GK & Current Affairs March 2016

SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus Baahubali was declared the Best Film at 63rd National Film Awards announced on March 28. 
•    Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan won the Best Actor award for his role in ‘Piku’ while actress Kangana Ranaut won Best Actress for her role in ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns.”
•    Kangana Ranaut, 28, won the award for her role in romantic comedy drama “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” for her endearing dual turn as Tanu, a troublesome wife and Haryanvi sportsperson Datto.
•    This is the third trophy for Ranaut at the National Awards, having won best actress for “Queen” last year and earlier for best supporting actress for 2008 film “Fashion”.
•    Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has won Best Director for his magrnum opus ‘Bajirao Mastani.’
•    This is Amitabh Bachchan’s fourth national award. The actor first won a national award for best actor for Agneepath in 1990. His next two national award wins happened in 2005 and 2009 for Black and Paa respectively.
•    Salman Khan’s ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ was named Best Popular Film at the 63rd National Film Awards.
•    Last year’s much appreciated “Masaan” had to contend itself with just a Best Debut director award for Neeraj Ghaywan.
•    Best adapted screenplay honour went to Vishal Bhardwaj for real-life inspired crime drama ‘Talvar’, while the Best Original Screenplay and dialogue was shared between Juhi  Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Sharma (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)
•    Singer Monali Thakur won Best singer for her song Moh Moh Ke Dhage, Dum Laga Ke Haisha. While Best Cinematography was won by Sudeep Chaterjee for Bajirao Mastani.
•    Remo D’Souza won Best Choreographer for his song Deewani Mastani from Bajirao Mastani.
•    Best Screenplay – Dialogues: Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Sharma (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)
•    Bajirao Mastani has won three National Awards this year.
•    Actress Kalki Koechlin’s stint as a girl affected with cerebral palsy in Shonali Bose’s “Margarita with a Straw” got a special jury mention.
•    Tamil star Samuthirakani bagged the best supporting actor award for his role in thriller, “Visaranai”, based on M Chandrakumar’s novel “Lock Up”. The movie also won the best Tamil film and best editing awards.
•    “Baahubali”, which won best feature film honour, also scored the best special effects award for CGI-laden screenplay.

On 28th March Padma Awards were given by the president of India.
Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. 
•    The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. 
•    ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
•    These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan every year. 
•    This year the President of India has approved conferment of Padma Awards to 112. The list comprises of 10 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 83 Padma Shri Awardees.  19 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs (include one posthumous) and 4 Posthumous awardees.
PADMA VIBHUSHAN :
•    Ms. Yamini Krishnamurthi - Art- Classical dance
•    Shri Rajinikanth - Art-Cinema
•    Smt. Girija Devi - Art-Classical Vocal         
•    Shri Ramoji Rao - Literature & Education-Journalism
•    Dr. Viswanathan Shanta - Medicine- Oncology
•    Shri Shri Ravi Shankar - Others-Spiritualism               
•    Shri Jagmohan - Public Affairs                
•    Dr.Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre - Science & Engineering
•    Shri Avinash Dixit - Literature & Education,USA
•    Late Shri Dhiru Bhai Ambani (Posthumous) - Trade & Industry
PADMA BHUSHAN

•    Shri Anupam Kher - Art-Cinema
•    Shri Udit Narayan Jha - Art-Playback Singing
•    Shri Ram V.  Sutar - Art-Sculpture
•    Shri Heisnam Kanhailal - Art-Theatre
•    Shri Vinod Rai - Civil Service
•    Dr. Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad - Literature & Education
•    Prof. N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya - Literature & Education
•    Dr. Barjinder Singh Hamdard - Literature & Education - Journalism
•    Prof. D. Nageshwar Reddy - Medicine-Gastroenterology
•    Swami Tejomayananda - Other-Spiritualism
•    Shri Hafeez Contractor - Others-Architecture
•    Shri  Ravindra Chandra Bhargava - Public Affairs
•    Dr.Venkata Rama Rao Alla - Science & Engineering
•    Ms. Saina Nehwal - Sports-Badminton
•    Ms. Sania Mirza - Sports-Tennis
•    Ms. Indu Jain - Trade & Industry
•    Late Swami Dayanand Sarawasati (Posthumous) - Others-Spiritualism
•    Shri Robert Blackwill  - Public Affairs, USA
•    Shri Pallonji Shapoorji  Mistry (NRI/PIO) - Trade & Industry, Ireland

