GK and Current Affairs Updates

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. 

 

 On 29th February 2016 the seventh Indo-Seychelles Joint Training Exercises, Lamitye – 2016 was concluded.
•    It was concluded at Victoria, Mahe Island in Seychelles. 
•    It was conducted with an aim to improve interoperability between both Armies in jointly fighting Counter Insurgency and Terrorism.
•    Event took place from 15 February to 28 February 2016.
•    In Creole, Exercise Lamitye means Friendship and it has been a bridge between the Armed Forces of India and SPDF since 2001.
•    The infantry platoon and representatives from the Special Forces were comprised in Indian contingent.
•    Special Forces Unit Tazar and Seychelles Infantry represented Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF).
•    A total of 52 personnel from the SPDF took part in the exercise, including 20 Tazar personnel.
•    Exercise Sea Hunt and Search operations were embedded with hostage rescue operations in an Anti-Piracy setting.

On 28th Feb UltraTech announced acquisition of JP Group’s cement plants for Rs 16,500 crore, 
•    It was the biggest deal in this sector. 
•    The buyer will pay an additional amount of Rs 470 crore to complete the grinding unit.
•    In a transaction that will take its cement portfolio to nearly 91 million tonne, 
•    UltraTech Cement will acquire 22.4 mt of assets from Jaiprakash Associates. 
•    The deal includes two units in Madhya Pradesh.
•    Earlier UltraTech called off a Rs 5,400-crore transaction with JAL for cement plants in Madhya Pradesh. 
•    UltraTech Cement Limited and its subsidiaries have an annual capacity of 68.3 million tonnes, making it among the top manufacturers of cement globally. 
•    UltraTech is also the largest manufacturer of White Cement in India. 
•    UltraTech has 11 composite plants, 1 white cement plant, 1 WallCare putty plant, 1 clinkerisation plant in UAE, 15 grinding units; 11 in India, 2 in UAE, 1 in Bahrain and Bangladesh each, 6 bulk terminals; 5 in India and 1 in Sri Lanka and 101 concrete plants.
 

US actor George Kennedy, who starred in movies including Cool Hand Luke and the Naked Gun series, has died at the age of 91.
•    George Harris Kennedy, was an American actor who appeared in more than two hundred film and television productions. 
•    He is best remembered for portraying "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture.
•    After a brief appearance in the 1960 film Spartacus, his film career began in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. 
•    He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including Charade (1963), Strait-Jacket (1964), Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and in Harm's Way (1965).
•    He made numerous television appearances on such shows as The Asphalt Jungle, The Andy Griffith Show, Peter Gunn, The Untouchables, Bonanza, Maverick, McHale's Navy, Gunsmoke and Route 66. 
•    For his contributions to motion pictures, Kennedy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6352 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.