GK and Current Affairs Updates

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.

Country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on 14th March 2016 tied up with marquee sports car maker Ferrari to launch co-branded credit card.
•    “The ‘Ferrari Credit Card’ comes in two variants on the Visa platform and offers customers a host of offers including an all-expenses-paid trip for top spenders to Italy and also includes a Scuderia Ferrari watch as a joining gift,” the bank said in a statement.
•    this is the first-ever Ferrari range of credit cards in the country.
•    The bank had over 34.69 lakh outstanding credit cards as of November, that saw transactions of over Rs 2,393 crore at ATMs and POS terminals.
•    Other benefits which come with the card include discount on Ferrari branded products at the Ferrari Store in Maranello, Italy, and merchandise sold online at the Ferrari Store and Myntra.com, the statement said.
•    The cardholder also gets complementary access to domestic airport lounges in the country and a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer on bookings done through bookmyshow.com, it added.

 Fazle Kabir on 15 March 2016 was appointed the 11th Governor of the Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh.
•    Kabir replaced Atiur Rahman, who had resigned after taking moral responsibility over electronic theft of 101 million US dollars from the central bank's account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
•    A Bangladeshi economist and banker, FazleKabir served as the chairman of state-owned Sonali Bank prior to his appointment in the Bangladesh Bank.
•    He has also served as a Director of state-owned Janata Bank.
•    A graduate from University of Chittagong in economics, he started his career in 1980 with Bangladesh Railway as an Assistant Traffic Superintendent.
•    He was appointed as a senior secretary to the Ministry of Finance in 2012.
•    Between 4 February and 5 February 2016, unknown cyber criminals hacked into the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank and stole around 101 million US dollars from its account at the Reserve Bank of New York between. The money was then allegedly transferred electronically to casinos in the Philippines.
•    The hackers had reportedly bombarded the New York Fed with 35 separate requests to withdraw money.
•    The theft is one of the biggest cyber heists in history

 Meir Dagan, former Chief of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, passed away on 17 March 2016 due to cancer. He was 71.Dagan served as Director of the Mossad from 2002 until his retirement in 2011.
• Born on 30 January 1945, Dagan was recruited into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1963.
• In the early 1970s, he commanded an ad hoc undercover commando unit, known as SayeretRimon, whose task was to combat the increasing violence in the Palestinian territories.
• In 1971, he received a Medal of Courage for tackling a wanted terrorist who was holding a live grenade.
• During the 1982 Lebanon War, he commanded the Barak Armored Brigade, and was one of the first brigade commanders to enter Beirut.
• In the 1990s, he held a series of high-level positions in the IDF command, eventually reaching the rank of Major General. He retired from the army in 1995.
• Later, he served as a counterterrorism adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• He also initially served as a National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who appointed him Director-General of Mossad in August 2002.
• As Mossad director, he was responsible for intelligence, counter-intelligence, and counter-terrorism activities outside of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
• Under his watch, Mossad tripled its recruitment efforts, launching a website where people can apply to join.
• Mossad is the national intelligence agency of Israel.
• It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman(military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security).
• Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection, covert operations, and counterterrorism.
• It is also responsible for bringing Jews to Israel from countries where official Aliyah(immigration of Jews from the Diaspora to the Land of Israel) agencies are forbidden, and protecting Jewish communities.