18 March 2015 Current Affairs
Astra Missile Launched Successfully
India’s indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was successfully launched from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft on 18 March. The missile was successfully tested to hit a simulated target at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, in Odisha. The missile was tested to prove the manoeuvring capability against a simulated target and also to validate various subsystems. The all-weather, state-of-the-art missile developed by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) can engage and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speed. The 3.8 metre long Astra is the smallest of the DRDO-developed missiles and can be launched from different altitudes. It can reach up to 110 km when fired from an altitude of 15 km, 44 km when launched from an altitude of eight km and 21 km when fired from sea level.
Lok Sabha Passed Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Bill
The Lok Sabha on 18 March passed the Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which seeks to do away with the Centre’s responsibility of being a financial guarantor to Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC).
India To Host 7th Asian Ministerial Conference On Disaster Risk Reduction In 2016
India will host the seventh Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in 2016. This was declared by Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh on seventeen March 2015 at the third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction organised in Sendai, Japan. Also, this will be the 1st AMCDRR to be hosted by India in the post-2015 framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, though India had hosted the Second AMCDRR in 2007. The conference in 2016 will be organised in collaboration with the United Nations office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
Kavinder Gupta Elected As Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker
Kavinder Gupta, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, was on 18 March elected as the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) legislative assembly. Gupta is an MLA from Gandhi Nagar constituency of Jammu district. Gupta replaces the Protem Speaker Muhammad Shafi of the regional National Conference.