MARCH(1-18) 2014 CURRENT AFFAIRS

==Supreme Court on 27 March 2014 directed all the States and Union Territories to implement Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

The three-judge Bench comprised of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice N V Ramana ordered a series of directions to abolish the practice of manual scavenging and to prevent future generations from this inhuman practice.  The Apex court also deprecated the practice of manually removing night soil with bare hands, brooms or metal scrappers.

Directions issued by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court issued a slew of directions for rehabilitation of those involved in manual scavenging by providing cash assistance, education and benefits of other social welfare scheme.

• At least one member of their family shall be given, subject to eligibility and willingness, training in livelihood skill and shall be paid a monthly stipend during rehabilitation period. Besides, one adult member of the family is given subsidy or concessional loan for taking up an alternative occupation.

• To address sewer deaths, it suggested that entering sewer lines without safety gears should be made a crime even in emergency situations. And for such death, a compension of 10 lakh rupees should be given to the family of the died.
• The people who were employed as scavengers should be allotted residential plots or constructed houses or money for such construction according to their eligibility and willingness.
• Persons released from manual scavenging should not have to cross hurdles to receive what is their legitimate due under the law.
• Safai karamchari women should be provided support for dignified livelihood in accordance with their choice of livelihood schemes.
• The Railways should take time-bound strategy to end manual scavenging on the tracks and persons released from manual scavenging should not have to cross hurdles to receive what is their legitimate due under the law.

=The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations by a year. Now the banks are required to comply with the Basel III norms by 31 March 2019 instead of 31 March 2018. In terms of Basel III capital regulations issued by the RBI, the Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB) will be implemented from March-end 2016 

==SEBI announced on 25 March 2014 to release the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compliance norms in the fiscal year 2014-15. The FATCA compliance norms will help combat possible tax evasion by Americans through Indian entities.

FATCA is a law that aims to check and impose withholding tax on illicit activities of some wealthy individuals who use offshore accounts to evade millions of dollars in taxes. 

For the implementation of the FATCA, the US government is required to sign IGAs with various countries, including India. The US has so far signed IGAs with 22 countries including the UK and Switzerland.

==Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on 24 March 2014 announced to provide Universal Account Number (UAN) to its five crore subscribers from 1 October 2014.

Significance of UAN
It will facilitate subscribers to avoid filing provident fund (PF) account transfer claims on changing jobs.
It is expected to provide great relief to the workers in organised sector who frequently change jobs, specially the construction sector.

The UAN will help reduce the workload of the EPFO. During 2012-13, EPFO received over 12 lakh claims for transfer of PF account on changing of jobs by its subscribers.

==A RBI panel headed by Aditya Puri submitted its report on 22 March 2014. The Report is titled Data Format for Furnishing of Credit Information to Credit Information Companies (CICs).

The committee has made wide ranging recommendations on issues relating to credit information, such as, increasing its coverage, format of reports and best practices to be followed by credit institutions, credit information companies (CICs) and the Reserve Bank.

Highlights of the Report

•    The Committee has suggested to provide customers with a free copy of their Credit Information Report (CIRs). It would help create awareness about the need to have credit discipline and help detect identity theft at an early stage.

•    The committee also recommended a common Data Quality Index that could assist credit institutions in determining the gaps in their data and also help move towards improving their performance over a period of time.
It was also recommended to use a common data format that includes additional information in the formats, such as, dispute codes, consumer comments on dispute, details of collateral and a continuing mechanism for making changes to data formats that could help improve data quality.

•    The committee has showed its concern that low usage of credit information by member institutions and other specified users needs to be addressed. It can be addressed by increasing the coverage of credit information in terms of membership (all credit institutions should be members of all CICs) and products and by creating awareness about Credit Information Reports (CIRs).

•    CICs should have a common classification of Credit Scores so that it would be easier to understand and interpret them.

•    CICs may provide a single CIR for a borrower even if there are multiple addresses, using a unique identification number (PAN/Aadhaar No.).

•    CICs may have link with the database of Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI) which has data on mortgages so that CIRs can also provide information on property mortgages.

== The foreign direct investment (FDI) grew in January 2014 by 1.5 per cent to 2.18 billion US dollar compared to 2.15 billion US dollar in January 2013.

==Ukraine signed the long-awaited Association Agreement with the European Union in Brussels. the European Commission agreed to extend nearly 500 million euros worth of trade benefits to Ukraine, removing customs duties on a wide range of agricultural goods, textiles and other imports

==The Government of India divested its 9 percent stake in Axis Bank. The divestment resulted into generation of 5500 crore rupees. Through a trust fund called Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), Government of India disposed 42.26 million shares or 9 percent of Axis Bank’s share capital.

==Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. (TCPSL) launched the white label Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) network on 20 March 2014 under the brand name of Indicash. The first Indicash ATM was inaugurated at Chandrapada in Thane district.

TCPSL has tied up with Federal Bank, which has been designated as a sponsor bank of care of cash operations, dispute resolutions and regulatory reporting.  The Indicash ATMs will be owned and operated by the TCPSL.

TCPSL will deploy 15000 Indicash ATMs by 2016. Out of this 67 percent of the Indicash ATMs will be deployed in semi-urban and rural areas, and the rest in urban areas.

==The Supreme Court directed the Centre  to withdraw the instruction issued by centre for making Aadhaar card mandatory for citizens to benefit government services.

A Bench of Justices B S Chauhan and J Chelameswar directed that if there are any instructions that Aadhaar is mandatory, it should be withdrawn immediately. 

 ==As per the revision of the interest rates the rates apply to post office saving schemes

• Return on 1 to 2 years deposit – hiked by 20 basis points from 8.2 percent to 8.4 percent
• Return on 3-year maturities – hiked from 8.3 percent to 8.4 percent
• Return on for 5-year deposits - it has been raised to 8.5 percent
In case of National Savings Certificates (NSCs), Monthly Income Schemes (MIS) and Public Provident Fund (PPF) the rates have been left unchanged.
• The PPF has been kept unchanged at 8.7 percent and the annual investment ceiling in PPF savings at 1 lakh rupees
• For NSCs rate for maturities of 5 and 10 year remained unchanged at 8.5 percent and 8.8 percent respectively
• The rate on five-year MIS also kept unchanged at 8.4 percent and rates of savings deposit also remained unchanged at 4 percent
These hikes in the rates are as per an earlier policy decision in line with the recommendations of Shyamala Gopinath Committee to align small savings rates with the yield on Government securities. 

==RBI has extended date for exchange of pre-2005 banknotes to 1 January 2015 and advised banks to facilitate the exchange of these notes for full value.

==Current Account Deficit (CAD) declined to 0.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Quarter 3 (October - December) of 2013-14.

== Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up a committee under the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). Chaired by Governor Raghuram Rajan. The committee would set the guidelines for the banking sector to comply with Basel-III capital norms.
Main highlights are as follows

•The implementation of the non-legislative recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC)
• The issue of setting up a repository for providing investors with a single view of all financial asset classes.
•The ways to suggest the capital requirements of the banking sector over the next five years in view of the Basel-III regulations and requirements for supervisory capital.
•ssues of greater harmonisation of regulations across sectors for similar activities were also taken up.
•  Also, it discussed about ways for setting up an effective resolution regime for the financial sector.

==The private sector lender, ICICI Bank launched portable hand-held machines (or portable POS machines) to avoid inconvenience around entering secret PIN number for card transactions in hotels.

The ICICI Merchant Services is an alliance between ICICI Bank and electronic commerce and payment services company First Data.

Plan: To replace 25,000 machines located in the hospitality sector enterprises with the portable hand-held machines. Function of portable machine: A customer will be presented the machine at the table in order to authorize a transaction rather than the current practice of going to the cash counter where the Point-Of-Sale (POS) machines are generally kept.

==India’s annual Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) falls to 8.10% &WPI to 4.86% in February 2014, i.e. 25-month low on account of lower food prices.

==India’s industrial output recorded marginally 0.1 % growth in January, 2014 after contracting for three months in a row.

== SBI Life Insurance Company on 12 March 2014 announced that it will appeal against the order of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA)

== The US regulator, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on 14 March 2014 filed a law-suit on 16 of the world’s largest banks. The regulator accused the banks for allegedly manipulating the Libor interest rate.

The Banks that has been sued includes Barclays Plc, HSBC, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and British Bankers Association (BBA) and others.

These global banks broke certain swap contracts and separately planed to rig the labor rate to which the contracts were signed. These banks conduct caused substantial looses to 38 other banks including Washington Mutual Bank and IndyMac Bank.

==Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 March 2014 hiked the trade related remittance limit from 2 lakh rupees to 5 lakh rupees per transaction with immediate effect. It also increased the number of transaction handled by exchange houses.

Besides RBI informed that the government has notified the repurchase of its securities through reserve auction for an aggregate amount of 15000 crore (face values). Bids for the auction will be submitted in electronic format on the RBI crore Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on 18 March 2014.

== Rakesh Sethi is appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Allahabad Bank.

== Union Finance Ministry and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 11 March 2014 jointly finalized the norms of investment for setting upCentral Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) - Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).  The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had approved floating the CPSE ETF.

Main Highlights 
• Individual investors can invest for CPSE-ETF in between 5 thousand rupees to 10 lakh rupees.
• CPSE ETF is an open-ended fund and the units would have a face value of Rs.10 per unit. 
•The CPSE – ETF comprised shares of 10 blue-chip companies. 
• Companies listed in the ETF basket are ONGC, IOC, Coal India, GAIL, REC, Oil India, Container Corporation, Power Finance, Engineers India and Bharat Electronics Ltd. 
• The ETF is expected to fetch 3000 crore rupees to the exchequer. The CPSE-ETF is an additional way to meet the target of Disinvestment ofGovernment of India.
• Goldman Sachs is acting as the asset management company for the ETF. 
• This first-of-its-kind ETF is also likely to have certain unique features like loyalty incentive and upfront discount to attract retail investors.
CPSE-ETF is made up of a basket of shares of different CPSEs that tracks an index fund. ETF will trade like a stock on the exchange. Gold ETFsdominate the market in India.
ETFs were introduced in India in 2001. At present, there are about 33 ETFs with assets under management of close to 11500 crore rupees held by 6.2 lakh investors.

== Public sector general insurer New India Assurance announced an exclusive health insurance cover New India Asha Kiran for girl child on 7 March 2014.

==Third BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit was held from 1 March to 4 March 2014 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
The Third BIMSTEC summit was attended by the heads from six countries and Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Thailand, namely
Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Prime Minister of Nepal
President of Sri Lanka
Prime Minister of Bhutan
President of Myanmar
During the summit, enhancing regional cooperation in energy sector, the Third BIMSTEC Energy Ministerial Meeting will be held in Nepal in 2014 and also the Fourth BIMSTEC Energy Ministerial Meeting will be held in 2015 in Bhutan.
Earlier during the second BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation summit in Nepal in January 2012 the Poverty Plan of Action was adopted and in this summit the heads agreed to implement the Poverty Plan of Action. Sri Lanka is going to host the Third Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation during the first half of 2014.
The following three pacts were signed
• Memorandum of Association on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat.
• Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission (BCIC) and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory (BCIO).
• Memorandum of Association among BIMSTEC Member Countries Concerning Establishment of a BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate.

About BIMSTEC
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was established in 1997 in Bangkok. It was a new sub regional grouping, named BISTEC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).Myanmar (1997) and Sri lanka (1998) joined the group who were observers earlier and they joined the group later.
The First BIMSTEC Summit was held in 2004 in Bangkok and the Second Summit was held in 2008 in New Delhi.
The main purposes of BIMSTEC are to create
•    An enabling environment for rapid economic development
•    Accelerate social progress in the sub-region
•    Cooperate in projects that can be dealt with most productively on a sub-regional basis and which make best use of available synergies.

==

==World Economic Forum (WEF) released Young Global Leader’s 2014 list on 11 March 2014. The WEF recognised 214 Young Global Leaders (YGLs). Among them 109 are woman who  were recognised for leadership and service to society.

There were 17 young global leaders in South Asia, out of which 14 were from India.  Following are the Indians among the YGLs list.

Pallavi S. Aiyar  Author and Journalist   The Hindu and Free  Lance

 Farhan Akhtar Film Director, Actor, Producer Excel Entertainment Production House

 Sachin Bansal  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Flipkart.com

 Avani Davda     Chief Executive Officer   Tata Starbucks Limited

 Mohit Joshi     Vice-President and Head, Europe Infosys Ltd

Roshni Nadar Malhotra Executive Director and  CEO HCL Corporation Ltd

Vishwarupe Narain        India’s Head      Texas Pacific Group

Nandini Piramal            Executive Director and Head of HR Piramal Enterprises  Limited

Rishad Premji    Chief Strategy Officer, IT  Business Wipro

Anoop Ratnaker Rao      Chief Operating Officer  Naandi Foundation

Chiki Sarkar     Chief Executive Officer   Penguin Random House

 Parmesh Shahani         Head of Innovation Laboratory   Godrej Industries Ltd

Anurag Thakur  MP & National President BJYM  BJP's Youth Wing

Ratheesan Yoganathan  Co-Founder and Group Chairman Lebara Group

== Tomas Halik won the Templeton Prize for 2014

==The ICC World Twenty20 (also referred to as the ICC World T20 or the T20 World Cup) will be played in Bangladesh from March 16, 2014 – April 6 2014.

This is the 5th World Twenty20 cricket.

Teams: 16 teams

Final & 1^st match:  At Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on

Total prize money: $3 million.

