has signed a definitive agreement to acquire US-
based healthcare information technology consulting company CJS Solutions Group LLC for $110 million on
March 6, 2017.
Technology giant Google has announced to acquire a start-up Kaggle which hosts a number of data scientists
for an undisclosed amount at the Cloud Next 2017 conference on March 9, 2017.
Intel has announced a deal under which it will buy Israeli technology company Mobileye for $15.3 billion.
Mobileye provides anti-collision, driver assistance, and autonomous driving solutions. Intel will buy all the
shares of Mobileye at $63.54 per share in cash.
Mumbai based IndusInd Bank announced to acquire 100 per cent stake in brokerage firm IL&FS Securities
Services to regulatory approvals on March 14, 2017
Parliamentary panel on March 16, 2017 suggested merging state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL for their
long-term survival and success.The decision regarding the merger was taken by the Committee on
Petitions chaired by BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari in Lok Sabha.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed definitive agreements to buy Gujarat State
Petroleum Corporations (GSPC) entire 80% stake in KG-basin natural gas block for $1.2 billion.
Indias Idea Cellular Ltd approved its merger operation with Vodafone India Limited (VIL)
excluding Vodafones 42% stake in Indus Towers Ltd on March 20, 2017. It will create Indias largest
telecom company with a total revenue of over Rs80,000 crore. After merger, Vodafone will hold 45 percent in
the combined entity while Idea promoters will hold 26 percent in the combined entity.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger of wireless operations of Reliance
Communications and Aircel to create a combined entity with assets worth Rs 65,000 crore. Reliance and
Aircel have announced its merger operation in September 2016.
New Delhi based global telecommunications services company Bharti Airtel has signed an agreement with
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Mumbai based Internet service provider Tikona Digital Networks to acquire its 4G business in 5 circles for Rs
1,600 crore but the amount of acquisition is not disclosed and now it is moved for regulatory approvals.
Indias largest online retailer Flipkart is planning to acquire eBay Indias operations as part of its latest capital
raising programme of $2billion.The move is an effort of the e-commerce firm to strengthen its position against
the rising threat from the global competitors such as Amazon and China's Alibaba.
Indian Auto parts maker Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd (MSSL) on March 27, 2017 announced that it has
acquired 93.75 percent of stake in Finland's PKC Group for 571 million euros ($619.4 million).
Amazon the Worlds biggest E-commerce industry has confirmed its acquisition of Souq.com, the company
from Dubai headed by Ronaldo Mouchawar which has 8.4 million products.The value of the deal is not
revealed but it is higher than USD 800 million tabled by Emaar Malls. By this deal with Amazon, Souq.com
will have access to Amazons global platform and its faster delivery systems to cut delivery times.
MoUs
A renewed agreement between Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir has
been sealed for the completion of the Shahpur Kandi Dam project, work on which was halted two years ago
following a dispute.
India and Oman have decided to enhance bilateral cooperation between their navies on March 2, 2017 during
the visit of Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lamba to Oman to discuss strategically important regional
issues.
The Union Cabinet gave its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between India and Portugal on cooperation in the field of IT&E which was signed on January 6, 2017 in New
Delhi.
The Union Cabinet gave its ex-post facto approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
on Renewable Energy between India and Portugal.
The Cabinet also gave its ex-post facto approval for signing of the Definitive Agreement on Oil Storage and
Management between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) and Abu Dhabi National Oil
Company (ADNOC) of UAE.
The Union Cabinet led by PM Modi approved signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between India and the United Nations Entity of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-
Women).
Cabinet Gives ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and UAE in the field of providing Energy
Efficiency Services.
India and Belgium sign Protocol amending the India-Belgium Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement and
Protocol.
Search Engine Giant Google India and Telangana government have inked a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) aimed at supporting the digitisation efforts of the state.
Online cab aggregator Ola has signed MoU with Government of Madhya Pradesh on March 4, 2017 to impart
training to 25,000 youths in the state.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and
Ganga Rejuvenation has signed an MoU with Rotary India in New Delhi on March 1, 2017.
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has signed an MoU on March 10, 2017 with National Skill Development
Corporation (NSDC) and National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) for skill development of its
serving/retired personnel and their family members.
The Union Cabinet gave its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Lal
Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie and Namibia Institute of Public
Administration and Management (NIPAM), Namibia on March 15, 2017.
Cabinet apprised of the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between India with Indonesia for
cooperation in youth and sports matters and Kyrgyz Republic for cooperation in the field of youth
development.
Cabinet approves revised MoU with Bangladesh to set up Border Haats
Cabinet approves of MoU between India and Bangladesh on Aids to Navigation (AtoNs)
India and Brazil have finalised text of the Social Security Agreement(SSA) on March 16, 2017. It will be
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effective from 2018. This is the first SSA agreement between the BRICS Countries. Till date, India has signed
Social Security Agreements (SSAs) with 18 countries.
Australia Research Institute Signs Agreement with Indian Railways for Infrastructure Support
China and Saudi Arabia officials on March 17, 2017 have signed Memorandums of Understanding(MoU) and
Letters of Intent(LoI) potentially worth about $65 billion during Saudi King Salmans visit to China.
During the meeting, the cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between
the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-ln) under the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology and the US Homeland Security Department on cooperation in the field of Cyber
Security.
Govt. of Jharkhand Signs Tripartite MoU with AAI, DRDO for Development of Deoghar Airport in
Jharkhand to complete the international airport project in Deoghar worth Rs 300 crore within a time period
of two years.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the Indian Army on March 28, 2017 to address the technological gap in the armed forces.
Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen launched the island's first ever home-grown submarine project on March 21,
2017 at a naval base in southern city of Kaohsiung because the island faces rising navy threats from China as
relations deteriorate. To this effect a MoU has been signed for the project between the navy, Taiwanese
shipbuilder CSBC Corporation and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, which
develops combat system integration.
India has signed a renewed Petroleum Trade Agreement with Nepal on March 27, 2017 to supply petroleum
products to Nepal with prompt service. The supply agreement was signed between State-owned Indian Oil
Corporation (IOC) and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) for a period of five years. The agreement will be
effective from April 2017 to March 2022.
Indian autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) signed an agreement with carbonated soft drink maker from
USA, Coca-Cola to train 50,000 street food vendors under FSSAI's project named 'Clean Street Food
SCHEMES
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami launched a Housing Scheme on March 9, 2017 for
construction of concrete houses for the economically poor section of the society.The project is estimated at Rs
1,580 crore and will be implemented by the state government with financial assistance from the Center.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced Tirtha Darshan Scheme on March 3, 2017 during the
ongoing budget session of the Haryana Assembly.Under the scheme, senior citizens of Haryana
domicile above the age of 60 years belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families will be able to go on a
Pilgrimage within the country at government expense.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government has come up with an initiative to extend the mid-day meal
facility for the girl students upto class 12 in all Delhi government schools.The initiative makes Delhi the first
state in the country to serve midday meal up to class 12.
The Union Health Minister J P Nadda has announced that an amount of Rs. 756 crore has been approved by
the government under a scheme for the treatment of 786 lakh cataract patients over the period of 5 years.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has launched a new scheme Adarsh Gram Yojana that is in accordance
with the basic philosophy of the Prime Minister Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas (Collective Efforts Inclusive
Growth).
The Union government has launched Mission Fingerling on March 11, 2017 to achieve Blue Revolution with
the holistic development and management of fisheries in the country.
The Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched a new scheme named Trade
Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) on March 15, 2017 for developing export linked infrastructure and
boost the competitiveness of Indias shipments.
The Minister of State for Textiles, Shri Ajay Tamta informed the Lok Sabha on March 16, 2017 that the
Government has approved a new scheme, Solar Energy Scheme, to provide financial assistance/capital
subsidy to small powerloom units, for installation of Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) plant.
The power ministry has informed that a total of 26 states have now become the part of the Ujwal DISCOM
Assurance Yojana (UDAY) with the recent entry of Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura for the revival of
debt stressed Discoms.
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh officially launched the LED Lights, Energy Saving
Fans Distribution scheme on March 29, 2017. As the part of the scheme, LED tube lights and energy-efficient
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fans are distributed to promote energy saving.The distribution of LED tube lights and energy saving fans is
carried out under Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All (UJALA) scheme.
In a written reply to question raised in Lok Sabha, Ram Kripal Yadav - Minister of State for Rural
Development mentioned that Central Govt. has approved the construction of 1 crore houses under Pradhan
Mantri Awaas Yojana-Grameen (PMAY-G) with the financial outlay of Rs 81,975 crore during the period
of 2016-17 to 2018-19.
COMMITTEE
An 18 member panel constituted by the government has recommended necessary legal and policy framework
to protect the interests of the migrants in the country. The panel headed by Shri Partha Mukhopadhay has
suggested to enable the migrants to avail benefits of Public Distribution System (PDS) in the destination State
by providing for inter-State operability of PDS.
The high level Committee has been formed to examine the working of the regulatory bodies Central Council
of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and Central Council of Homoeopathy(CCH). The committee will be headed
by Arvind Panagariya,Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has constituted a 3 member committee on March 20, 2017 to
identify those Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers and other junior-rank officers of the Income Tax
department who are on unauthorised leave or are absconding, so that strict disciplinary action could be
initiated against them.
The issue in sharing of water from river Krishna between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is to be looked after
by Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) as informed by Minister of state for Water Resources and
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in Lok Sabha.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

