GK & Current Affairs March 2016

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2016 was observed on 21 March 2016 with the theme Challenges and Achievements of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
•    In 2016, the day is marked by the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001.
•    On 21 March 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid pass laws.
•    The United Nations General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination and proclaimed the day in 1966.
•    The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action was adopted at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in South Africa.
•    It is the most comprehensive framework for fighting racism and related forms of intolerance and discrimination.
•    It represents the firm commitment of the international community to tackle the issues related to intolerance and discrimination, and serves as a basis for advocacy efforts worldwide.
•    It contains a broad range of measures aimed at combating racism in all of its manifestations, and underscores the human rights of all groups suffering from racial discrimination. 
•    The document emphasizes their right to participate freely and equally in political, social, economic and cultural life.

India's fourth highest ranked men's badminton player HS Prannoy on 20 March 2016 won the men's singles title at the 2016 Swiss Open in Basel, Switzerland. 
•    He clinched the title by defeating Marc Zwiebler of Germany 21-18, 21-15 in the final.
•    The 2016 Swiss Open men's singles title is Prannoy’s second title at a Grand Prix Gold tournament, after he won the 2014 Indonesian Masters.
•    Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar also known as HS Prannoy currently trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad.
•    He originally hails from Kerala and is the Indian number 2 (as of 2 April 2015) in badminton.
•    He is supported by the GoSports Foundation, Bangalore and has been part of their scholarship programme since 2011.
•    He came to prominence after winning the silver medal in Boys' singles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.

Former Prime Minister of Denmark Anker Joergensen passed away on 20 March 2016 in Copenhagen. He was 93.
•    Joergensen served as the Prime Minister of the country from 1972 to 1973 and again from 1975 to 1982.
•    In 1950, Joergensen became a member of a trade union. He led the Danish Workers Union, SiD, between 1968 and 1972. 
•    While he served as the chairman of the Danish Workers Union, he was elected to the Parliament of Denmark for the first time in 1964.
•    Following the European Union Referendum of 1972 about whether Denmark should join the EU, Joergensen succeeded Jens Otto Krag as Prime Minister of Denmark. 
•    Joergensen held the position for 14 months until the 1973 election when he was succeeded by liberal Poul Hartling.
•    After just over a year in opposition, he returned as Prime Minister of Denmark with a Social Democratic minority government.

The Department Of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab on 16 March 2016 notified the disease of swine flu (H1N1) under the Epidemic Disease Act.
Before issuing the notification, the department had constituted a state advisory committee under the chairmanship of Dr. D Behera. The committee observed that swine flu patients, who suffered from other chronic diseases, had a high mortality rate as compared to patients who did not have chronic diseases.
It was also observed that patients who were treated by private doctors were referred to higher centres only when they became critical, thereby increasing the death rate.
• The notification stated that all government and private hospitals will have to inform the Department of Health about a case of ILI (Influenza like Illness) having chronic diseases.
• It also stated that such cases should be treated at the earliest and proper guidelines of the government should be followed.
• All hospitals will have to keep a suspected as well as confirmed case of swine flu in isolation in order to contain the spread of the disease.
• All hospitals will have to inform the Health department in case a suspected or confirmed case of swine flu is reported.
• The treatment of swine flu will be provided free of cost to all the patients as recommended by the Government.

Air Asia India on 17 March 2016 announced the appointment of Amar Abrol as its chief executive officer with effect from 1 April 2016.
Abrol will succeed Mittu Chandilya, who led AirAsia India from 1 June 2013 and ends his contract on 31 March 2016.
Besides, AirAsia India also announced the appointments of Ankur Khanna as the Chief Financial Officer and Kiran Jain as the Head of Commercial.
• He was graduated from Delhi University and is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
• He has over 20 years of experience, was most recently the CEO of Tune Money, a start-up that aims to deliver low-cost financial products in South East Asia.
• He spent 19 years with American Express, leading diverse teams across multiple markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, India and Malaysia before joining Tune Money in 2013.

India has signed loan agreement of 35 million dollars with the World Bank for Madhya Pradesh citizen access to responsive services project. 
•    The loan has been sanctioned by the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm International Development Association (IDA). 
•    Project size is 50 million dollars, of which 35 million dollar will be financed by the World Bank and the remaining amount will be funded out of State Budget. 
•    The objective of the project is to improve access and quality of public services in the state through implementation of the Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act, 2010. 
•    It is expected to deliver key results in terms of improving access to services and citizen outreach, performance management, simplification of government services and strengthening the capacity of implementing agencies. 
•    The duration of the project is 5 years.

