Latest Current Affairs- March 2013

Current Affairs: March 2013 (1^st Week)

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Services Clinched 67th Santosh Trophy Football Tournament

In the final of the 67th Santosh Trophy on 3 March 2013, Services won the soccer contest by defeating hosts Kerala 4-3 on penalties at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

The Man of the Match title was clinched by Services striker Lalian Mawia. The Services team bagged their third Santosh Trophy title.

About the Santosh Trophy

Santosh Trophy is the yearly Indian football tournament that is played among states and government institutions. This tournament was initiated in 1941. The Santosh Trophy is named after late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died at 58 due to Cancer

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died on 5 March 2013 at a military hospital in Caracas at the age of 58 due to Cancer. He died after battling from cancer for two years during which he underwent several surgeries and chemotherapy in Cuba.

With his death his 14 year rule of Venezuela came to an end and bringing a challenge of electing a new President for the country within 30 days as per Constitution of Venezuela. Till then the Presidency will be assumed by the Vice-President of the country, Nicolas Maduro. The Foreign Minister of Venezuela Elias Jose Jaua Milano announced seven days mourning for the country.

Hugo Chavez

• Hugo Chavez was the President of Venezuela from 1999 till his death in 2013

• He was the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela

• He was responsible for the promotion of the Bolivarian cause of social revolution and started the secretive Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) in early 1980s

• He served the Venezuelan army as a officer before entering into politics and initiation the secretive Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200)

• He was a former leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007

• He led a coup attempt in 1992 and landed in jail for his act and was further he launched his political career

• Served as the President of Venezuela for three times

A coup attempt was made in Venezuela in April 2002 to overthrow Hugo Chavez from his office. During this coup attempt, Hugo was ousted from his office for 47 hours and further the situation was restored by the support of public that was seeking his government and the military loyalists.

Nicolas Maduro sworn in as the Interim President of Venezuela

Venezuelan Vice- President Nicolas Maduro on 8 March 2013 was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president, despite the Opposition resistance as it is being considered to the violation of the country’s constitution.

Late President Hugo Chavez who died on 5 March 2013 after two year long fight against cancer named Maduro as his successor before undergoing the latest surgery in December 2012. He picked Nicolas Maduro  as the presidential candidate of Chavez’s socialist party.

As per the country's 1999 constitution, the National Assembly speaker becomes interim president in the event of a president-elect's death or inability to be sworn in. The constitution also says new elections should be called within 30 days.

Leader of opposition Angel Medina boycotted the swearing-in ceremony, with the vast majority of opposition legislators who haven’t attended the ceremony.

The earlier interim president of Venezuela was Ramón José Velásquez who served as acting president of Venezuela between 1993 and 1994 as a result of the crisis produced by the impeachment of president Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Arun Jaitley, Karan Singh and Sharad Yadav Selected For Outstanding Parliamentarian Award

The Parliamentary Award Committee selected BJP leader Arun Jaitley, Congress MP Karan Singh and JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav for Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Arun Jaitley and Karan Singh are the members of Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and Delhi respectively. Sharad Yadav, on the other hand is a member of Lok Sabha from Madhepura, Bihar.

The Award Committee which was headed by the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, recommended these names, which were accepted by executive committee of the Indian Parliamentary Group on 6 March 2013.

Outstanding Parliamentarian Award

• Outstanding Parliamentarian Award was instituted by the Indian Parliamentary Group in 1994.

• This award is conferred every year on the outstanding parliamentarian, who is recommended by award committee as well as approved by executive committee of the Indian Parliamentary Group.

President of India Released the Commemorative Postage Stamp on Sahir Ludhianvi

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 8 March 2013 released the Commemorative Postage Stamp on Sahir Ludhianvi on occasion of his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Sahir Ludhianvi died on 25 October 1980 and was a renowned Urdu poet. He was known among the young for his poetry on beauty and love. Sahir Ludhianvi had converged Urdu poetry into the film songs as well. Also, he fought for recognition of lyric writers through the Film Writers Association.

International Women's Day 2013 Celebrated Across the World

International Women's Day is celebrated across the world on 8 March 2013. The theme for 2013 International Women's Day is- A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women.

On this day, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee laid emphasis on the monumental role of women in designing the country.

Neiphiu Rio sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Nagaland

Neiphiu Rio 63, of Naga People’s Front (NPF) party was sworn in as Chief Minister of Nagaland for the third straight term on 5 March 2013 along with 11 ministers by the Governor Nikhil Kumar at the Raj Bhavan in Kohima.

The other eleven ministers who had taken oath for the office were from his own party, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), which had won 38 seats in the 60-member house.

Mukul Manda Sangma Sworn-In As the Chief Minister of Meghalaya

Mukul Manda Sangma of Congress was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya for the second term on 5 March 2013. He took oath for the second term as 26th Chief Minister of the state.