A rocket carrying a classified U.S. satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office blasted off
from California. The satellite called NROL-79 is described only as a national security payload for the NRO
that has been put on space. The Mission did not reveal much information about the satellite.
President Pranab Mukherjee awarded the prestigious Presidents Standard to 125Helicopter Squadron and
Colours to Mechanical Training Institute (MTI) at the Tambaram air base, near Chennai on March 3, 2017.
Irans advanced S-300 air defence system, delivered by Russia following a July 2015 nuclear deal after years
of delay, is now operational state said by State television. The S-300 air defence system has been tested
successfully in the presence of government and military officials.
Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Anil Madhav Dave, launched the web portal for obtaining
Coastal Regulation Zone clearances in New Delhi.The interactive Portal is for obtaining clearances required
from the Ministry under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) by the Project proponents which Minister also
termed the launch of the portal as a good example of Ease of Doing Business.
The Central Board of Secondary Education has come up with a mobile application named Exam Locator,
which will help students locate their examination centre on the basis of their roll number corner for class X or
XII examinees.
Sentinel-2B satellite developed by European Space Agency (ESA) was launched on March 7, 2017 as a part
of European Union Copernicus environmental monitoring system. The satellite weighing 1.1 tonne was lifted
into the orbit from Europes Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 01:49 GMT on 7 March using a Vega
rocket.
Virbhadra Singh led Himacha Pradesh government has launched mobile app and website titled MeraHunar
HP or My Talent to help skilled and semi-skilled workers find jobs.
A team of researchers at IBM has created the worlds smallest magnet using a single atom which can store one
bit of data on it. Currently, hard disk drives use about 100,000 atoms to store a single bit. The breakthrough
was published in the journal Nature on March 8, 2017.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran successfully test-fired a domestically
produced ballistic missile Hormuz-2 from a navy vessel on March 9, 2017.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of an incredible massive galaxy named as UGC
12591 which is located under 400 million light-years away from the Earth.
Chandrayaan-1, Indias first unmanned lunar spacecraft, which was generally considered lost, has been
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discovered by the NASA scientists still orbiting the Moon.

