GK & Current Affairs March 2016

World Wildlife Day was observed on 3 March 2016 across the world. 
•    2016 theme was “The future of wildlife is in our hands”, with African and Asian elephants being the main focus of global campaigns.
•    World Wildlife Day is a day to celebrate the many beautiful and varied forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits that conservation provides to people. 
•    2016 theme reinforces the inextricable link between wildlife, people and sustainable development. 
•    The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at its 68th session held on 20 December 2013 decided to proclaim 3 March as World Wildlife Day. 
•    The date is the day of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973. 
•    CITES plays an important role in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the species’ survival.

On 3 March 2016, Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe has died due to cancer in Auckland. 
•    He died at the age of 53.
•    The ex-Black Caps batsman had been suffering from lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.
•    Auckland-born Crowe is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's best ever batsman, having scored 17 centuries and 5444 runs in 77 tests at an average of 45.36.
•    Crowe captained the Kiwis in 16 Test matches and his highest score was 299 against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 1991. 
•    He was named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1985 and was player of the tournament in the 1992 World Cup after scoring 456 runs in nine matches.
•    Crowe made his first-class debut for Auckland at the age of 17, and his Test debut for New Zealand at the age of 19. 
•    He was credited as one of the "best young batsmen in the world".

After North Korea’s defiant testing of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on 2nd March to severely toughen its penalties against the isolated country.
The 15-member Council approved a resolution, negotiated for weeks by American and Chinese officials, that called for inspecting all cargo going in and out of the country, banning all weapons trade and expanding the list of individuals facing sanctions.
The list of banned goods was expanded by the resolution to include luxury watches, Jet Skis and snowmobiles worth more than $2,000. 
It is also up to China to control a booming network of trade and smuggling across its 870-mile border with North Korea.
North Korea is a country in East Asia, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. 
The name Korea is derived from the Kingdom of Goguryeo, also spelled as Koryŏ. The capital and largest city is Pyongyang. 
North Korea shares a land border with China to the north and northwest, along the Amnok (Yalu) and Tumen rivers, and a small section of the Tumen River also forms a border with Russia to the northeast.

Forbes list of World Billionaires 2016 was released on 1 March 2016. In its 30th annual guide to the world’s richest, Forbes found 1810 billionaires in 2016 compared to 1826 in 2015.Mukesh Ambani is still the richest person in india.
•    Bill Gates remained as the richest person in the world with a net worth of 75 billion US dollars. He has been No. 1 for 3 years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.
•    Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and Head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos made their first appearance in the top ten of Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest.
•    The 31-year-old Zuckerberg added 11.2 billion US dollars in this year and moved up to No. 6 from 16.
•    Top ten Billionaires of the world are Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim Helu, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zukerberg, Larry Ellison, Michael Bloomber, Charles Koch, David Koch respectively.
•    Top Ten Indian Billionaire Of India are MukeshAmbani, Dilip Shanghvi, Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar, Cyrus Poonawalla, Lakshmi Mittal, Uday Kotak, Kumar Birla, Sunil Mittal, DeshBandhu Gupta respectively.
 

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of western Indonesia, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reports.
•    The USGS said the earthquake struck at 19:49 local time (12:49 GMT). It said the epicentre was 805km (500 miles) south-west of the city of Padang, and 24km deep.
•    In 2004, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake triggered the world's deadliest ever tsunami, killing more than 200,000 people.
•    In January 2016 Imphal and Manipur faced strong Earth quake hits in which 11 people died.
•    On January 26, 2001, Gujarat faced an earthquake of 7.9 on rector scale which killed more than 20000 people in India and Pakistan.
•    On 8th October, 2005, an earthquake of 7.6 rector scale  hit India-Pakistan border in Kashmir which killed more than 80000 people.
 

A Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, Sergey Volkov landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, NASA television reported. 
•    The landing took place in a steppe near the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan at 10:26 local time (0426 GMT).
•    NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is closing the door on a space mission that has spanned a U.S.-record of 340 days.
•    They had circled the world 5,440 times and experienced 10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets.
•    The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, 
•    The ISS is now the largest artificial body in orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth. 
•    The ISS consists of pressurized modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. 
•    ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets as well as American Space Shuttles.
•    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.
•    President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. 
 

Five Indian women have made it to the Forbes list of world’s richest people in the world, which saw 190 women billionaires 
•    It is a little over 10 per cent of the total count.
•    Globally the number of women in the coveted rich list declined from last year. 
•    Of the total 1,810 billionaires this year, 190 are women, down from 197 in 2015. 
•    Among the Indian women on the list Savitri Jindal and family was ranked at the 453rd place on the list with a net worth of $3.5 billion.
•    Indu Jain who chairs media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman & Co, was placed at the 549 rank globally. Her net worth stood at $3.1 billion.
•    SmitaCrishna-Godrej ranked 810 on the list with a net worth of $2.2 billion. 
•    Leena Tewari debuted on the billionaires list. She chairs and owns privately held Indian generics maker USV, known for its drugs for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, among much else. She was placed at 1067 position with a net wealth of $1.7 billion.
•    Vinod Gupta ranked 1577 with assets of $1.1 billion, is the wife of Qimat Rai Gupta, who died in November 2014. 
•    Globally, the grand dame of L’Or, Liliane Bettencourt and her children were ranked at the top among the richest women in the world. 
•    She was placed at the 11th position with a net worth of $36.1 billion, followed by Alice Walton ranked 16th with assets of $32.3 billion and Jacqueline Mars (27, $23.4 billion).
 

A recipient of SahityaAkademi Award, Dr Vyas was chosen for the award for his anthology of Rajasthani poems 'Katha Sun Aawe Hai Sabad'.
•He has authored several short stories and poems and his acclaimed works include ShatabdiNiruttar (1977), Footpath Par ChiriyaNachti Hai (1984) and SurajLeeltiGhatiyan.
• He was born on 10 July 1941 in village Gilund of Raj Samand district of Rajasthan.
• He retired as Principal of RNT College of Teacher Education in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan.
• Bihari Puraskar was instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991 and is named after the famous Hindi poet Bihari
• It is given on a yearly basis to the Rajasthani writers for their literary works in Rajasthani or Hindi published in last 10 years.
• The award carries a cash prize of 1 lakh Rupees, a citation and a plaque.

Parliament has passed the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2015.This aims to empower Union government to revise the limits of liability for airlines 
•    The bill was first passed by the Lok Sabha in December 2015 and later it got passed by the Rajya in March 2016. 
•    Now it will go for the Presidential assent as per Article 111 of Constitution. 
•    The Bill seeks to amend the Carriage by Air Act, 1972 
•    It will revise the limits of liability for airlines and compensation in order adhere with the global counterparts. 
•    Bill intends to raise the liability limit for damage in case of delay, injury or death to each person. 
•    The Carriage by Air Act, 1972: Regulates carriage by air by giving effect to the Warsaw Convention, 1929 and as amended by Hague Protocol, 1955 and the Montreal Convention, 1999.  
 

India got ranked at the 90th among 126 countries in terms of Energy Security complied by World Economic Forum (WEF).

•    Switzerland topped the list followed by Norway on the basis of the ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy. 
•    It was revealed by Global Energy Architecture Performance Index (GEAPI) and Report compiled by WEF.
•    Top 10 in this includes  Sweden (3rd), France (4th), Denmark (5th), Austria (6th), Spain (7th), Colombia (8th), New Zealand (9th) and Uruguay (10th). Among the BRIC nations, Brazil was the top performer as it was ranked at the 25th place, followed by Russia (52nd), India (90th), China (94).
•    In India, the proportion of the population covered having grown over the past six years by 4 % points to 79 per %. 
•    Among other major economies Germany was ranked at the 24^th place, while the United States was at the 48th rank and Japan was at the 50th rank. 
•    The Report was prepared by GEAPI in collaboration with Accenture.