Union Tourism Ministry on 15 March 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) for promoting responsible and sustainable tourism.
•    Through this MOU, the Sustainable and Responsible Tourism will take the forefront and achieve the commitments of the action plan of the Union Ministry.
•    ESOI has been declared as the official partner by the Tourism Ministry in helping it to develop policy guidelines, code of conduct and ethical practices for Sustainable Tourism, to position India as a Global eco-tourism destination.
•    Further, ESOI has been recognized as the partner in driving and advocating Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) initiatives across the country. 
•    In this context ESOI will prepare a 10-year Road Map for advocacy and certification under the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India.
•    It was established formed by a group of eminent professionals from the tourism industry as well as Environmentalists under the advice of Ministry of Tourism in 2008. 
•    It is a non-profit organization to promote environmentally responsible and sustainable practices in the tourism industry across the country.  
•    It would ensure wide participation and consensus building and minimize negative social, economic and environmental impacts and generate greater economic benefits for local people and enhance the well-being of host communities.

‘EDUGILD’ India’s first EdTech accelerator program with specific focus on Education technologies and knowledge management sector has been launched on 14th March 2016 with MIT Group of Institutions as core knowledge and institutional partner. 
•    The initiative encompasses a complete 360 degrees program which includes seed funding of Rs 15,00,000 in return for a minority stake , best in class mentorship and guidance regarding instituting a startup, business models pitching to VCs, business Management and customer Acquisition , marketing and help in scaling up . 
•    This 16 week in-residence accelerator program based in Pune will start from January 2016 and the applications are now open for participants having creative and disruptive technology based ideas in knowledge management and education at all levels. 
•    EDUGILD will conduct two batches every year.
•    Dr Sunil Karad , Executive Director MIT Group of Institutions said that the purpose of starting this program is not only to provide conducive environment to EdTech start ups , but to move a step ahead and enrich them with necessary business , funding and regulatory advice . 
•    Edugild will assess the idea , help develop right strategies , mentor and expand partnerships . 
•    MIT Institutions has a strong and vast experience in learning management which gives further impetus to this program. 
•    At the Pune facility, the entire ecosystem and infrastructure is ready for great EdTech ideas to be nurtured, mentored, funded and launched. 

China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang announced on 13 march 2016 that the country will set up an 'international maritime judicial centre' to protect China's national sovereignty, according to state media agency Xinhua.
•    The Chief Justice made the announcement while presenting a report on the Supreme People's Court's (SPC) work at ongoing 12th National People's Congress. 
•    China's plan to create a maritime judicial centre comes after the Philippines lodged a case with an arbitration court in Hague to make a ruling on the conflicting maritime claims of both nations in the disputed South China Sea.
•    Beijing has firmly refused to participate in arbitration case, accusing the Philippines of breaking arbitration practice.
•    China is claiming a large part of the South China Sea, with a host of other neighbouring countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, staking competing claims in disputed sea region.        
•    In recent months, China has been accused of assertive actions after it built artificial islands in South China Sea. 
•    Tensions in recent weeks have escalated even more after China allegedly deployed missiles and fighter on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands. 

Frank Sinatra Jr., the son of legendary singer Frank Sinatra and an artist himself, has died on 16 march 2016. He was 72. 
•    When Sinatra Jr was 19 in 1963, three men kidnapped him at gunpoint from a Lake Tahoe hotel. He was returned safely after two days when his family paid $240,000 for his release.
•    Sinatra Jr. had nearly two dozen TV and movie credits as an actor, including appearances on The Love Boat and Marcus Welby, MD – most recently providing his own voice for two episodes of Family Guy.
•    In 2015 he performed the national anthem at Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees games in celebration of the centennial of his father’s birth.
•    He was scheduled to perform Thursday night in St Petersburg, Florida, in a show featuring his father’s songbook. 
•    The venue’s website mentioned Sinatra Jr’s death in cancelling the show. 
•    He had other tour dates booked for May, September and October in the midwest and on the east coast.
•    Sinatra Jr was married in 1998 but divorced in 2000. He is survived by a son, Michael.