The women safety app Ammavin Aran which means mothers fortress was launched by
the AIADMK Deputy General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran on March 9, 2017 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on March 9, 2017 officially announced the
name of its upcoming mission to explore the Jupiter mysterious moon. The mission to explore
the habitability of Jupiters icy moon Europa will be called as Europa Clipper.
SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket conducted its third flight of the year on March 16, 2017 to launch a commercial
communications satellite in the geosynchronous transfer orbit. The launch took off from NASAs Launch
Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and carried the EchoStar 23 communications satellite into
orbit.
Scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in United States have for the first time in the world,
discovered a way to accurately predict whether a child has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by analyzing
a blood sample.
Japan space agency JAXA launched a new spy satellite Radar 5 from a launch site in the countrys southwest
on March 17, 2017. The information-gathering satellite Radar 5 is lifted off with H-2A rocket.
The final year computer engineering students at Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT)
Pune and technology giant IBM have developed a robot named Chintu to assist senior citizens in their
everyday tasks. Chintu is about 58 cm (2 feet) tall robot, weighing over 5 kilograms.
Anang Tadar, a Class XI student of New Galaxy Academy, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh has invented a unique
pair of goggles that uses ultrasound and infrared sensors to help the visually impaired detect obstacles on their
path.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan launched the Worlds first mobile Application named ABC of Breast
Health during an event organized by the Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation at Mumbais JW Marriott
Hotel on March 15, 2017. The app is launched for both IOS and Android versions and is available in Apple
and Google Play Store for free download.
Netherlands Scientists from Eindhoven University of Technology have developed infrared rays based Wi-Fi
system whih is 100 times faster than the Wireless Fidelity networks.
The Scientists at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), have discovered a new system of five
particles all in a single analysis using the worlds largest and most powerful particle accelerator, Large Hadron
Collider (LHC).
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) commissioned two major facilities, a Hypersonic Wind
Tunnel and Shock Tunnel at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram on March 20, 2017.
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is set to become the first academic institutions in India to receive
a supercomputing facility of 1 Peta-flop computing power under the National Supercomputing Mission
(NSM).
The GRAPES-3 Experiment, a telescope located at Tata Institute of Fundamental Researchs (TIFRs) Cosmic
Ray Laboratory in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu is getting upgraded. The GRAPE 3 telescope became famous in
2015 when it detected the effect of a solar storm that hit the earth in June 2015.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is set to send its next-generation atomic
clock into space by the end of 2017 which is a key advance for safely navigating future human exploration of
the solar system.
The Worlds Largest Artificial Sun Sets Up in Germany to come up with the optimal setup for concentrating
natural sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen fuel.Synlight is a system composed of a huge
collection of 149 individual film projector spotlights with honeycomb-like setup, assembled at a single place
to produce about 10,000 times the intensity of the natural solar radiation on Earth's surface.
The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched MoPNG e-
Seva, a dedicated grievances redressal platform across Social Media on March 24, 2017.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed a unique technology that would make it possible
to use the sun's energy to charge the Prosthetic Limbs rather than using batteries as is done currently. The new
study was published in the March 22 issue of the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The scientists are
the first to develop a model for solar-powered prosthetic skin.
The recent launch of Online Film Certification System of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) by
Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, reasserts Modi Govts commitment to promote
Digital India and Ease of Doing Business.The online film certification system named E-
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Cinepramaan will come into effect from 1st April 2017 replacing the earlier system of physical submission.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) officially declared that it has launched four teams to the 36th
scientific mission to Antarctica on March 22, 2017. The mission has been organized by The National Centre
for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences and Government of India.
An international team of astronomers has identified a Brown dwarf which is believed to be with
the purest composition and the highest mass. The research team was led by Dr ZengHua Zhang of the Institute
of Astrophysics in the Canary Islands.The dwarf is identified as SDSS J0104+1535, is a member of the so-
called halo - the outermost reaches - of our Galaxy, made up of the most ancient stars. The scientists report the
discovery in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
According to a new study conducted by the scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR), similar planetary waves that exist in the atmosphere high above the Earth surface may also exist on
Sun.
The Integrated Automatic Aviation Meteorological System (IAAMS), which is the new Weather Monitoring
System to Indian Navy, is launched to use by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on March 29, 2017. The
IAAMS was launched at Rajali Air Station in Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region launched
the Online Vigilance Clearance System and E-Service Book in New Delhi on March 30, 2017.
Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A), the federal agency of the United States Department of Health and
Human Services approved the first drug to treat Severe Multiple Sclerosis. The drug called Ocrevus will be
sold by Genentech Company owned by the Swiss pharmaceutical major Roche.
The government has launched two new Android based Apps- echallan and mParivahan, to provide
transparency in enforcement of traffic rules as well as enable the citizens to report any traffic violation or road
accident.
Suresh Prabhu, the Minister of Railways launched a high speed free Wi-Fi service for the visitors at National
Rail Museum, New Delhi on March 30, 2017.
Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa officially launched the e-billing system for the Indian
Air Force (IAF) called Aviation Turbine Fuel-Digital Issue and Payment (ATF-DIP) in New Delhi on March
28, 2017. The new system of ATF-DIP will be implemented from April 1, 2017.
Bangaluru based ACT Fibernet has launched a wired broadband internet service having a speed of 1 Gigabit
per second with the pilot service in Hyderabad.
Dr Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for the Development of North Eastern Region officially released the
information that Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has developed the four types of Lithium ion (Li-
ion) batteries. The batteries are used for satellite operation and launching of vehicles into space.
Indias batting legend Sachin Tendulkar launched an Android and iOS based app named 100MB Cricket on
March 30, 2017 in Mumbai, which is dedicated to the Master Blaster himself. The app has been developed by
Pune-based technology firm JetSynthesys.
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) successfully launched it Falcon 9 from space launch
complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida and retrieved it on March 30, 2017. The rocket was used to
launch SES communications satellite into space.
DEFENCE
India successfully conducted the test-fire of its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor Advanced Air
Defence (AAD) missile, capable of destroying any incoming enemy ballistic missile at low altitude.
The Indian navy successfully test- fired indigenously built Kalvari class submarine an anti-ship missile for the
first time, which reflects further bolstering Indias naval prowess. The weapon was fired from the first vessel
in the series of six Scorpene-class submarines and it successfully hit a surface target during the trial in the
Arabian Sea.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over three defence products for
induction into the Indian Army in a formal ceremony on March 2, 2017 in New Delhi.
The products developed in DRDOs laboratory include
1. Weapon Locating Radar (WLR) SWATHI
2. NBC Recce Vehicle
3. NBC Drugs
Indian Navys flagship aircraft carrier, INS Viraat was decommissioned on March 6, 2017 at a solemn
ceremony in Mumbai after nearly 30 years of service for Indian Navy.The ship which is famously known as
the Grand Old Lady, was with the British Royal Navy since 1959 before the Indian government bought it for
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Rs 6.5 crore in 1987.

