Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 31st March, 2016. These are important for the upcoming NABARD Assistant Manager 2016.
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Team ExamPundit
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Current Affairs at a Glance – 31st March, 2016
- NTT Data, Inc. and DellInc. on 28 March 2016 announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for NTT Data to acquire Dell Services.
- Prime Minister NarendraModi and Belgian Prime Minister CharlesMichel on 30 March 2016 remotely launched Asia's biggest telescope, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) which is located at Devasthal near Nainital in Uttarakhand.
- Defence Minister ManoharParrikar on 29 March 2016 flagged off India’s first indigenous composites bow mounted Sonar Dome during DefExpo 2016 in Goa.
- India and US will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Thursday for building a state-of-the-art Ligo (Laser Interferometer Gravitational - wave Observatory) project in the country, almost a month after the discovery of gravitational waves.
- The 13th India-European Union Summit was held on 30 March 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. In the summit, India was represented by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- HaldharNag, the 66-year-old poet in Kosli language, was in news in the last week of March 2016. He came in news after President Pranab Mukherjee on 28 March 2016 conferred Padma Shri 2016 on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Finance/Industry –
Telangana Road Transport Authority’s Mobile App M-Wallet launched
- Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao and transport minister P Mahender Reddy launched the State Road Transport Authority’s new mobile app, M-Wallet on 30 March 2016 in Hyderabad. It is first of its kind in any state of India.
- M wallet is a mobile application developed for the Transport Department of the Government of Telangana.
- The app will help the user to download digital copies of documents like driving licence and registration certificate and they could be produced before the police and RTA authorities when demanded.
- It lets one auto-fetch documents, share documents, have all the documents on one screen and add multiple vehicles owned by a single person.
- The documents once downloaded will be saved for future use on the application.
NTT Data inked agreement to acquire Dell Services
- NTT Data, Inc. and Dell Inc. on 28 March 2016 announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for NTT Data to acquire Dell Services.
- This is set to be the biggest-ever acquisition by NTT Data, which is a part of Japan's former telephone monopoly.
- The combined company will become an IT and BPO solutions powerhouse for the healthcare industry with more than 40 years of industry experience and robust end-to-end solutions.
- The grouping will create a rich portfolio of IT and digital business solutions for some of the most attractive services industry sectors including healthcare, financial services, insurance, and the public sector.
India –
Asia's biggest telescope ARIES launched at Devasthal in Uttarakhand
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel on 30 March 2016 remotely launched Asia's biggest telescope, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) which is located at Devasthal near Nainital in Uttarakhand.
- The telescope is the product of an Indo-Belgian collaborative effort and was assisted by the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- It will replace Vainu Bappu Observatory in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu to be Asia’s largest ground-based optical telescope.
- Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) or Devasthal telescope
- It is the largest optical telescope of its kind in Asia.
- It will be used to study star structures and magnetic field structures of stars.
- India produced this telescope in collaboration with a Belgian company called AMOS (Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems) to build and install the mirrors in 2007
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar flagged off India’s first indigenous Sonar Dome
- Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 29 March 2016 flagged off India’s first indigenous composites bow mounted Sonar Dome during DefExpo 2016 in Goa.
- The Sonar Dome will now be delivered to Mazgaon Docks, Mumbai for use in the warships of Indian Navy.
- With the successful manufacture of Sonar Dome, India joined a select group of nations which have the capability of realizing large composites structure with multi-functional requirements, complex geometry and high structural rigidity with acoustic transparency.
- It was possible due to the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process technology with built-in process monitoring capability, to ensure manufacture of a quality product.
India, US to Sign MoU for Building Ligo Project
- India and US will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Thursday for building a state-of-the-art Ligo (Laser Interferometer Gravitational - wave Observatory) project in the country, almost a month after the discovery of gravitational waves.
- The MoU will be signed between the National Science Foundation USA and India's Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology.
- DAE secretary Sekhar Basu will be signing the agreement in USA Thursday.
- The MoU also states of forming a Joint Oversight Group (JOG) with the scientists from NSF, DAE and DST for better coordination of the project.
- The government last month gave an "in-principle approval" for establishing the Ligo-India project which will establish a state-of-the-art gravitational wave observatory in India in collaboration with the Ligo Laboratory in the US, run by Caltech and MIT.
Summit/World –
3th India-EU Summit held in Brussels
- The 13th India-European Union Summit was held on 30 March 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. In the summit, India was represented by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The European Union (EU) was represented by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission.
Outcomes of the 13th India-EU Summit
- The leaders endorsed the EU-India Agenda for Action 2020 that sets out a concrete road-map for the EU-India Strategic Partnership for the next five years.
- The European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed to extend 450 million Euros in loan for the construction of the first metro line in Lucknow.
- The EIB gave its nod to set up the Bank’s regional representation for South Asia in New Delhi.
- The leaders agreed to further the negotiations on early conclusion of the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).
- The EU and India expressed their confidence in the arbitration procedure on the Italian Marines case currently underway in the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Awards & Honors –
Poet Haldar Nag, a class III dropout, conferred Padma Shri
- Haldhar Nag, the 66-year-old poet in Kosli language, was in news in the last week of March 2016. He came in news after President Pranab Mukherjee on 28 March 2016 conferred Padma Shri 2016 on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
- He was bestowed with third highest civilian honour for his contribution in Literature & Education section.
- In Odisha, he is known as Lok Kabi Ratna and has penned down 20 epics and several poems. He remembers all his creations and can recite them at any point of time.
- He wrote his first poem 'Dhodo Bargachh' (The Old Banyan Tree) in 1990, which was published in a local magazine. He wrote it while selling stationeries and eatables for school students from a small shop owned by him.
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Team ExamPundit