1. World Celebrates Earth Day today
NOTE:
ii. All electrical appliances would be switched off for an hour between 8.30 to 9.30 pm in over 7000 cities over more than 152 countries across the globe today.
iii. World’ tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in Dubai will join in the Earth Hour celebrations by switching off its lights during the hour.
iv. Save energy, the fuels, the bills over the fuels and reduce Carbon emissions for a cleaner and better tomorrow is the message from Earth Hour.
v. An Earth Hour walk has been organized at the same time to raise awareness among the people to save energy.
vi. Organized by the Worldwide fund for nature, WWF; the focus is on Renewable energy with the ongoing theme “Ï will if you will " to save the planet earth.
2. Nation pays tribute to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru
i. Nation pays homage to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on their martyrdom day on Saturday.
ii. They were hanged on 23rdMarch 1931 by the British rulers in Lahore
iii. A state level function is organized at their memorial in Hussainiwala in Ferozepur district of Punjab and another one at village Khatkar Kalan ancestral village Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district of Punjab.
3. Basel III norms for Indian banks from April 1: RBI
i. According to Central Bank Governor D Subbarao : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon issue a notification for the implementation of the Basel III capital regulations by Indian banks from April 1.
ii. We are going to issue a notification next week for banks to implement the Basel III regulations from April 1, on the basis of the guidelines issued last year,"
iii. Though the Basel III norms, as an international accounting standard for banks, were to come into force from Jan 1, the central bank rescheduled them to April 1, giving Indian banks four months to improve their capital adequacy in conformity with the new norms.
NOTE:
i. In accordance with Basel III norms, Indian banks will have to maintain their capital adequacy ratio at 9 per cent as against the minimum recommended requirement of 8 per cent.
ii. Under Basel III accord, banks have to maintain Tier-one capital (equity and reserves) at 7 per cent of risk weighted assets (RWA) and a capital conservation bugger of 2.5 per cent of RWA.
iii. Basel norms are a set of international banking regulations formulated by the Basel committee on bank supervision, which set out the minimum capital requirements to sustain banks the world over. The committee operates from Basel in Switzerland.
iv. According to the recent RBI financial stability report, Indian banks will require an additional capital of Rs. Five trillion to comply with Basel III norms, including Rs 3.25 trillion as non-equity capital and Rs 1.75 trillion in the form of equity capital over the next five years.
4. Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya got their own High Courts
i. Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur on 23 March 2013 got their own High Courts.
ii. Mr. Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre is the first Chief Justice of the new Manipur High Court
iii. Justice T Meena Kumari has become the first Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court
iii. justice Deepak Gupta took over as the new Tripura High Court's Chief Justice.
iv. Ashwini Kumar, the Union Law Minister will open the High Court of Manipur in Presence of Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir on 25 December 2013.
NOTE: With the opening of the three high Courts in the North Eastern states of India, the total number of high Courts in India has gone up to 24 from previous 21.
5. President gives away Gallantry awards
i. President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday presented Gallantry Awards at the Defence Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
ii. 18 people were conferred with Param Vishisht Seva Medal, two with Yudh Seva Medal, two with Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, 17 with Ati Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and 14 people were conferred with Shaurya Chakra.
iii. Major Chandrashekhar Singh, Nayak Rajeshwar Singh and Nayak Anil Kumar were conferred with Shaurya Chakra posthumously.
6. Blackbuck case: Fresh charges against Saif, 3 other actors
i. Fresh charges were on Saturday read out against actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam by a court in
ii. Chief Judicial Magistrate Chandrakala Jain read out the charges under sections 9/51 and 9/52 of Wildlife protection Act and 149 of IPC and posted the case for next hearing on 27th April.
iii. Salman Khan was also supposed to appear in the court but failed to do so.
NOTE: i. They are accused of poaching two Blackbucks in the intervening night of 1st and 2nd October 1998 in Kankani village near Jodhpur
ii. Blackbuck is a protected animal and hunting or poaching of the same is a punishable offence under law.