INS Tillanchang, a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC) was commissioned into the Indian Navy by Vice
Admiral Girish Luthra, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command,
at Karwar, Karnataka on March 9, 2017.
United States and South Korean troops started their large-scale annual military drill named Foal Eagle on
March 1, 2017.The aim of the military exercise is to test their defense readiness against the threat from North
Korea.
Indian Navy will set up meteorological facilities and impart training for the Myanmar Navy, which will help
offset increasing Chinese presence in its neighbourhood.
The two-week long India-Nepal joint military exercise Surya Kiran-Xi begins in
Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand on March 7, 2017.
A 14 days long joint military training exercise AL NAGAH-II, of the Indian Army and the Royal Army of
Oman kicked off on March 6, 2017 at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh. This is the second edition of the joint
military exercise between the two countries. The first edition was held at Muscat, Oman in January 2015.
India Successfully Conducts Maiden Tests of Extended Version of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile from a
test range off the Odisha coast on March 11, 2017. The strike range of the missile has been enhanced
from 290 km to 450 km and is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kg.
Pakistan Navy has successfully test-fired ground-to-sea missile from the coastal region on March 16,
2017.The missile is equipped with modern technology avionics, secured a hit on a target placed at sea with a
high degree of accuracy.
Recently DRDO (Defecnce Research and Developmental Organisation), has provided the INDIAN
NAVY with three new naval systems to enhance its operation.This was handed over by our Defence minister
in-charge Mr. Arun Jaitely and accepted by our Chief of Naval staff Mr. Sunil LanbaThese naval system
include
1. USHUS II SUBMARINE SONOR
2. DIRECTING GEAR FOR HULL-MOUNTED SONAR ARRAY
3. INTERNAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR SHIP APPLICATION
Indian Navy Conducts Successful Test-Firing of Surface-to-Air Missile from INS Vikramadityafrom 21 to 23
March in the Arabian Sea.
On 28th March 2017, INLCU L51, first of the eight ships of the LCU MK IV Class was commissioned into
the Indian Navy by Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, AVSM, Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar
Command at Port Blair.
After 29 illustrious years of service, TU142M aircraft has been de-inducted from the Indian Navy. A special
farewell ceremony was organised on 29th March 2017, at INS Rajali, the premiere Naval Air Station located
in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu.
ENVIRONMENT
The global news agency, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been barred by the Indian Government
from shooting in any of its 50 tiger reserves for a period of five years. The ban was imposed by the National
Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on February 27, 2017.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests coordinated
nationwide Operation Thunder Bird from January 30 to February 19, 2017 to combat illegal trade of wildlife
animals in the country.
The National Green Tribunal has passed an order on March 2, 2017 prohibiting all camping activity on
beaches along the Ganga which fall within 100 meters from the middle of the river during lean season flow
from Shivpuri to Rishikesh, a hub for eco-tourism and river rafting.
According to the findings by United States based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Earths
mantle is about 60 degree Celsius hotter than as previously thought by the scientists.
For the first time ever, the Government of India has launched a comprehensive and scientific across-the-
river survey in the River Ganga to determine the population of aquatic life surviving in the River including
the endangered Gangetic dolphin.
According to research published in the journal Nature on March 1, 2017, scientists have discovered the oldest
known fossil in Canada which is believed to be as old as 3.7 billion years old or even 4.3 billion years old.
According to the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)-2017 report about 45 percent of countrys total bird
spices were reported in Himachal Pradesh.
Intense Tropical Cyclone Enawo was the strongest tropical cyclone that hit in the northeast of the Madagascar.
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In a bid to adhere to its global commitment on Global warming India launched the countrys latest plan to
phaseout one of the key refrigerants Hydrochlorofluorocarbon. The HCFC is being used in various sectors
including refrigeration, airconditioning and foam manufacturing.
Ludhiana based Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has developed Indias first genetically
modified varieties of cotton whose seeds could help the farmers in saving the cultivation cost.
the three as PAU Bt 1 and F1861 were developed by PAU, while RS2013 was developed at Rajasthan
Agricultural University (RAU), Bikaner.
Four States namely Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have decided to jointly conduct a
synchronised Elephant census from May 9-12, 2017.
A team of scientists at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Visakhapatnam have discovered 3
new canyons in the depths of Bay of Bengal close to Kovvada in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh on
March 10, 2017.
In the first set of survey for the year 2017, scientists in Australia have revealed that the iconic Great Barrier
Reef is experiencing mass coral bleaching for a second year in a row for the first time.
As per the study conducted by United States based scientists, rapid loss of Arctic sea ice in recent decades is
partly driven by natural variation and not just global warming caused by human activities.
A team of scientists have discovered the worlds first fluorescent frog in Argentina that emits soft green,
yellow and red light under normal light, but gives off a bright blue and green glow in the dark.
Scientists from Swedish Museum of Natural History have found two kinds of fossils resembling red algae in
uniquely well-preserved sedimentary in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh. One type is thread-like, the other one
consists of fleshy colonies.This algae is 1.6 billion years old which will be the oldest evidence of plant-like
life found on the Earth.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) have signed an agreement on March 16, 2017 in New Delhi to work together
for crop improvement and agronomy programmes for grain legumes and dryland cereals.
According the report presented in Lok Sabha by Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Mahendra
Singh Tomar, West Bengal was the top most state of India having highest number of arsenic-affected persons
as on March 4, 2017. The total number of arsenic-affected persons in the state was more than 1.04 crore.
A trans-boundary river of Asia Ganga along with river Yauna has recognised as the first living entity of
India by the Uttarakhand High Court on March 20, 2017.Recently New Zealand government had declared
145km long Whanganui River as a first living entity of the world
The National Green Tribunals southern bench, comprising of Justice P Jyothimani and expert member P S
Rao, on March 20, 2017 suspended the environmental clearance for the India-based Neutrino Observatory
(INO) project to be set up in Tamil Nadu for research on high energy and nuclear physics.
A group of four birdwatchers have sighted Australias most mysterious species, The Night Parrot, in Western
Australia (WA) which was believed to be extinct. The discovery was made by Adrian Boyle, Nigel
Jackett, George Swann and Bruce Greatwich from Broome, in WA who dedicated 7 years of their life in
locating the bird.
First vertical garden of India has setup at the Hosur Road Electronics City Flyover in Bengaluru to control the
pollution level of the city.It will also act as a sound proofing barrier. The world's first vertical gardens were
setup in China.
The world's largest capstone has been discovered by the Archaeology Department of Telangana on March 21,
2017, after excavating an ancient human burial site in Narmeta village, Siddipet district. The capstone
weighing 40 tonnes was so huge that required large crane to lift it.
Cyclone Debbie Hits Australian Coastal Resorts; Causes Huge Damage
The Senate of Argentina unanimously voted favoring a Bill on March 29, 2017 by 58-0 to legalize the use of
cannabis oil and other derivatives obtained from marijuana, for medical use.
The Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh is the first tiger reserve in India to get the official mascot named
Bhoorsingh the Barasingha.
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SPORTS
Rio Open 2017 Winner List.

Title Winner Runner
Mens Single Dominic Thiem (Austria) Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain)
Mens Double (Spain) Pablo Carreno Busta/Pablo Juan Sebastin Cabal / Robert
Cuevas (Uruguay) Farah (Colombia)
2017 World Womens Youth Boxing Championship will be hosted by India in November for the first time
since 2010.This was announced during the AIBA commissions meeting held in New Delhi on March 1, 2017
Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO Mobiles has bagged the Indian team sponsorship rights for a five-
year period starts on 1st April 2017 and continues until 31st March 2022, The Mobiles major will cough
out INR 1079 crore for the duration of their contract having beaten the only other bid of INR 768 crore
(approx USD 115 million) from Vivo, another smartphone manufacturer.
Indian Spin duos Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin jointly claimed at No.1 in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers
in what is the first time of two spinners the top spot. Both stood at the top at 892 points.
Indian womens hockey team beat Belarus 3-1 in their fifth test to clinch the five-match Test series 5-0 on
March 8, 2017 in Bhopal.
Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, a former Indian wrestler has been appointed as an international match referee
by United World Wrestling (UWW), the sports global governing body.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) appointed Portugals Luis Norton de Matos as the head coach of
the India U-17 World Cup team on March 1, 2017 for the forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.
Australian women cricketer Sarah Coyte has announced her retirement from all forms of cricket with
immediate effect to combat mental health issues.
The Indian mens Rugby team, led by skipper Gautam Dagar, piped Pakistan by 14-12 to claim the 7th rank at
the Asia Mens Rugby Sevens Trophy held at Aspire Rugby Field in Doha, Qatar.
Indias womens hockey team led by Ritu Rani defeated Belarus 3-1 to clinch their third consecutive win in
the five-Test Series held in Bhopal. This will be warm-up tournament ahead of their Hockey World League
Round 2 tournament in Canada scheduled this April.
Russian Tennis star Maria Sharapova has been granted wild card Italian Open as makes her return from a
doping ban. The Rome tournament runs from May 15 to May 21.
List of Winners of the ISSF Shooting World Cup 2017.