The Governor, R.S. Mooshahary administered him the oath of office and secrecy at the Raj Bhavan premises in Shillong. 47-year old Mukul Sangma led the Congress with 29 seats, merely two seats short of the majority in a house of 60. He was sworn-in without the Council of Ministers.

Announcement of the list of Council of Ministers will be made by Mukul Manda Sangma in the second week of March 2013.

BlackBerry’s India Managing Director Sunil Dutt resigned

Blackberry India Managing Director Sunil Dutt, who joined the company in December 2011, quit from the company in the month of March 2013 within a month after leading the launch of BlackBerry 10 OS and the Z10 in India.

BlackBerry India spokesperson confirmed the news of his resignation from the position as Managing Director of BlackBerry India with an immediate effect.In the interim, Rick Costanzo, Executive Vice President for Global Sales, will take over the leadership of the talented management team in India .

BlackBerry sees India as a major market for its products and is already facing diminishing market shares to bear the shake coming their way. BlackBerry is also dealing with the Indian Government’s pressure on providing it the access to the unique PINs of all BlackBerry devices across the world for security reasons. Additionally, the Government has reportedly proposed to take over the monitoring of BlackBerry servers in Mumbai and has threatened BlackBerry to ban its services if it fails to provide the government the access to its data by 31 March 2013.

President of India Conferred With the Liberation War Honour Award by Bangladesh

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee was on 4 March 2013 conferred with the Liberation War Honour Award by the President of Bangladesh, Zillur Rahman. The award was conferred upon him for his contribution to 1971 war.

The award was given away to Pranab Mukherjee for contributions to the Liberation War. Earlier, the top most honour of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Freedom Honour was conferred upon former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi posthumously in 2011 for contributing towards creation of Bangladesh.

Liberation War Honour Awards is the second highest honour of Bangladesh.

Microsoft Launched New Version of Office 365 for Businesses in India

                                                                                                                                               

Microsoft, the Software giant launched new version of Office 365 for the businesses running in India, on 4 March 2013. Office 365 will facilitate sharing the data seamlessly across the computers and mobiles with the help of cloud computing technology.

Because the solutions offered are cloud-based, therefore the users can also get accessibility to the files and mails through various devices such as mobiles, laptops and desktops. Cloud computing is the technology that helps in sharing the technological resources, digital information as well as software. Because the cloud-computing is Internet-based, therefore the solutions and data are accessible from anywhere with the help of a browser.

With a group of solutions, the companies can make use of the Office 365 for 330-1200 Rupees per month, per user. It is possible to install Office 365 on up to 5 different devices for one user under the licensing of Office 365. This group of solutions includes PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Excel, Access and OneNote.

Features of Microsoft Office 365

• The service is social just like SharePoint. It can integrate with Lunc and Yammer for providing a social platform which brings together teams and people for collaborating and sharing the organisational knowledge as well as information.

• Flawless capability of the group of solutions across various devices such as PCs, mobiles and tablets makes the value of Office 365 more compelling.

Launch of Office 365 is the part of comprehensive cloud services strategy of Microsoft. Some of the enterprises that are making use of Office 365 include Tata Elxsi, Adhunik Group, Dabur India, FICCI, AEGON Religare, Tata Communications, Godrej and many more.

John Kerry Sworn-In As the 68th Secretary of State of the United States

John Kerry was sworn-in as the 68th Secretary of State of the United States on 1 February 2013. With the consent of the Senate, John Kerry was appointed as the Chief Foreign Affairs Adviser of the President. John Kerry succeeded Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Secretary of State has the role of carrying out the foreign policies of the President through the State Department that encompasses Civil Service, Foreign Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Under the Article II of US Constitution, the President has an authority to nominate any candidate for the Cabinet posts. The Senate thereafter, accepts or rejects the candidate. John Kerry was appointed with the consent of the Senate.

Other important current affairs in a nutshell…..

* India’s Deborah won a Bronze medal in the final of women's juniors of 500m cycle event in Asian Cycling Championship on 7 March 2013 in New Delhi.

* Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on 5 March 2013 inaugurated the locomotives and tank wagons supplied to Bangladesh.

* Bharti Airtel in the month of March 2013 launched high quality voice service for its subscribers in Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi and Nigeria in the African sub-continent.

* Mukesh Ambani retained his title as the richest person of India for the sixth consecutive year with the net worth of 21.5 million US Dollars.

* US State Department Awarded Women of Courage Award to Delhi Gangrape Victim

* Charges of attempt to commit suicide was framed against Irom Sharmila by the Patiala House Court on 4 March 2013 under IPC 309.

* Rafael Nadal defeated top seed and defending champion David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 on 2 March 2013 in the final match of the ATP Mexican Open 2013 tennis tournament.

* Rajeev Shahare was appointed as the new High Commissioner to Maldives on 28 February 2013, replacing D M Mulay.

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