Daily update 14 March 2015

1) Statue of Mahatma Gandhi unveiled in Parliament Square:

--> A historic bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled on 14 March 2015 at the Parliament Square in London, standing adjacent to iconic leaders like Britain's war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Ma
ndela.

--> British Prime Minister David Cameron and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were joined by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and the Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the ceremony to unveil the 9-foot statue of India's Father of the Nation.

--> Gandhi is the first Indian and the only person never to have been in a public office to be honoured with a statue at the Square.

--> The unveiling of the 9ft (2.7m) bronze statue marks 100 years since Gandhi returned to India from South Africa to begin his struggle for independence.

--> British sculptor, Philip Jackson, was commissioned to create the work with his previous pieces including statues of the Queen Mother and Bomber Command.

--> The statue was unveiled jointly by Cameron and Arun Jaitley.

2) Haryana Government to impose complete ban on Beef:

--> The Haryana government will impose a complete ban on the sale of beef in any form in the state, a minister said.

--> The BJP government in Haryana, headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, has a majority in the assembly and the proposed bill is all set to be made into law.

3) Pioneer of Israeli cinema Lia van Leer passed away:

--> Lia van Leer, pioneer of Israeli cinema passed away on 13 March 2015 in Jerusalem, Israel. She was 90.

--> She was the founder of Israel Film Archive, Jerusalem Cinematheque, Haifa Cinematheque and the Jerusalem Film Festival.

4) NASA’s Hubble telescope spots ocean on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede:

--> Astronomer's have found the most conclusive evidence yet that a large watery ocean lies beneath the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.

--> Scientists believe that this finding could potentially support life.

--> Hubble Space Telescope’s finding was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.

5) Mary Kom to be brand ambassador of Northeast:

--> Olympic medal winning boxer MC Mary Kom is being appointed as the brand ambassador of the Northeast to showcase the potential of the region which offers Rs. 2.4 trillion business opportunities across various sectors.

--> An official announcement in this regard would me made soon, Minister of State in the Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said.

--> Hailing from Manipur, one of the eight northeastern States, Mary Kom is a five—time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.

6) Pi Day observed:

--> Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant p (pi).

--> Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day date format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of p.

--> Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (or 22/7 in the day/month date format).

7) Bhaiyyaji Joshi re-elected RSS general secretary:

--> The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (the highest decision making body) on 14 March 2015 re-elected Bhaiyyaji Joshi as the Sarkaryvaha (general secretary) of the organisation for a third consecutive term till March 2018.

8) Michael White won first ranking title at Indian Open:

--> Michael White thrashed Ricky Walden 5-0 to win his first world ranking title at the Indian Open in Mumbai.

--> The two had met twice before: at the 2013 World Championships and at the 2010 Players’ Championships-II, and Walden had come out on top on both occasions.

9) Sonakshi Sinha, Arjun Kapoor grab top Golden Kela awards:

--> Arjun Kapoor was bestowed with the Worst Actor (Male) award for 'Gunday' at the 7th Annual Golden Kela Awards, actress Sonakshi Sinha won the Worst Actor (Female) award hands down, for 'Action Jackson', 'Lingaa' and 'Holiday'.

--> This was a hat-trick for Sonakshi as she swept the award for the third consecutive year.

--> The Golden Kela awards have been “honouring” the worst offerings of Indian cinema over the past seven years.

10) Facebook bought TheFind:

--> Facebook has waded further into e-commerce with the acquisition of shopping search engine TheFind.com.

--> Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

--> Members of TheFind team are joining Facebook, where they plan to put their technology to work making ads at the leading social network ‘more relevant’, according to the post.

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1. Former Maldives President Nasheed jailed for 13 years

i. Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison after a quick and disputed trial for allegedly ordering a senior judge arrested while in office.
ii. Nasheed has denied ordering the arrest. His supporters said the charges are aimed at eliminating him as a challenger against incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom in the 2018 presidential election.

iii. Nasheed was the country’s first democratically elected President.

2. Harvard University retains top position in Times’ World Reputation Rankings 2015

i. Harvard University of United States (US) has again topped in World Reputation Rankings 2015 published by Times Higher Education.

ii. Times Higher Education in the rankings revealed the top 100 universities across the world.

iii. The top ten universities are all located in the US and United Kingdom (UK). US alone has 8 universities in the top ten rankings. While, UK has 2 universities in the top 10 ranking.

iv. 2015 reputation rankings shows that US alone has 43 higher education institutions in the top 100. While, United has 12 universities in the top 100.

Top 3 Universities in World Reputation Rankings 2015 are:

• Harvard University (US).
• University of Cambridge (UK).
• University of Oxford (UK).

3. India's GDP growth will be 7.5 percent this year

i. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has said that this year the GDP growth rate will be 7.5 percent.

ii. Arun Jaitley was in London for Launching the Union Bank of India (UK), a subsidiary of the Union Bank of India.

4. Government cuts import tariff on gold and silver

i. The government has slashed import tariff value on gold to $375 per 10 grams and silver to $512 per kg following weak global price trends.

ii. The tariff value on imported gold was fixed at $393 per 10 grams and on silver at $549 per kg. 

iii. Gold is the second-largest import item for India after petroleum. Higher gold import bill adversely affects the country's current account deficit (CAD). 

iv. The government has been repeatedly asking people to desist from buying gold and instead invest in other saving instruments. 

5. NASA launches 4 spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery

i. NASA has launched four identical spacecraft on a billion-dollar mission to study the explosive give-and-take of the Earth and sun’s magnetic fields.

ii. The unmanned Atlas rocket, and NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, took flight right on time. Within two hours, all four observatories were flying free.

iii. Each observatory resembles a giant octagonal wheel, stretching more than 11 feet (3.35 meters) across and 4 feet (1.22 meters) high, and weighing 3,000 pounds (1,360.79 kilogrammes) apiece.

6. Pakistan tests 1st indigenous armed drone Burraq and laser guided missile Barq
i. Pakistan successfully tested its first indigenously built all-weather armed drone named Burraq and a laser guided missile named Barq.
ii. By successfully testing of Burraq, Pakistan became the 9th country in the World to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) domestically.

iii. It is developed by a venture of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM).
iv. With Barq laser-guided missile mounted on it can hit moving targets as well as stationary targets with pinpoint accuracy.