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China 6 6 0 12
2 Italy 2 3 0 5
3 Australia/Japan 2 0 1 3
5 India 1 2 2 5
ISSF Shooting World Cup

Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu bagged the first ever gold medal in the newly included 10m pistol mixed event at
the ISSF Shooting World Cup.
Indias Pooja Ghatkar clinched bronze medal in the womens 10m air rifle event in the International Shooting
Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup.
Indias Deepak Kumar gave an impressive performance in the Mens 10m Air Rifle at the ISSF World Cup in
New Delhi.
Jitu Rai won gold medal in the 50-metre free pistol event on March 1, 2017 in the ISSF World Cup at the Dr.
Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, New Delhi. Jitu created a new world record with 230.1 points.
2017 Dubai Tennis Championships
Category Winner Runner
Mens Singles Andy Murray (United Kingdom) Fernando Verdasco(Spain)
Womens Singles Elina Svitolina(Ukraine) Caroline Wozniacki(Denmark)
Mens Doubles Netherlands Pair Rohan Bopanna (India) / Marcin
Jean-Julien Rojer / Romania Horia Tecu Matkowski (Poland)
Womens Doubles Ekaterina Makarova(Russia) / Elena Andrea Hlavkov (Czech Republic) /
Vesnina(Russia) Peng Shuai ( China)
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2017 Brasil Open Overview

Title Winner Runner
Singles Uruguay Pablo Cuevas Spain Albert Ramos Violas
Doubles Brazil Rogrio Dutra Silva / New Zealand Marcus Daniell / Brazil
Brazil Andr Marcelo Demoliner
2017 Mexican Open Overview

Category Winner Runner
Mens singles Sam Querrey (United States) Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Womens singles Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) Kristina Mladenovic (France)
Mens Doubles Jamie Murray / Brazil Bruno Soares (United John Isner / Spain Feliciano Lpez, (United
Kingdom Pair) States Pair)
Womens Doubles Darija Jurak (Croatia) / Anastasia Rodionova Vernica Cepede Royg (Paraguay) / Mariana
(Australia) Duque Mario (Colombia)
Chris Bertish, a South African surfer and a sailor became the first person in the world on March 9, 2017 to
cross the Atlantic Ocean on a stand-up paddleboard after completing an epic 4,050-mile voyage alone at sea.
In the latest FIFA ranking for the month of March Indian Football team dropped two places and is now ranked
at 132nd spot as compared to 130 in February FIFA ranking. The rankings were released on 9 March
2017.Argentina is at the top in FIFA ranking with 1644 points, followed by Brazil at second spot with 1534
points and Germany at third spot with 1443 points.
Top seeded Lee Chong Wei won his fourth All England Championship in mens singles event by beating Shi
Yuqi from China21-12, 21-10 at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, England on March 12, 2017.
SSP Chawrasia became the only Indian Golfer to retain his Hero Indian Open title for the second year in a row
with a remarkable seven-stroke win in New Delhi on March 12, 2017. The Hero Indian Open held at the
redesigned DLF Golf and Country Club redesigned DLF Golf and Country Club carries an enhanced prize
purse of USD 291,660.
Punjab defeated Railways by a 2-1 in a Group B final round league match of the 71st Santosh Trophy football
tournament on March 13, 2017 in Goa.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on March 13, 2017 confirmed a lifetime ban on Sergei
Portugalov from sports for his role in providing illicit substances to Russian athletes.
Two times Olympic gold medallist Joanna Rowsell Shand announced her retirement from international
cycling on March 14, 2017.
The Committee of Administrators, constituted by the Supreme Court to manage the affairs of the cricket
board, finalized and uploaded a new constitution for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on
March 18, 2017. However, the constitution prepared is not permanent. The Mumbai Cricket Association and
the Saurashtra Cricket Association which were Full Members earlier were downgraded to Associate
membership.
Swiss Professional Tennis Player Roger Federer won his fifth BNP Paribas Open Tennis Tournament crown
on March 19, 2017 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California by defeating his fellowmate Stan
Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5. However in Womens singles format Elena Vesnina defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Tamil Nadu won the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017 at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on March 16, 2017 by
beating Bengal by 37 runs in the finals.
Indias Billiards Champion Vidya Pillai settled for silver medal in the 2017 World Women Snooker
Championship held in Safra Toa Payoh, Singapore on March 20, 2017.The 39 year old lost to Hong
Kong's Ng On Yee, who won the gold with 5-4 lead.
Indias KT Irfan won the bronze medal in mens 20km race walk event at the Asian Race Walking
Championships in Nomi, Japan on March 19, 2017. The 27 year old Army athlete clocked an
impressive 01:20:59 to clinch the title.
Indian Cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara(29) became the first Indian batsman to face 500 balls in the second
innings of the 3rd Test against Australia at Ranchi. Pujara has played 525 balls in his 202 run innings. With
this he breaks Rahul Dravid's record who faces 494 balls in 2004.
Indias spin-bowler Ravindra Jadeja has attained the top spot in the list of the Test bowlers as per the
latest ICC Test Ranking released on March 21, 2017.
Indian shooter Ankur Mittal won the gold medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation Shotgun
World Cup in the mens double trap event at Acapulco, Mexico on March 23, 2017.Mittal beat Australias
James Willet with a score of 75 out of 80 while Willet managed 73.
The 9th edition of Fazza International IPC Athletics Grand Prix Competition began in Dubai, UAE on March
30 | P a g e
20, 2017 and concluded on March 23, 2017.

The Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar will soon be transformed into modern football stadium as per the norms of
the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The estimated cost for developing of the
stadium is Rs 48 crore
Indian team finished in a high note in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games with a triumphing 73
medals held in Austria between March 18 and March 24. These games are meant for the specially-able person
and India finished as a special team with 89 participants.India finished the games with an overall medal tally
of 37 gold, 10 silver and 26 bronze with total tally of 73 medals.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel beat Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton to win the 2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian
Grand Prix on 26 March 2017 at Albert Park in Melbourne.
Miami open tournament that has been taking place from March 20th, 2017 has witnessed a wonderful game of
the season in which Rafel Nadal has came out with a winning note against 31st seeded player, German
veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber. With this win he has registered a win in his 1000th match which is very big
achievement in his career.
West Bengal beat Goa (1-0) to clinch the 71 Santosh Trophy for a record 32nd time on March 26, 2017 at
the GMC Bambolim Stadium, Goa.
Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, has been selected to host the 2017 Mens Hockey World League
Final as well as the Mens World Cup in 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium.
Shaun Tait, Australian fast bowler officially announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on March 27,
2017, thus ending his 15-year career at the competitive level.
The Indian shuttle players Purva Barve and Varun Kapur bagged double delight by winning in the Li Ning-
Israel Open 2017 which was held at Sports Hall, Rishon LeZion in Israel. The Pune based players brought
home the momentum for which the whole nation would be proud of.
India stayed strong in its No.1 spot in ICC test rankings, after a marvelous win against West Indies in West
Indies and followed by a successful home season. On 28th March, 2017 India clinched its final test series in
home against Australia this season and retained its ICC Test Championship Maze.
Gaurvi Singhvi, the 14 year old Udaipur girl became the first to swim across Bandra Worli Sea Link to the
Gateway of India route in Arabian Sea in a record time of 6 hours and 30 minutes. She also swam across that
route by breaking an earlier record.
Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi received a 4-match ban after using insulting words at an assistant referee
in the match against Chile held on March 24, 2017. The top scorer for his country, Messi was found guilty for
violating the Act 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (FDC)
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy the Indian men doubles team won the title at the Vietnam
International Challenge Badminton tournament at Hanoi on March 27, 2017. This title is
their 4th International Challenge title
Tamilnadu State cricket team won the Deodhar Trophy by beating India Red on March 29, 2017. By this win,
Tamilnadu State cricket became first state team to win all the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) senior level matches.
Srinath Narayanan, the 23-year-old Chess player from Chennai, Tamilnadu is in his track of becoming
the 46th Grandmaster in the history of this sport. The milestone was achieved by him after defeating GM
David Anton Guijarro from Spain at the Sharjah Masters 2017 chess tournament held on March 29, 2017.
The 45th Grandmaster title was held by Aryan Chopra from New Delhi. He is currently the grandmaster in
the world.
Elvan Abeylegesse, the 34 year old Turkish long-distance runner stripped of Two Olympic silver medals and
One Championship medal after she was found positive in re-analysis of an in-competition doping test which
was done on August 25, 2007.
Bookie link in Pakistan Super League T20- Pakistan bowler Mohammad Irfan banned for 1 year
22nd Asian Athletics Championships will be hosted by Bhubaneswar which is going to be conducted
from July 6, 2017. The information was announced by Asian Athletics Association (AAA). The venue was
decided after the 86th Council Meeting of AAA. Continent flagship event will be held in Kalinga Stadium in
Bhubaneswar. The event has the ending ceremony on July 9, 2017.
31 | P a g e
OBITUARY
Renowned Gujarati Writer Tarak Mehta Dies at 87
Senior Congress leader & RS MP Haji Abdul Salam passes away
Veteran politician, former MP Yumnam Yaima Singh passes away
French football legend Raymond Kopa passes away
Former IFS and MP Syed Shahabuddin dies
Liver transplant surgical pioneer Dr. Thomas Starzl dies
Former Haiti President Rene Preval dead at age 74
Rabi Ray, former Lok Sabha Speaker, passes away
Bengals Popular Folk Singer Kalikaprasad Bhattarcharya Dies
Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan passes away
Gravitational Waves Pioneer Ronald Drever Dies at 85
Former Puducherry Minister M Chandrakasu passes away
HungarianAmerican and Chemistry Nobel laureate George Olah dies aged 89
John Surtees, British F1 Legend Dies At 83
Former DSA President Sood Passes Away
Noted Film Director Diphan Dies At 45.
Filmmaker and Childrens Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal Dies at 51
Former Car Racer Ashwin Sundar Died in Car Accident
Nobel laureate poet and playwright Derek Walcott Passes at 87
Pioneer of Rock n Roll, Chuck Berry Dies at 90
Meteorologist Sikka Passes Away
Former Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra passes away
Gujarati poet Chinu Modi passes away
Former Liverpool captain and coach Ronnie Moran was passed away in UK on March 22, 2017. He was 83.
The billionaire philanthropist and former head of Chase Manhattan Corp, David Rockefeller has died in USA .
He was 101.
Noted Tamil litterateur Thiagarajan popularly known as Asokamitran passes away
.Eminent Jurist and Senior Advocate, Tehmtan R. Andhyarujina passed away on March 28, 2017 in Mumbai
at the age of 84.
Renowned playwright Arun Sarma Passes at 86
Former Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurdev Singh Badal passed away on March 28, 2017 at Dayanand
Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. He was 85.
Indian-Origin South African Anti-Apartheid Activist Ahmed Kathrada Dies
Kerala Based Historian Namboodiri Passes Away
BOOKS & AUTHORS