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 21 March 2016 established the Gadanki Ionosphere Radar Interferometer (GIRI) near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
•    It was set up at the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) which is an autonomous research institute of the Department of Space.
•    It is a 30 MHz radar system that will be engaged in meteor and space weather research in a comprehensive way.
•    It consists of a rectangular antenna array of 160 two-element Yagi-antenna, arranged in a 20x8 matrix, 20 transmitter units, 6 digital receivers including data processing systems, a radar controller, and a host computer.
•    Its primary objective is to carry out unattended observations towards studying the forcing from the sun like variation in solar flux, solar flare and magnetic storm on the ionosphere irregularities.
•    It also seeks to study unattended observations from the underneath atmosphere (e.g., waves generated by weather phenomena) on the ionosphere irregularities.
•    It will provide important information on the angular location of plasma irregularities during the onset phase and its relationship to background ionosphere state parameters and sunset terminator.
•    Investigations made using this facility are expected to improve the skill in Equatorial Plasma Bubble (EPB) forecasting which is detrimental for satellite based navigation/communication applications.
•    It is an autonomous society supported by Department of Space and is located at Gadanki near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
•    It is one of the specialized atmospheric research in the country to conduct basic atmospheric research, indigenous technology development for atmospheric probing and weather and climate modeling.
•    It regularly operates state-of-the-art MST radar, Rayleigh / Mie Lidar, Boundary Layer Lidar, Sodium Lidar, Lower Atmospheric Wind Profiler, Sodar and Dual frequency GPS receiver.
•    Its facilities are available for national and international scientists to conduct atmospheric research.
•    The proposed up-gradation of the upcoming active array MST radar into Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) will provide a unique opportunity for scientists from both home and abroad to conduct frontline atmospheric and ionosphere research.
•    With the ISR upgrade, NARL will become the first comprehensive low latitude observatory in the world.

A Congressional resolution aiming to bring India on a par with America’s NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies in terms of Defence trade and technology transfer was introduced recently. 
•    The US-India Defense Technology and Partnership Act (HR 4825) proposes to amends the Arms Export Control Action. 
•    It was introduced by Congressman George Holding, Co-Chair of the House India Caucus. 
•    The resolution seeks to formalise (i) India’s status as a major partner of equal status as US’s NATO allies and closest partners and (ii) also elevate India’s status in export of defence articles from the US. 
•    Benefits to India Cement the India-US relations and lay a foundation for future cooperation and growth. 
•    Shorten the time required for the notification of sale or export of defence articles from the United States to India. 
•    Encourage more joint contingency planning and require the US government review and assess India’s ability to execute military operations of mutual interest. 
•    US-India Defence Relations Defence trade between the US and India is one of the strongest areas of the bilateral economic relationship. 
•    Over the past 10 years it has risen from $300 million to over $14 billion.

In a nod to extra-terrestrial mountaineers of the future, scientists working on NASA’s Cassini mission have identified the highest point on Saturn’s largest moon Titan.
•    Titan’s tallest peak is 10,948 feet high and is found within a trio of mountainous ridges called the Mithrim Montes.
•    The researchers found that all of Titan’s highest peaks are about 10,000 feet in elevation.
•    The study used images and other data from Cassini’s radar instrument, which can peer through the obscuring smog of Titan’s atmosphere to reveal the surface in detail.
•    Most of Titan’s tallest mountains appear to be close to the equator.
•    The researchers identified other peaks of similar height within the Mithrim Montes, as well as in the rugged region known as Xanadu.
•    Mountains and cliffs on Earth usually are found in locations where forces have shoved the surface upward from underneath.
•    The Himalaya and Andes Mountains are examples of places where interior forces are at work today.
•    Cassini has found that Titan also has rain and rivers that erode its landscape.
•    According to Radebaugh, the process probably proceeds much more slowly on Titan than on the Earth because, at 10 times Earth’s distance from the sun, there is less energy to power erosive processes in the moon’s atmosphere.
•    The fact that Titan has significant mountains suggests that some active tectonic forces could be affecting the surface, for example, related to Titan’s rotation, tidal forces from Saturn or cooling of the crust.
•    The next step for the researchers will be trying to figure out what could produce such tall peaks on an icy ocean world.
•    The results were presented at the 47th annual lunar and planetary science conference in Texas on Thursday.