== NTPC has approved an investment of 14366.58 crore rupees for its Karanpura thermal power project in Jharkhand.

== The FICCI-KPMG report on Indian civil aviation released at the Hyderabad

== Sachin Tendulkar has voted as the Cricketer of the Generation by a 50-member by beating Shane Warne and Jacques Kallis.

== Former Arunachal Pradesh Minister, TC Teli died on 14 March 2014 in Itanagar at 50. He is now survived by his two wives, four sons and five daughters.

== GK Pillai resigned as Chairman of MCX-SX and will be succeeded by Thomas Mathew T.

== CCI has imposed a penalty of 18.38 crore on BCDA and its office bearers over anti-competitive practices in supply of the medicines.

== United Kingdom in third week of March 2014 decided to honour the Indian soldiers, who participated in the World War I through a series of events. The events will be organised to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the conflict of World War I that started in 1914. 
To commemorate Indian involvement in the war that began in 1914, the British High Commission along with the United Service Institution in India has planned a series of events. In the First World War, about one million Indian soldiers participated of which over seventy thousand died during the war. ==Rare Indian Artefacts are to be auctioned under the tittle Gems of Thangka Art in New York.

==Government of India (GOI) announced to provide 4500 crore rupees Assistance Package to Bhutan for its 11th Five Year Plan.

== Karnataka won the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2013-14 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata

==Author Joe McGinniss died on 10 March 2014 at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Massachusetts at 71 due to prostate cancer.

==Tata Motors on 10 March 2014 announced  its plan to set up assembly units and sales offices in Southeast Asia and Africa.

==Nokia launched Nokia’s first Android phone named Nokia X in India

==Heena Sidhu won the gold medal in the Women’s Air pistol event at the 7th Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait

== Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai won BNP Paribas Open 2014

== British Forces handed over its two important military bases in southern Helmand province to Afghan security forces and closed down one.

== Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on 17 March 2014 released guidelines to tackle the threats of cyber attacks and hacking of websites

== Andrew Marchese, student of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on 17 March 2014 developed a robot that can swim like fish.

== SIPRI in its data on international arms transfers claimed India as largest importer of weapon systems, which is three times more than Pakistan and China.

== Indian Oil Corp (IOC) announced to set up 30000 crore rupees refinery at Mundra in Gujarat with 15 million tones capacity.

== Gyan Correa bagged the 17th Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2013 for his debut film as a director, The Good Road in Gujarati.

== National Campaign, multi-pronged campaign was launched to eradicate dengue across six Indian cities with PPP.

== The French company Airbus launched its wholly owned subsidiary in India called Airbus India on 11 March 2014.

== US state, Colorado in January 2014 collected 2 million dollars as taxes from the newly legalized recreational marijuana business.

== Nepal announced on 11 March 2014 a plan to lease Himalayan peaks to private companies to ease traffic on Mount Everest and to boost tourism.

== Financial Planning Standards Board India (FPSB) appointed retired Justice BN Srikrishna as its Chairman. He has succeeded Dhirendra Swarup.

== The Supreme Court of Maldives on 9 March 2014 sacked the Election Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek and his deputy Ahmad Fayaz.

== Michelle Bachelet was been sworn-in as the President of Chile after winning election over her conservative rival Evelyn Matthei.

== Government of Chhattisgarh has ordered high-level departmental inquiry into Maoist attack in Sukma district which 16 people were killed in Sukma.

== European Parliament on 17 March 2014 passed a law to develop a common charger for all mobile phones sold in the continent of Europe.

== India nominated Rani-ki-Vav located in Patan, Gujarat and GHNP in HP for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site Status.

== President of Russia signed a decree recognising Crimea as a sovereign state paving a way for absorption of Crimea into Russia.

== France introduced driving restrictions in Paris to tackle dangerous pollution levels.

== The Hinduja brothers are the third richest family in Britain with combined wealth of 10 billion dollar.

== Novak Djokovic won the Indian Wells ATP Tennis Masters by defeating Roger Federer. Women’s singles was won by Flavia Pennetta.

== IOC sold 10% of government stake for 5340 crore rupees to OIL and ONGC.

== Former president and leader of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah died in Freetown at the age of 82.

==Sheila Dikshit took oath as Governor of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram.

==Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut who took the 2014 Sochi Olympic torch to ISS safely landed back on earth in Kazakhstan.

==The World Longest aircraft has been unveiled in Britain like a giant blimp in Bedfordshire, UK.

==Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key on 10 March 2014 announced the plan to hold a referendum on changing the National Flag by 2017.

==The heated rocks and volcanoes played a major role in survival of a range of plants and animals during past ice ages, 20000 years ago.