Former Indian cricketer Akash Chopra released book titled Numbers Do Lie, 61 Hidden Cricket Stories which
takes a different look at stats. This book was wriiten and edited by Chopra and his analysis team.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has launched his autobiography named My Story in Kolkata in the
presence of former Indian cricketer Saurav Ganguly.This book was triggered by how he was affected by Phil
Hughes death when India were touring Australia in 2014-15
The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has launched the book
titled 50 Years The Great Indian Milk Revolution to commemorate National Dairy Development Boards
(NDDB) Golden Jubilee year on March 23, 2017. This book suumarize NDDB's remarkable 50-year
journey and the value it has created for millions of dairy farmers in this country.
Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General Bipin Rawat released a book titled Home of the Brave on March
27, 2017 in New Delhi.The book highlights the history of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), the Counter
Insurgency Force of the Indian Army.
A book on the history of Indian Railways titled Indian Railway-The weaving of a National Tapestry was
inaugurated by the Union Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on March 30, 2017.The book
has been jointly authored by Shri Bibek Debroy (Member, NITI Aayog), Shri Sanjay Chadha (Joint Secretary,
32 | P a g e
Ministry of Commerce) & Ms. Vidya Krishnamurthi.
IMPORTANT DAYS
World Civil Defence Day is celebrated on 1st March every year across the world to commemorates the entry
into force of the ICDO Constitution as an intergovernmental organisation in 1972. 2017 Theme: Together
with civil defence against disasters.
The Zero Discrimination Day is observed on March, 01 2017 across the world to combat all forms of
discrimination since 2014. 2017 Theme : Make Some Noise For Zero Discrimination.
National Defence Day is celebrated on March 3 every year. across India to commemorate the day, worlds
largest and tallest Indian tricolour was unfurled at Town Park in Faridabad.
World Wildlife Day was observed each year on 3rd March since its proclamation by the United Nations
General Assembly on 20 December 2013. This year with the Theme Listen to the young voices to provide
incentives to the youth to tackle conservation issues.
World Hearing Day is observed on each year on March 3rd to promote hearing since its pronouncement in
2007. The theme for World Hearing Day 2017 Action for hearing loss: make a sound investment reflects to
the economic impact of hearing loss.
46th National Safety Week Campaign was commenced from 4th March 2017 to 10th March 2017 to renewing
the commitment of employees and general public to work safely throughout the year. Theme: Keep Each
Other Safe
Odisha observed the 101st birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik on March 5, 2017. As a
part of the occasion, the mini-marathon was flagged off by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from Biju
Patnaik Park in Bhubaneswar which ended at the Kalinga Stadium.
International Womens Day is celebrated by the Governments, NGOs and other Organizations worldwide on
March 8 every year since 1900.The theme adopted by the United Nation for 2017 is Women in the Changing
World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030.
On the occasion of International Womens Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Swachh Shakti
2017 A Convention of Women Sarpanches, at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
The National Archives of India celebrated its 127th Foundation Day on March 11, 2017 at Janpath, New
Delhi. National Archives of India is an Attached Office under the Ministry of Culture and established on 11
March 1891 at Calcutta.
Commonwealth Day is celebrated annually across the Commonwealth of Nations on the second Monday in
(March 13, 2017). Theme: A peace-building Commonwealth
Every year, World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on March 15th to pay more attention to promote basic
rights of consumers. 2017 Theme: Building a Digital World Consumers can Trust.
The US state of Kansas has declared to observe March 16 as Indian American Appreciation Day to honour
Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was killed in an apparent hate crime on February 22, 2017.
The International Day of Happiness is celebrated worldwide on March 20 since 2013 to educate and increase
public awareness of the benefits of happiness since 2013.This year the United Nation is using the Smurfs
through Small Smurfs Big Goals campaign to promote its 17 sustainable development goals on the
International Day of Happiness.According to the 2017 World Happiness Report by the Sustainable
Development Solutions Network, Norway has been ranked as the happiest country of the world among 155
nations. India was placed at 122nd position in the World Happiness Report.
World Sparrow Day is celebrated every year on March 20 across the world since 2010 to raise awareness
about the importance of birds dwelling in urban areas.
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated every year on 21st March
to encourages people to remember their obligation and determination to combat racial discrimination. 2017
Theme: Racial profiling and incitement to hatred, including in the context of migration.
Every year on 21st March is observed as International Day of Forests proclaimed by United Nations(UN)
across the world to promotes the importance of forests and trees in our lives.Theme: Forests and energy. This
year theme highlight the importance of wood energy in improving people's lives, powering sustainable
development and mitigating climate change.
UNESCO designated World Poetry Day is observed on 21st March to encourage a return to the oral tradition
of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry.
UN designated World water day is observed on March 22, 2017 in various country to raise awareness of the
importance of conserving and managing water resources. 2017 Theme: Why Waste water?
33 | P a g e
World Meteorological Day is observed annually on March 23 annually in various part of the world to
remember the World Meteorological Organization's establishment on 23rd March with the
Theme: 'Understanding Clouds'.
86th Martyrs' Day of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Shivaram Observed on March 23 2017
Every year, March 23 is observed as Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs Day by India to commemorate the death
anniversary of three of Indias freedom struggle heroes namely
2017 Martyrs Day marks the 86th death anniversary of the courageous leaders.On the occasion of Shaheed
Diwas 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tributes to the three freedom fighters remembering their
courage & sacrifice.
Every year World Tuberculosis Day is observed on March 24 across the world to commemorates the day in
1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the
cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. Theme: Unite to End TB
International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members Observed on March 25.
The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is
observed annually on March 25, 2017. Theme: "Remember Slavery: Recognising the Legacy and
Contributions of People of African Descent".
Bangladesh observed its 47th Independence Day on March 26, 2017 to commemorate the country's
declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The 2017 Earth Hour was observed worldwide on March 25, 2017. This year marks the 10th anniversary of
the event.Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It was
started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. Since then, more than 7,000 cities and towns across
172 countries worldwide are engaged in the nobel cause.
The 2017 World Theatre Day was observed worldwide on March 27, 2017, a day observed to draw attention
to the power of the stage.
STATIC GK March 2017
Bangladesh: Madagascar
Capital: Dhaka Capital: Antananarivo
Currency: Bangladeshi taka Currency: Malagasy ariary
Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina
President: Abdul Hamid Namibia
Capital: Windhoek
Oman President: Hage Geingob
Capital: Muscat Currencies: South African rand, Namibian dollar
Currency: Omani rial
Sultan: Qaboos bin Said al Said Kyrgyz Republic :
Capital: Bishkek
Portugal Currency: Kyrgyzstani som
Capital: Lisbon President: Almazbek Atambayev
Currency: Euro
Prime minister: Antnio Costa Indonesia
Capital: Jakarta
Nepal : Currency: Indonesian rupiah
Capital: Kathmandu President: Joko Widodo
Currency: Nepalese rupee
34 | P a g e
Belgium : Andorra :
Capital: City of Brussels Capital: Andorra la Vella
Currency: Euro Currency: Euro
Brazil : South Korea

Capital: Braslia Capital: Seoul
Currency: Brazilian real Currency: South Korean won
President: Michel Temer Prime minister: Hwang Kyo-ahn
United States Sri Lanka:

