GK & Current Affairs March 2016

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on 18 March 2016 successfully conducted Exercise Iron Fist in Pokhran, Rajasthan.
The event was attended by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
The day-night exercise was aimed at demonstrating IAF’s combat and fire power and reassure the nation about its commitment and capabilities in safeguarding the national interests.
It also showcased more than 22 types of platforms and Weapons Systems including Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000, Jaguar, MiG-29, Attack helicopters, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), etc.
The event comprised following six packages depicting six themes in which more than 180 aircraft, including fighters, transport and helicopters participated.
1) Net Enabled Operations
2) Fly Past
3) Air Defence Operations
4) Combat Support Operations
5) Flying Displays
6) All Weather Operations

International Day of Forests was observed on 21 March 2016 across the globe with the theme Forest and Water. The theme highlights the importance of forests in sustaining planet’s supply of freshwater, which is essential for life.
•    To mark the Day, a joint celebration of the International Day of Forests and World Water Day was held on 21 March 2016 in New York. The UNFF Secretariat and UN-Water are organizing the event, in collaboration with the Sweden Government.
•    The event entitled Forests and Water|Sustain Life and Livelihoods will raise awareness of the interconnections between forests and water, and their contributions to implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
•    United Nations General Assembly on 21 December 2012 designated 21 March as global celebration to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests.
•    Every year International Day of Forests is celebrated by the ways in which forests and trees sustain and protect us.
•    Forests cover one third of the Earth's land mass, performing vital functions around the world and are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80 percent of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects. 
•    They also provide shelter, jobs and security for forest-dependent communities.

An Indian student Geetakshi Arora has been awarded the inaugural Noor Inayat Khan Prize for her excellent dissertation on “Goddess Myths in Graphic Novels: Reimagining Indian Feminity”.
•    Currently, Geetakshi is a post-graduate student of the South Asia Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
•    The award has been instituted in the memory of Noor Inayat Khan, famous World War II heroine.
•    The award was established by Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust that promote the message of peace, non-violence and religious and racial harmony
•    The award consists of 1,000 pounds and certificate.
•    Noor Inayat Khan (also known as “Nora Baker” and “Madeleine”) was of Indian Sufi origin and believed in non-violence and religious harmony.
•    Born in Moscow to an Indian father, Hazrat Inayat Khan and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker. Her father was great-grandson of Tipu Sultan.
•    Thus, she was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the e 18th century ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore who had refused to submit to British rule and was killed in battle in 1799.
•    During the Second World War, she had worked as British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent. She was famously known as Spy Princess.
•    She was the first female radio operator to be sent into occupied France to aid the French Resistance to the Nazis.
•    She was eventually betrayed, captured and killed in Dachau Concentration Camp by the Gestapo at the age of 30. Her last word was “Liberte”

Nepal signed 10 agreements with China on 21 March 2016 in Beijing. 
•    These include a landmark transit treaty to end its total dependence on India and extension of the strategic Tibet rail link to Nepal.
•    The agreements were signed during the Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s maiden visit to China and held wide-ranging talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and called on President Xi Jinping.
•    China firmly supported efforts of Nepal to safeguard sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity as well as the Nepali people's choice of development path. 
•    China also promised that it will not interfere in internal affairs of Nepal.
•    The two countries have also started working on the first draft of a free trade agreement.
•    Oli also discussed with China to establish a rail network connecting different cities in the country. 
•    This is besides the plan to extent the Tibetan railway to the Nepal border.
•    Beijing also offered concessional loan for a new airport in Nepal's Pokhara and a feasibility study for oil and gas survey projects.
•    Oli showed interest in utilising Chinese seaports for its international trade and the same was informed to China's official Xinhua news agency. 
•    It is likely to end monopoly of New Delhi over Nepal’s trade through Haldia port in West Bengal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 March 2016 launched Kisan Suvidha mobile application for farmers. It will provide information on subjects such as weather, market prices, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and agriculture machinery.
•    Kisaan Suvidha is an omnibus mobile app developed to help farmers by providing relevant information to them quickly.
•    To operate this app farmer should own a smart phone and should register his or her Mobile Number and enter details of the state, district and block or sub-district.
•    The information will be available in Hindi and English.
•    A tap on the weather button shows details of temperature, humidity, wind and rainfall for the current day and the forecast for the next five days.
•    The market price button shows latest price of all crops traded in a mandi or registered agriculture market of the particular district a farmer belongs to.
•    The plant protection button gives pest, weed and disease-related information as well as management practices for each stage of crop development from nursery to harvesting.
•    The agro advisory section shows messages for farmers from district agriculture officials and state universities in their local language.
•    Farmers can also access names and mobile numbers of input dealers selling pesticides, seeds, fertiliser and machinery, dealers of the produced grains and crops and their market prices, agro advisories, plant protection, IPM Practices etc.
•    The app also incorporated with unique features like extreme weather alerts and market prices of commodity in nearest area and the maximum price in state as well as India. It was added to empower farmers in the best possible manner.
•    An additional tab directly connects the farmer with the Kisan call centre where technical graduates answer their queries.

World Water Day (WWD) 2016 was globally observed on 22 March 2016 with the theme Water and Jobs. 
•    The theme for the WWD 2016 talks about how water links to jobs as three out of four of the jobs worldwide are water-dependent.
•    In fact, water shortages and lack of access may limit economic growth in the years to come.
•    On the occasion of the WWD, the report titled 2016 United Nations World Water Development Report, Water and Jobs, was launched in Geneva.
•    WWD is celebrated every year to make a difference for the members of the global population who suffer from water related issues. It’s a day to prepare for how we manage water in the future.
•    The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) designated 22 March as the first World Water Day in 1993. 
•    This day was formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A Committee on Taxation of e-commerce constituted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to examine the business models for e-commerce submitted its report on 21 March 2016.

