Important Current Affairs of March 14 to 16, 2016

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MARCH 14 TO 16, 2016

• On 2nd Monday in MarchCommon wealth Day was observed.
• Common Wealth Day Themes :
• 2016 - An Inclusive Commonwealth
• 2015 - A Young Commonwealth
• The world observed 'Pi Day' On March 14, 2016 to celebrate March 14 (3/14), which coincides with Mathematical constant Pi's value (3.14). 
• Important Note : The month, day and year On March 14, 2016 are Pi's value to four decimal places rounded up to the nearest decimal place (3.1416), which happens once in a century. 
• Pi denotes the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle in Mathematics.
• China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang has announced plans to set up an "International maritime judicial center" to help protect China's sovereignty and its rights at sea. 
• This comes amid China's militarisation of the South China sea islands in spite of conflicting territorial claims.
• Malaysia On March 14, 2016 banned the recruitment of new foreign workers after widespread criticism of its decision to bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshis to work in the country, a move that may also affect Indian labourers.
• The SAARC Programming Committee meet begins in Pokhara, Nepal.
• The meeting is scheduled to be held between 14th to 17th March 2016.
• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will leave for Nepal on 16th March to attend this meeting.
• SAARC - South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
• The Health Ministry has banned the sale and manufacture of over 300 combination drugs that are being sold in India without government approval. 
• In 2014, the government had set up a committee to review over 6,000 combination drugs that had entered the market based only on state regulators' approval. 
• The drugs were banned based on the assessment of these products.
• From May, all outstation vehicles entering Shimla will have to pay a green tax.
• In a meeting of the finance committee of Shimla municipal corporation (MC), it was decided that tax-collection points would be set up at all entries of the tourist town and that the money collected would be used for improving tourist infrastructure and conserving the environment.
• Nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-I was successfully test fired On March 14, 2016 from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Odisha's Abdul Kalam Island. 
• The intermediate-range surface-to-surface missile, developed indigenously by DRDO, can carry a one-tonne payload and is capable of hitting a target 700 km away. 
• The single-stage missile was first test-fired in January 2002.
• European and Russian space agencies have successfully launched ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, an unmanned spacecraft on a mission to find evidence of alien life that exists or may have existed on Mars. 
• The spacecraft, which is expected to complete the 500-million km journey to Mars in seven months, also includes a Mars lander named 'Schiaparelli'.
• According to NASA data, the temperature recorded in February has broken previous records by being 1.35°C warmer than the monthly averagecalculated over the baseline period (1951-80). 
• Note : Earlier, January had set the previous high by recording 1.15°C over the average, triggering warnings of a climate emergency. 
• The long-term rise in global temperature is due to greenhouse gases.
• Palestinian teacher Hanan Al Hroub from a refugee camp has been awarded prestigious one million dollar 2016 Global Teacher Prize. 
• She was presented with the award at a ceremony held in Dubai for her outstanding contribution to the profession. 
• She beat nine other finalists to bag the award including India’s Robin Chaurasiya, who runs a not-for-profit school in Mumbai for girls from the city’s red light district of Kamatipura.   
• R. Ravindra has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
• Vishvas Vidu Sapkal appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Fiji.
• Noted Indian scholar and plant physiologist H Deep Saini has been appointed the next Vice Chancellor of the prestigious University of Canberra.
• India Inc. became first in the world to formally adopt the United Nations’ (UN) agenda for the world’s sustainable development and 17 goals identified for its implementation. 
• It was formally adopted by the India Inc. at the 11th National Convention on Sustainable Development Goal (NCSDG) organized by the Global Compact Network in Mumbai.
• According to data released by the government, the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation for the month of February fell to 5.18%, downfrom a 17-month high of 5.69% in January. 
• Further, the food inflation for the month fell to 5.30% compared to 6.85% in January while the pulses inflation fell to 38.30% from 43.32%.
• Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar On March 14, 2016 announced a joint venture with Arvind Fashion Brands, to launch his premium menswear apparel and accessories brand, 'True Blue'. 
•  In a historic event, Htin Kyaw was chosen as Myanmar’s new President by country’s Parliament on 15 March 2016 to become the first non-military president since the army took power in a coup in 1962.
• 69-year old Htin Kyaw, a close confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi, was chosen as Myanmar’s new President by the Parliament in a historic parliamentary vote on 15 March.
• – Kyaw was nominated by Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) party earlier in the month and was voted into the presidency by parliament as he got 360 out of 652 votes. He would thus become Myanmar’s first civilian President in 53 years.
• – He will succeed the current president, Thein Sein, a former army General who implemented reforms in 2011 moving the country away from dictatorship.
• – The two runners up, military nominee Myint Swe and ethnic minority Chin candidate Henry Van Thio, will become first and second vice-presidents respectively.
• In an important development, the Supreme Court on 15 March 2016 decided to set up a five-judge Constitution Bench named National Court of Appeal to debate the establishment of a new court, which if established, would be the first-of-its-kind in India.
• It is worth mentioning that V. Vasanthakumar, an advocate from Puducherry, had sought the apex court’s directions to the Government to consider setting up a National Court of Appeal to relieve the Supreme Court of its case burden.
• – The 2-bench comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) T.S. Thakur and Justice U.U. Lalit, in its order decided to refer the matter to a five-judge constitution bench to hear the matter from 4 April 2016.
• – While Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi opposed setting up of National Court of Appeal K.K. Venugopal, senior advocate and a proponent of such courts, highlighted importance of such court.
• – Appeal courts are becoming a feature of numerous countries primarily as they lessen the burden on the apex and associated high judiciary.
• Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, is looking closely at the Rs. 4,100 crore valuation attached by Grant Thornton to the Kingfisher Airlines brand in 2011. That valuation in hand, Kingfisher Airlines made this brand the single largest collateral for its loans.
• – Kingfisher Airlines had pledged various assets to banks in a bid to raise cash and the company had to hypothecate the ‘Kingfisher (Airlines)’ brand, with an estimated value ofRs.4,100 crore, to banks. The valuation was done by firm Grant Thornton.
• – A notice has been sent to Grant Thornton seeking clarification on valuation. It came to highlight as Grant Thornton assigned a value of Rs. 4,100 crore to Kingfisher Airlines, although lenders arrived at the valuation of Rs.160 crore when they carried out their own internal exercise.
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 14 March 2016 released a survey (Sustainable Plus Survey) of corporate India to identify the levels of sustainability practices among the companies representing it. It classified 10 companies as ‘Sustainable Plus Platinum’ for the highest levels of adherence to the said practices.
• – These 10 firms are – ACC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Zinc, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Vedanta and Wipro.