Capital: Washington D.C. Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Currency: United States Dollar Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe
President: Donald Trump Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
Haiti:
Taiwan Capital: Port-au-Prince
Capital: Taipei Currency: Haitian gourde
Currency: New Taiwan dollar President: Jovenel Mose
President: Tsai Ing-wen
Ukraine:
Iran : Capital: Kiev
Capital: Tehran Currency: Ukrainian hryvnia
Currency: Iranian rial Central Bank: National Bank of Ukraine
President: Hassan Rouhani
SYRIA
Japan : Capital: Damascus
Capital: Tokyo Currency: Syrian pound
Currency: Japanese yen Prime Minister: Imad Khamis
Prime minister: Shinz Abe
Saudi Arabia
South Korea : Capital: Riyadh
Capital: Seoul Currency: Saudi riyal
Currency: South Korean won King: Salman of Saudi Arabia
President: Park Geun-hye
Sweden:
Myanmar : Capital: Stockholm
Capital: Naypyidaw Currency: Swedish krona
Currency: Burmese kyat
President: Htin Kyaw Egypt
Capital: Cairo
Mauritius: Currency: Egyptian pound
Capital: Port Louis President: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Currency: Mauritian rupee
New Zealand
Singapore : Capital: Wellington
Capital : Singapore Currency: New Zealand dollar
Currency: Singapore dollar Prime minister: Bill English
Thailand Afghanistan
Capital: Bangkok Capital: Kabul
King: Vajiralongkorn Currency: Afghan afghani
Currency: Thai baht President: Ashraf Ghani
Sudan :
Montenegro
Capital: Khartoum
Capital: Podgorica
Currency: Sudanese pound
Continent: Europe
Currencies: Euro, Euro sign
35 | P a g e
Turkey Paytm
Capital: Ankara CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Currency: Turkish lira Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
President: Recep Tayyip Erdogan Founded: 2010
UAE : KfW:
Capital: Abu Dhabi Founded 1948
Currency: Dirham Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany
El Salvador Yes Bank

Capital : San Salvador Headquarters: Mumbai
Currency : US Dollar CEO: Rana Kapoor
Founded: 2004
IMF
Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States State Bank of India
CEO: Christine Lagarde Chairperson: Arundhati Bhattacharya
Founded: 27 December 1945 Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: June 2, 1956
SEBI
Formed: 12 April 1992 IBRD
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra Headquarters: Washington D.C.
Chairman: Ajay Tyagi Founded: 1944
Leader: Jim Yong Kim
World Bank
Bandhan Bank
Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
Headquarters: Kolkata
CEO: Kristalina Georgieva
Founded: 2001
Founded: 1944
CEO: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
Catholic Syrian Bank :
United Bank of India
Headquarters: Thrissur
Headquarters: Kolkata
MD & CEO: C.V.R. Rajendran
CEO: P. Srinivas
Motto: Support all the way
Founded: 1950, India
IRDAI : ICICI Bank:
Chairman: T.S. Vijayan CEO: Chanda Kochhar
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana Headquarters: Mumbai
Tagline: Hum Hain Na!
Vijaya Bank:
Headquarters: Bengaluru
VTB Bank
CEO: Kishore Kumar Sansi
Founded: 1990
Founded: 1931
Headquarters: Moscow, Russia
President and Chairman: Andrey L. Kostin
HDFC Bank
CEO: Aditya Puri
ADB :
Headquarters: Mumbai
Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
Founded: August 1994, India
Motto: Fighting poverty in Asia and the Pacific
IDFC Bank Ltd. Karnataka Bank
Founded: October, 2015 Headquarters: Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Managing Ditector: P Jayarama Bhat
Managing Director & CEO: Dr. Rajiv B. Lall Tag Line: "Your Family Bank. Across India"
Reserve Bank of India National Housing Bank
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra Headquarters: New Delhi
Established: 1 April 1935 Founded: 9 July 1988
Governor: Urjit Patel CEO: Shri Sriram Kalyanaraman
36 | P a g e
Kotak Mahindra Bank

Headquarters: Mumbai Catholic Syrian Bank :
Founded: 2003 CEO: Anand Krishnamurthy
Founder & Executive Vice Chairman & MD: Uday Headquarters: Thrissur
Kotak Motto: Support all the way
DRDO World Food Programme (WFP)

Founded: 1958 Founded: 1961
Headquarters: New Delhi Headquarters: Rome, Italy
Head: Ertharin Cousin
UNEP :
Headquarters: Nairobi HSBC Holdings Plc
Head: Erik Solheim Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Founded: 1972 CEO: Stuart Gulliver
ONGC IndusInd Bank :

Headquarters: Dehradun, Uttarakhand Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: August 14, 1956 CEO: Romesh Sobti
CEO: Dinesh K Sarraf Founded: 1994
Canara Bank: National Aeronautics and Space

Headquarters: Karnataka Administration (NASA)
CEO: Rakesh Sharma Formed: July 29, 1958
Founded: 1906 Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Administrator: Robert M. Lightfoot
Karur Vyasa Bank
Founded: 1961 AIBA :
Headquarter: Karur, Tamil Nadu, India Formation 1946
Chairman: B.Swaminathan Headquarters Lausanne, Switzerland
Tag Line: Smart Way to Bank President Dr Wu Ching-kuo
IOB: United World Wrestling

Headquarters: Chennai Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland
CEO: Mahesh Kumar Jain President: Nenad Lalovic
WTO : FIFA
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland President: Gianni Infantino
Founded: 1 January 1995 Headquarters: Zrich, Switzerland
Head: Roberto Azevdo Founded: 21 May 1904
SAARC International Association of Athletics Federations
Establishment : 1985(in Dhaka) (IAAF)
Headquarters: Kathmandu HQ: Monaco
President: Sebastian Coe
All India Football Federation(AIFF)
Founded: 1937 Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
Headquarters Dwarka, Delhi, Founded: 1984
President: Praful Patel Headquarter: Lausanne (Switzerland)
President: John Coates
ICC :
Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates WHO
CEO: Dave Richardson Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Motto: Great Sport Great Spirit Founded: 7 April 1948
Head: Margaret Chan
IDBI Bank:
Headquarters: Mumbai NABRAD:
CEO: Kishor Kharat Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Tagline: Aao Sochein Bada Established: 12 July 1982
37 | P a g e
Chairman: Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala

UNSC
NTPC Formation: 1945
Founded: 7 November 1975 Council President: Matthew Rycroft
Headquarters: New Delhi Headquarter: New York, United States
Chairman MD: Gurdeep Singh
38 | P a g e

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use of the Bhim app

and development organisations.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys Visit to United Kingdom and Nepal

SUMMITS & CONFERENCES

RANKING & REPORTS

Indias health index:

visual representation of womens political empowerment in executive government and parliament as on

BANKING & FINANCE

23, 2017 to promote cashless digital transactions.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Sun Pharmas Dilip Shanghvi Member on RBIs western board

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

discovered by the NASA scientists still orbiting the Moon.

Rs 6.5 crore in 1987.

Rio Open 2017 Winner List.

List of Winners of the ISSF Shooting World Cup 2017.

ISSF Shooting World Cup

2017 Brasil Open Overview

2017 Mexican Open Overview

20, 2017 and concluded on March 23, 2017.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Ministry of Commerce) & Ms. Vidya Krishnamurthi.

STATIC GK March 2017

Brazil : South Korea

United States Sri Lanka:

El Salvador Yes Bank

Kotak Mahindra Bank

DRDO World Food Programme (WFP)

ONGC IndusInd Bank :

Canara Bank: National Aeronautics and Space

IOB: United World Wrestling

Chairman: Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala

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