General Awareness
Pulse Polio Programme
President Ram Nath Kovind, launched the Pulse Polio programme for 2019 by administering polio drops to children less than five years old in the presence of J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare.
National Immunization Day observed on 10th March every year. More than 17 crore children of less than five years across the country were given polio drops as part of the drive of Government of India to sustain polio eradication from the country. To provide additional protection to children, Government also introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine into its routine immunization program.
Panel on Ayodhya
The Supreme Court appointed the mediation committee for resolution of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute.
The committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, where as spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu act as members.
Five-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi referred the case to the panel for mediation, saying the proceedings should be conducted with utmost confidentiality.
Pinaka Test
On 11 March 2019, DRDO successfully test fired the Guided PINAKA from Pokhran ranges. The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of an advanced navigation and control system.
In both the missions, the weapon systems impacted the intended targets with high precision and achieved desired accuracies. Telemetry Systems tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight path. All the mission objectives have been met.
The indigenously developed Guided Pinaka by DRDO will significantly boost the capability of the artillery to make precision hits.
New Palestinian PM
Mohammad Shtayyeh has been named as Palestinian Prime Minister by President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
Ex-Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and his government tendered their resignations, underscoring the failure of Hamas and Fatah to implement a power-sharing deal Shtayyeh, a former government minister, has been part of a number of Palestinian negotiating teams in the United States-brokered talks with Israel.
S C Garg New FS
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Subhash Chandra Garg, the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, as the Finance Secretary.
He also served as an Executive Director to the World Bank. Garg succeeded Ajay Narayan Jha.
Chameli Devi Jain Award
Bilingual correspondent with the BBC at its Delhi bureau, Priyanka Dubey won the Chameli Devi Jain Award 2018 as outstanding women journalist. She was chosen for her multifaceted, interrogative and investigative reports. She helped to uncover the reality underlying in the social and political issues.
Chameli Devi Jain Award has been awarded to women journalist for upholding standards of excellence for the past 37 years.
BRICS Sherpa meeting
First BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concluded on 15 March 2019, at Curitiba in Brazil. The Secretary, Economic Relations in the Ministry of External Affairs, T S Tirumurti led the Indian delegation at the two-day meeting. During the meeting, India conveyed its support for the priority areas set out by Brazil, particularly to take forward BRICS cooperation on counter terrorism in a meaningful and concrete manner with BRICS member countries.
Brazil's priorities for its Presidency include science, technology and innovation, digital economy, New Development Bank and BRICS Business Council as well as countering transnational crime and terrorism.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Karnataka had beaten Maharashtra by eight wickets to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament on 16 March 2019. Mayank Agarwal hit an unbeaten 85 and Rohan Kadam made a brilliant 60 runs to make it possible for Karnataka to win maiden Ali trophy.
Writer: Amara Veeraswamy
