1) ICRISAT, ICAR join hands for crop improvement
•In a bid to benefit small farmers in India and globally, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) would work together on crop improvement and agronomy programmes for grain legumes and dryland cereals.
•ICAR and ICRISAT, recently signed an agreement in New Delhi, in which climate-smart crops, smart food and digitalisation of breeding database were identified as some of the core areas of research.
Takeaways from above News-
•Full form of ICAR is Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
•ICAR is situated in New Delhi
•Full form of ICRISAT is International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
•ICRISAT headquarter is in Patancheru, Telangana
•ICRISAT was founded in 1972
2) Uttarakhand HC accords human status to Ganga, Yamuna
•The Uttarakhand High Court has given the status of "living human entities" to the Ganga and Yamuna, two of India's most sacred rivers.
•The Director of Namami Gange project for cleaning and rejuvenating the river, the Chief Secretary and the Advocate General of Uttarakhand will act as the "legal parents" of the holy rivers and work as the human face to protect, conserve and preserve them and their tributaries.
Takeaways from above News-
•Uma Bharti is a cabinet minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in the Union Government of India
•Chief Minister of Uttarakhand is Trivendra Singh Rawat
•Governor of Uttarakhand is Krishna Kant Paul.
3) International Day of Forests: 21 March
•March 21 is the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Forests, which promotes the importance of forests and trees in our lives. The 2017 theme is 'Forests and energy'.This global celebration of forests provides a platform to raise awareness of the importance of all types of woodlands and trees, and celebrate the ways in which they sustain and protect us.
•This year we highlight the importance of wood energy in improving people's lives, powering sustainable development and mitigating climate change.
The major highlights are as follows:
1.Wood is a major renewable energy source- Wood provides the world with more energy than solar, hydroelectric or wind power, accounting for roughly 45 percent of current global renewable energy supply.
2.Wood energy powers economic development- Almost 900 million people, mostly in developing countries, are engaged in the wood-energy sector on a part- or full-time basis. Modernizing the wood energy sector can help revitalize rural economies and stimulate enterprise development.
3.Wood and trees contribute to optimal urban living and lower energy bills - Strategically placed trees in urban areas can cool the air by between 2 to 8 degrees Celcius.
4.Wood energy mitigates climate change and fosters sustainable development- Globally, forests hold an energy content approximately 10 times that of the world’s annual primary energy consumption.
4) Bharatiya Mahila Bank to be merged with SBI
•New-Delhi headquartered The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will be merged with the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI).
•The move will ensure that banking services are provided to more women at a faster pace, given the advantage of the large network of SBI.
•SBI has already announced the merger of its five associates- State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore. The customers of these five banks will be treated as customers of State Bank of India with effect from April 1, 2017.
Takeaways from above news-
•BMB was Incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 on 5 August 2013
•Headquarter of BMB is in New Delhi
•Mrs. S M Swathi is the Executive Director of the BMB
•Motto of BMB- 'Empowering Women, Empowering India'
•Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya is the Chairman of SBI.
5) Tamil Nadu wins Vijay Hazare Trophy
•In Cricket, Tamil Nadu has won the domestic 50-over competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, for the fifth time.
•In the Final played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu defeated Bengal by 37 runs. Dinesh Karthik was named man of the match.
Takeaways from above news-
•Vijay Hazare Trophy is related with Cricket
•Final of 2017 was played at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi
•The Vijay Hazare Trophy was started in 2002–03.
6) India's first sign language dictionary to come up soon
•The government is all set to come up with the country's first-of-its-kind dictionary which aims to bring uniformity in sign languages used by hearing and speech impaired people across the nation.
•The Indian Sign Language (ISL) dictionary, which is being developed by the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), has so far compiled 6,032 Hindi and English words and their corresponding graphic representation of the signs which are used in daily life.The dictionary is being developed in both print and video format.
Takeaways from above News:
•Samuel Johnson Jr. wrote the first English dictionary in 1978 in America
•Full form of (ISLRTC) is Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre
•Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has approved the setting up of the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) in New Delhi.
