10 March 2016 Current Affairs
ISRO Successfully Launched Sixth Navigation Satellite IRNSS 1-F
Sixth Navigation Satellite IRNSS 1-F was launched successfully by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota on 10 March 2016. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-1F) was launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) weighing 320 tonnes. The IRNSS-1F was launched into a sub-Geosynchronous transfer orbit with a 284-km perigee (nearest point to Earth) and 20,657-km apogee (farthest point to Earth). The satellite carries two types of payloads — navigation payload and ranging payload. The navigation payload will transmit navigation service signals to users while the other consists of a C-band transponder that facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite. IRNSS-1F is the sixth in the series of seven satellites proposed under the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). The IRNSS has come to be known as the country’s own GPS.
New radio channel for traffic updates on National Highways
The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry is working on an ambitious plan to broadcast traffic updates through a dedicated radio frequency across various national highways. The Ministry is in talks with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to get a frequency band to disseminate among national highway commuters travel tips, safety tips, traffic updates, including information on accidents and diversions. As a pilot project, the government on 10 March 2016 launched Highway Advisory Services to give traffic updates to commuters on the 256-km Delhi-Jaipur National Highway-8. Doordarshan was planning to return its unused UHF band (ultra high frequency) to the government and it had already asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to allocate that frequency to the Highways Ministry. Another option was to get a licence for the unused 105.6 MHz frequency which was earlier allotted to Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for its educational radio channel Gyan Vani. The All India Radio had stopped the operation of the Gyan Vani station because of the discontinuation of payments by IGNOU.
CCEA approved Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to provide free LPG connections to BPL households
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 10 March 2016 approved Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The scheme seeks to provide free LPG connections to women from below poverty line (BPL) households .Incidentally, this is the first time the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas would implement a welfare scheme benefitting crores of women belonging to the poorest households. Under the scheme, a financial support of 1600 rupees will be provided for each LPG connection to the BPL households. This will benefit about 1 crore 50 lakh households below the poverty line in 2016-17. It will be implemented at an estimated cost of 8000 crore rupees over three years between April 2016 and March 2019 to cover 5 crore BPL households.
Indo-Indonesia Joint Training Exercise Garuda Shakti IV begins
“The fourth edition of the India-Indonesia Joint Training Exercise Garuda Shakti has begun at Magelang in Indonesia on 10 March 2016.The 13 days (till 23 March) bilateral exercise aims at
(i) Building and promoting positive relations between the Armies of India and Indonesia.
(ii) Enhancing their abilities to undertake joint tactical level operations in a counter insurgency environment under United Nations Charter.”
Rest of India beat Mumbai to lift Irani Cup Cricket Title
Rest of India won the Irani Cup Cricket Title on 10 March 2016. Rest of India defeated 41-time Ranji Champions Mumbai by four wickets. The Irani Cup (earlier called Irani Trophy) tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970.
Brazil musician Nana Vasconcelos passed away
Acclaimed Brazil musician Naná Vasconcelos passed away on 10 March 2016 due to lung cancer in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife. He was 71. He was 8 time Grammy Award-winning Brazilian percussionist known for his wide instrumental range and major role in free spirited jazz and world music of the 1970s and 1980s. He was Born on 2 August 1944 in Recife, Brazil. Vasconcelos was master of a single-string, multi-toned Afro-Brazilian instrument the berimbau (in Portuguese).
RBI inks information exchange pact with Bank of Israel
The Reserve Bank has signed a pact with Bank of Israel for exchange of information pertaining to banking supervision. On 10 March 2016 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Hedva Ber, Supervisor of banks on behalf of Bank of Israel and Parvathy V Sundaram, Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Banking Supervision on behalf of Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank has entered into an MoU, Letter for Supervisory Co-operation and Statement Statement of Co-operation with supervisors of a few countries to promote greater co-operation and share supervisory information. With this, the RBI has signed 32 such MoUs, one Letter for Supervisory Co-operation and one Statement of Co-operation.