On 25 March 2016 Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) announced that it successfully commissioned a 600 MW coal-based thermal power plant in Telangana.
•    The unit was commissioned at the upcoming 2x600 MW Singareni Thermal Power Project (TPP) located at Jaipur in Adilabad district of Telangana.
•    The 1200 MW Jaipur Power Plant is being developed by Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). With the commissioning of this unit, SCCL has now successfully diversified into the power generation business.
•    SCCL is India's second largest coal mining company and operates 16 opencast and 32 underground mines in 4 districts of Telangana.
•    For Telangana, it is the second major plant after the formation of the State in June 2014. Earlier, in December 2015, the 600 MW Kakatiya Thermal Power Plant Stage-II was commissioned at Bhoopalapally in Warangal district.
•    Incidentally, both these thermal plants were commissioned by the BHEL that has a major contribution in Telangana's Power Sector. So far, the company has commissioned power plants totaling 5180 MW in the State.
•    And, the Telangana Government has already placed orders on BHEL for executing around 6000 MW of thermal power projects in the State on Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) basis.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 23 March 2016 notified the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016.
•    The new set of rules will supersede the E-Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 and will pave the way for more transparent and environment friendly management of e-waste across the country.
•    Manufacturer, dealer, refurbished and Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) have been introduced as additional stakeholders in the rules.
•    The applicability of the rules has been extended to components, consumables, spares and parts of electromechanical.
•    Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) and other mercury containing lamp were brought under the purview of rules for the first time.
•    Collection mechanism based approach has been adopted to include collection centre, collection point, take back system etc for collection of e-waste by Producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
•    Option has been given for setting up of PRO, e-waste exchange, e- retailer, Deposit Refund Scheme as additional channel for implementation of EPR by Producers to ensure efficient channelization of e-waste.
•    Provision for Pan India EPR Authroization by CPCB has been introduced replacing the State wise EPR authorization.
•    Deposit Refund Scheme was introduced as an additional economic instrument wherein the producer charges an additional amount as a deposit at the time of sale of the electrical and electronic equipment.
•    The amount will be returned to the consumer along with interest when the end-of life electrical and electronic equipment is returned.
•    The e-waste exchange as an option has been provided in the rules as an independent market instrument offering assistance or independent electronic systems offering services for sale and purchase of e-waste.
•    The manufacturer is also now responsible to collect e-waste generated during the manufacture of any electrical and electronic equipment and channelise it for recycling or disposal and seek authorization from SPCB.
•    For the first time, the roles of the State Government was introduced in the Rules in order to ensure safety, health and skill development of the workers involved in the dismantling and recycling operations.
•    State Government will prepare an integrated plan for effective implementation of these provisions and submit annual report to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
•    The transportation of e-waste shall be carried out as per the manifest system whereby the transporter shall be required to carry a document (three copies) prepared by the sender, giving the details.
•    Liability for damages caused to the environment or third party due to improper management of e-waste including provision for levying financial penalty for violation of provisions of the Rules introduced.
•    Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Committee/Council/Corporation) were given the duty to collect and channelized the orphan products to authorized dismantler or recycler.

A Chinese university has developed a police car capable of face scanning during patrols, a media reported on 25/03/2016.
•    The intelligent vehicles, developed by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Sichuan province, will be put on trial in June, the Global Times reported.
•    China’s police cars are mostly re-fitted from commercial car models according to the needs of local authorities. 
•    The new cars will address many problems resulting from this poor standardisation, said Yin Guangqiang, director of the police-use advanced technology institute at the university.
•    The car is equipped with rooftop cameras that capture faces within a radius of 60 m, even at a speed of 120 km/h. The images are then scanned through the police database.
•    Its other functions include detecting vehicles information and identifying mobile phones in its proximity. Its engines also consume less oil and discharge less carbon dioxide..

A National level AROGYA Fair organized by the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India in association with Goa State Government and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) began in Goa on 26-March, 2016 at Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium at Goa University Campus at Bambolim near Panaji. 
•    Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri ShripadNaik inaugurated the four day conference in the presence of Goa Chief Minister Shri LaxmikantParsekar, Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly Shri AnantShet, Deputy Chief Minister Sh. Francis D’Souza, Forest Minister ShRajendraArlekar, Science and Technology Minister Ms. Alina Saldanha and leader of opposition Shri Pratap Singh Rane. 
•    On the occasion, the Union Minister of State (IC) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Naik also released the Yoga Protocol for the second International Day of Yoga falling on 21st June, 2016. 
•    India has entered into an agreement with World Health Organization to popularize this traditional system of medicine across the world. 
•    Mr Naik Said, India has also signed an MoU with Amercia for a Joint Research under AYUSH in the field of Cancer. 
•    The four day fair aims to create awareness among the members of the public about the efficiency of the AYUSH systems, their cost-effectiveness and the availability of herbs and plants used for prevention and treatment of common ailments at their doorstep through various mass media channels to achieve the objective of Health for all.

Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings.
•    Poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition and, over centuries, can communicate the innermost values of diverse cultures.
•    In celebrating World Poetry Day, March 21, UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.
•    A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted during UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999.
•    One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
•    The observance of World Poetry Day is also meant to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.