TAMILNADU
- All seats in Puducherry, Tamil Nadu expenditure sensitive, says EC
- The Election Commission is putting in place massive infrastructure and is drafting scores of officials across all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry just to track flow of money. The commission has enough reason to be worried because out of the 110 seats identified as “expenditure sensitive” across the country, 40 are in this region alone. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Karnataka and Gujarat account for the rest.
- Apart from the I-T department, the EC has roped in commercial banks also for tracking money flow.
INTERNATIONAL
- Vienna topped the Most Liveable Cities index for the 10th year
- The Austrian capital Viennahas topped Mercer’s index of most liveable cities for the 10th year in a row.
- Zurich in Switzerland, is placed second in the index, while Auckland, Munich and Vancouver came joint third.
- Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu is ranked at 105 in Mercer’s Quality Of Living Index and is the number onecity from India.
- Luxembourg was named the safest cityin a separate personal safety league table.
- Global consulting firm Mercer surveyed in 231 cities across the globe and were ranked them based on factors such as healthcare, education, public services, recreation, crime, housing and personal freedom. The ranking was based on data analysed between September and November 2018.
- India gets the 1st shipment from Afghanistan via Chabahar under TIR
- India received the first shipment of cargo from Afghanistan under the United Nations ‘Transports Internationaux Routiers’ (TIR) convention, arriving via the strategic Chabahar port in Iran.
- The consignments were received at Nhava Sheva port in Navi Mumbai and the Mundra port in Gujarat.
- The TIR system, which India reportedly became part of in June 2017.
- TIR allows easier movement of goods across countries with the usage of TIR there is no requirement for physical checking of the contents.
- First BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concludes successfully
- The first BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concluded at Curitiba in Brazil.
- 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 manner with BRICS member countries.
- BRICS was founded: June 2006. Members are India, China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa. Its Headquarters is at Shanghai, China
NATIONAL
- AFINDEX 2019 held at Pune
- Africa-India Joint Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX-19)between the Indian Army and 16 African nations will be conducted in Pune from March 18 to 27.The joint exercise would be held at Pune’s Foreign Training Node at Aundh Military Station and College of Military Engineering in Kirkee. Features of AFINDEX-19:
- 10 personnel, each from the participating nations from the African continent and personnel of Maratha Light Infantry of the Indian Army will participate in the joint exercise.
- The exercise aims to train the participating contingents in Humanitarian Mine Assistance (HMA) and Peace Keeping Operations (PKO)under the United Nations Charter through practical
- Contingents from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda, Niger & Zambia are part of the joint exercise together with officers from Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar as Observers
- Industrial production growth declined to 1.7% in January 2019 as per CSO report
- TheCentral Statistics Office (CSO) has released the data for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of January. The IIP data shows that: Industrial output growth stood at 1.7% in January against the 2.6% growth recorded in December 2018.
- Eleven out of the twenty-three industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of January 2019 as compared to January 2018. The cumulative industrial production increased by 4% in April-January FY2019 compared with 4.1% growth in April-January FY2018.
- Irfan became first Indian athlete to qualify for Tokyo Olympics
- A 29-year-old Indian athlete from Kerala, K.T. Irfan qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as he finished fourth in the men’s 20 kilometre category at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan.
- He got qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
- He made the cut after finishing fourth at the Asian Race Walking Championship at Nomi in Japan.
- The fourth-place finishes also ensured a berth in the upcoming International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championshipin Doha that begins in September.
- The Two other Indian race walkers, who qualified for the World Championship are Devinder and Ganapati.
- Pinaki Chandra Ghose named as Indias first Lokpal
- Pinaki Chandra Ghose is likely to be India’s first anti-corruption ombudsman or Lokpal. He is the former Supreme Court judge and current member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The decision was made by the PM-led high-level selection committee.
- Ghose was appointed as judge of the Calcutta High Court in 1997 and went on to become Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh before his elevation to the Supreme Court in 2013.
- TheLokpal Act, which was passed in 2013 after a nationwide anti-corruption movement. The act provides for setting up of Lokpal at the centre and Lokayuktas in the States to probe corruption complaints against top functionaries and public servants.
- A Lokpal is ananti-corruption authority or ombudsman who represents the public interest. The Lokpal has jurisdiction over all Members of Parliament, central government employees, including the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers in cases of corruption.
- Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar passed away aged 63
- Parrikar had first become Goa CMin 2000 and had also served as Defence Minister of India from 2014 to 2017.
- Parrikar was the first Indian Institute of Technology alumnus (of IIT, Bombay) to serve as Chief Minister of Goa in 2000. He became Chief Minister for four terms, but, ironically, could not complete a single full term in office.
- He was born on December 13, 1955 in a middle-class family and began his political career as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak (worker).
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