•    The Report of the Committee was received by the Government of India and taken into consideration in the preparation of Finance Bill, 2016.
•    The Report provides the view of the Committee on issues related to taxation of e-commerce and recent international developments in this area.
•    The Committee included officers of the CBDT, representatives from the industry, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and tax experts. The 8-member committee was headed by Akhilesh Ranjan, Joint Secretary (FT&TR-I), CBDT, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
•    Equalization Levy may be imposed on payments to non-residents for specified services by a separate chapter in the Finance Act, 2016.
•    The Equalization Levy should be chargeable on any sum that is received by a non resident from a resident in India or a permanent establishment in India as a consideration for the specified digital services.
•    The rate of Equalization Levy may be between 6 to 8 percent of the gross sum received.
•    Equalization Levy should not be charged unless the consideration received for specified services in a year from a person in India is more than one lakh rupees.
•    Equalization Levy should also not be charged on payments received by a permanent establishment of a non-resident in India, which are attributable to that permanent establishment and taxable under Income-tax Act, 1961.
•    Every person that has received any sum chargeable to Equalization Levy, would be required to pay the Equalization Levy chargeable on that sum to the union government.
•    Every person that has received any sum chargeable to Equalization Levy, would be required to file a return of Sum chargeable to Equalization Levy as prescribed, if such total sum received by that person in a year exceeds ten crore rupees.
•    Any income arising from a transaction on which Equalization Levy has been paid should be exempted from income-tax, by necessary amendment in Section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
•    The definition of business connection in section 9 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 may be expanded to include the concept of significant economic presence.
•    Work on exploring the possibility of deduction of Equalization Levy by the payment gateways should be initiated immediately.
•    The implementation and impact of Equalization Levy may be monitored on a regular basis.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter announced on 18 March 2016 that President Barack Obama has nominated General Lori Robinson to lead the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and NORAD. This will make her the first woman to command a major Unified Combatant Command.
The position is one of the most senior in the US military and must be confirmed by the Senate. If approved by the Senate, US Air Force General Lori Robinson will be the new North command chief and will be responsible for any missile threats against the homeland.
• Lori J. Robinson is a United States Air Force general who is Commander of Pacific Air Forces, Air Component Commander for United States Pacific Command, and Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
• She entered the Air Force in 1981 through the ROTC program at the University of New Hampshire.
• On 21 September 2007, she became the first Air Battle Manager and first woman 552nd ACW commander to be frocked to brigadier general while stationed at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
• In 2014, she was chosen to be the new commanding general of the Pacific Air Forces in Hawaii, making her the first U.S. female four-star commander of combat forces.
• United States Northern Command is a Unified Combatant Command of the U.S. military tasked with providing military support for civil authorities in the U.S., and protecting the territory and national interests of the United States within the contiguous United States, Alaska, (not Hawaii), Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico (and the air, land and sea approaches to these areas).
• USNORTHCOM was created on 25 April 2002 when President George W. Bush approved a new Unified Command Plan, following the September 11 Attacks.
• USNORTHCOM went operational on 1 October 2002.

The Maharashtra Government will observe 2016 as the "Year of Farmers Self-respect" at a time when the state is battling severe drought and agrarian distress. 
•    Presenting the state Budget for 2016-17 in the Assembly, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar announced that 2016 will be observed as "Shetkari Swabhiman Varsha" (Year of Farmers Self-respect) in view of the prevailing drought in parts of Maharashtra and problems faced by agriculturists. 

•    While presenting a revenue deficit budget, he made substantial budgetary allocation - of Rs 25,000 crore - for various agricultural schemes to boost the farm sector. 
•    Besides this, the Finance Minister made substantial allocations for 26 major schemes, out of the total 58 schemes and programmes of the BJP-led Government. 
•    This includes allocation of Rs 90 crore for Mumbai Metro III project, Rs 15 crore for modernisation of Sassoon Docks and Rs 300 crore for the Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Yojana (health care scheme). 
•    Mungantiwar set aside Rs 1,000 crore for "Jalyukt Shivar", the Government's flagship water conservation and management programme. 
•    A sum of Rs 350 crore has been earmarked for installation of CCTV cameras in Mumbai and major urban cities. In a bid to improve female sex ratio, the Government allocated Rs 25 crore for "Majzhi Kanya Bhagyashri", a scheme targeted at girls from BPL families. 
•    An amount of Rs 110 crore has been set aside for the Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Loan Concession scheme aimed at farmers. 
•    Since the United Nations (UN) has declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses, the Budget allocated Rs 80 crore for increasing production of oil seeds and pulses. 
•    A sum of Rs 2,000 crore has been allotted for building farm ponds as part of anti-drought measures. 
•    While Rs 1,855 crore has been earmarked for Crop Insurance Scheme, a sum of Rs 62 crore will go towards the Decentralised Foodgrain Purchase scheme. 
•    A sum of Rs 112 crore has been earmarked for the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Tribal Nutritious Diet scheme. 

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt on 19 March 2016 won a gold medal in the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament at Astana in Kazakhstan.
With the win, Dutt secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men’s 65kg freestyle category.
Dutt became the second Indian wrestler after Narsingh Yadav to qualify for the Rio Games, to be held in August 2016.
The Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament is the second qualifying event for the Rio Games. The first was 2015 World Championship in Las Vegas, where only Narsingh Yadav bagged a quota place for the country in men’s 74kg freestyle.
• Yogeshwar Dutt is an Indian wrestler from Haryana.
• He won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Men's 60kg Freestyle wrestling.
• He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.
• He won Gold Medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow.