GK and Current Affairs Updates

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.

Gurmeet Singh on 20 March 2016 became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in the Asian 20 Kilometer (km) Race Walk Championships.
•    His feat was the first time in 34 years that an Indian won a gold in either an Asian Championships or Asian Games in this event.
•    Hakam Singh and Chand Ram won a Gold medal each in 20-km road walk in 1978 and 1982 Asian Games respectively. Since then, no Indian won a Gold medal at the continental level in this event.
•    Gurmeet Singh took 1 hour 20 minutes and 29 seconds to complete the race while his close competitor Isamu Fujisawa of Japan took 1:20:49 with close fight in the last 5-km. Georgiy Sheiko of Kazakhstan won the bronze medal in 1:21:52.
•    He was sixth time lucky as he finally stood atop the podium after winning 1 Silver and two bronze medals in his earlier five attempts in this championships.
•    He finished seventh in his first appearance in 2011, silver in 2012, a bronze each in 2013 and 2014 and ninth in 2015.
•    In the women's 20-km walk race event, National Games champion and Rio Games-bound Sapna finished fourth in a time of 1:35:57.
•    Rui Liang of China won the gold in 1:28:43 and Kumiko Okada of Japan (1:30:03) and South Korean Jeongeun Lee (1:33:53) took the silver and bronze respectively.

Emmy Award winning actor Larry Drake, who famously played Benny on L.A. Law, died on 17 March 2016 in Hollywood, California.  
He was 66.
•    Drake was best known for his portrayal of developmentally disabled Benny Stulwicz on the television show L.A. Law from 1987 until the show's end in 1994. 
•    He returned to the part of Benny in L.A. Law: The Movie that aired on NBC in 2002.
•    Drake had also provided the voice acting for Pops on Johnny Bravo.
•    The actor won two consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor for L.A. Law in 1988 and 1989.
•    Larry Richard Drake was an American actor, voice artist, and comedian best known as Benny Stulwicz in L.A. Law and the voice of Pops in Johnny Bravo.
•    Larry Richard Drake was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 21, 1949, the son of Raymond John Drake, a drafting engineer for an oil company, and Lorraine Ruth (née Burns), a homemaker.
•    He graduated from Tulsa Edison High School and the University of Oklahoma.

International Day of Happiness was observed on 20 March 2016 across the world.
•    On the other hand, Red, the leader of the Angry Birds mobile game characters, was appointed by the United Nations as an envoy to inspire climate action toward a sustainable and happier future for all.
•    Red’s appointment, as Honorary Ambassador for Green, is part of a UN campaign launched on 18 March 2016 in partnership with the globally renowned characters to make a direct link between tackling climate change and people’s happiness and well-being on the occasion of the International Day of Happiness.
•    The campaign, in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Foundation, asks the general public across the world to make the Angry Birds happy by taking actions on climate change. 
•    The campaign also requests the public to share their photos and commitments on social media platforms using the common hashtag #AngryBirdsHappyPlanet.
•    Since 2013, the United Nations has been celebrating the International Day of Happiness as a way to recognise the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world.
•    20 March was declared as the day of International Happiness following a Bhutanese Concept that was coined by the fourth king of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1970’s. 
•    It was when the country for the first time adopted Gross National Happiness (GNH) over Gross National Product (GNP) as its major goal.