7. RIL bags Refiner of the Year Award
i. Reliance Industries has been awarded by the prestigious 'International Refiner of the Year' 2013 at HART Energy's 27th World Refining & Fuel Conference at San Antonio, Texas, USA.
ii. "The award was presented to RIL for producing cleaner, higher-quality gasoline and diesel fuel, operating with the highest international refining standards and innovative use of resources in diverse environments and for innovation, global vision, and ability to chart future changes,"
iii. K Balachandran, Chief of Operation (Jamnagar Refinery and Petrochemical Complex) accepted the award on behalf of RIL and its employees.
iv. This is the second time that RIL has received this Award for its Jamnagar Refinery, the first being in 2005.
v. RIL is the only Asian refiner to have been conferred this award twice.
NOTE: i. RIL operates two of the world's largest and most complex refineries. With 1.24 million barrels per day of crude processing capacity, RIL is the largest refiner at any single location in the world.
ii. RIL is among the Top 10 private sector refining companies globally, and owns 25 per cent of the world's most complex refining capacity.
8. Zardari quits post of PPP co-chairman
i. Faced with a challenge from the assertive judiciary, Prez Asif Ali Zardari has quit the political office of co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party and made his son Bilawal its “patron-in-chief.”
ii. “President Zardari is no more the co-chairman of the PPP.
iii. The main body of the PPP has been dissolved and his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has been elected the party’s patron-in-chief,”
iv. The decision was made to off-set pressure from the Lahore High Court, which had asked Zardari to act on its suggestion that he should quit his post in the PPP as the President is expected to be impartial.
v. The High Court has also asked the President not to indulge in political activities.
vi. The PPP-Parliamentarians had recently applied for the arrow as its symbol for the general election to be held on 11th May.
9. Arunachal Pradesh became the First State to Introduce e-GPF
i. Arunachal Pradesh in the month of March 2013 became the first state to introduce e-GPF or electronic GPF.
ii. The state Finance Department facilitated the online access to 34000 GPF accounts through its redesigned Web site, which was launched by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pardesh Nabam Tuki.
Features of the websites
i. The Web site is meant to help the public in accessing all updated fiscal information including 34000 GPF accounts besides pensioners, who from anywhere in India could get information on their hard earned pension and fastest disposal of RTI cases.
ii. The Web site www.arunachalfinance.in has a number of features to make it citizen-friendly and to bring in more transparency and accountability in respect of works in the Finance Department.
iii. With all the information available on the Web site, citizens as well as government employees would not need to visit the Finance office for each and every work. Also, he felt applications seeking information under RTI would come down as all information needed are available on the site.
10. Chinua Achebe the father of African literature, passed away
i. Chinua Achebe, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident who gave literary birth to modern Africa with Things Fall Apart and continued for decades to rewrite and reclaim the history of his native country, has died. He was 82.
ii. African papers were reporting his death following an illness and hospital in Boston and both his agent and his publisher later confirmed the news
iii. Chinua Achebe is the greatest of African writers.
iv. A novelist, poet and essayist, Achebe was perhaps best known for his first novel Things Fall Apart, which was published in 1958.
v. The story of the Igbo warrior Okonkwo and the colonial era, it has sold more than 10m copies around the world and has been published in 50 languages.
vi. Achebe won the Commonwealth poetry prize for his collection Christmas in Biafra, was a finalist for the 1987 Booker prize for his novel Anthills of the Savannah, and in 2007 won the Man Booker international prize.
11. Pietro Mennea, the Italian Athlete Died at 60
i. Pietro Mennea, the Italian athletics died in Rome on 21 March 2013. He was 60 years of age. He died because of some incurable disease.
About Pietro Mennea
i. Pietro Mennea was the gold medal winner in the 200m at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
ii. He remained 14-time champion in 100m and 200m in the outdoor Italian championships.
iii. Pietro Mennea was also called Arrow of the South (Freccia del Sud in Italian).
iv. In 1984, he was known to be the first person appearing in fourth consecutive 200m Olympic final at 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
12. Nikhil Kumar sworn in as Governor of Kerala
i. Former Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar was today sworn in as the 20th Governor of Kerala at the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram.
ii. The 72-year-old Mr. Kumar, a retired IPS officer, had served as the head of the National Security Guard. He is also a former Congress MP.
iii. He succeeds Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, who was holding additional charge of the State after the demise of M.O.H Farooq in January 2012.
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