==In Maharashtra 11 lakh hectares of WORTH 5000CR rupees Rabi crops were damaged due to hail storm which has engulfed the state since last one week.

==Ten-day event named Festival of India was organised in three cities of Vietnam namely Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City.

==Union Government on 10 March 2014 announced to build 200 low cost airports in the next 20 years.

==Charkilo named miniature planet with two rings of ice and pebbles was discovered by astronomers between Saturn and Uranus.

==King Abdullah issued a decree of appointed his half-brother Moqren as the next heir to the throne of the world’s largest exporter of crude oil.

==Sunil Gavaskar was appointed as the interim president of BCCI board by the Supreme Court on 28 March 2014.

==UN General Assembly has passed a non-binding resolution refusing recognition of annexation of Crimean peninsula by Russia from Ukraine.

==Study revealed that smoking ban in public places has resulted in a fall of premature births by 10 percent and childhood asthma attacks.

==Jens Stoltenberg was appointed as the Secretary General of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

==European Union Court ruled that Internet Service Providers can deny access to websites that infringe copyright to their customers on legal grounds.

==A Japanese court   ordered the release and a retrial of Iwao Hakamada.

==Spices Board’s released figures say that export of spices of India from April to December 2013 has increased by 41 percent in terms of rupees.

==Military Government of Fiji declared to hold democratic elections on 17 September

==Amnesty International annual report released that covers the judicial use of the death penalty in London.

==President Barack Obama   announced National Security Agency (NSA) reform plan.

==Tata Teleservices limited (TTL)   launched new Wi-Fi business in Chennai.

==Supreme Court directed all the states and UTs to implement Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013

==as the new Defence Minister and Army Chief of Egypt. He is the successor of Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

==C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft of Indian Air Force crashed in Karoli district of Rajasthan killing five crew members including four officers.

==The WHO has certified India as a Polio Free country making it one of the 11 countries of South-East Region to be free from polio virus.

==Indian-origin Gopal Rao   won UK Twitter Prize

==Resolution against Sri Lanka human rights record during LTTE war passed on 27 March 2014

==Actor Arjun Kapoor   was named as the brand ambassador of the Earth hour 2014.

==West Zone defeated North Zone to win the Deodhar Trophy of Cricket 2014 in Visakhapatnam by a margin of 133 runs.

==Army Chief of Egypt, Al-Sisi resigned from the post to contest in presidential election. He also resigned as the Defence Minister of the Country.

==Germany’s Franz-Peter Terbartz-van Elst also known as bling bishop resigned

==The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)   detected a Smartphone Virus called Dendroid.

==7 million people died of which 1 in 8 of total global deaths was a result of air pollution exposure.

==J & K became the first state in the country to declare all election booths as No Smoking Areas.

==EC revised ex-gratia payment for kin of the official, who dies while performing poll duty of minimum of 10 lakh rupees.

WHO-India has launched a programme named IVR 2020 programme with an aim to increase population of rhinoceros listed as vulnerable on IUCN Red list.

EPFO   announced to provide Universal Account Number (UAN) to its five crore subscribers from 1 October 2014.

==Poachers gang killed a rhino in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam and took away its horn.

==Third Nuclear Security Summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands from 24 to 25 March 2014.

==Facebook   decided to acquire two year old virtual reality technology firm Oculus VR for 2 billion dollar

==Researcher K Ramakrishna Reddy has discovered a group of caves inhibited by ancient humans in Akkampalli of Andhra Pradesh.

==IBM unveiled Social, Mobile, Cloud and Analytics (SMAC) solutions for telecom operators

==India defeated Pakistan in the final to win the 3rd South Asian Handball Championship title at Genesis Global School in Noida.

==Japanese architect Shigeru Ban won the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2014

==GE Healthcare and CTSI jointly announced to set up a chain of 25 cancer detection and treatment centres in India

==2013 biographical film of Milkha Singh titled, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag screened in Saudi Arabia as a part of the seventh Asian Film Festival 2014.

==Google signed a deal with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica to make Google Glass spectacles into a stylish consumer product

==Rajiv Takru, the Financial Services Secretary has been appointed as the new Revenue Secretary. He succeeds Sumit Bose, who will retire on 31 March 2014.

==Varun Berry  appointed as Managing Director (MD) of Britannia Industries.

==The Third Nuclear Security Summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands.250555

==Rusi Dinshaw, the only Pakistani cricketer of Parsi Community died in Karachi. He was suffering from schizophrenia.

==The third National Photography Awards were conferred on 13 eminent photojournalists in New Delhi.

==Managing Director (MD) of Britannia Industries Vinita Bali  announced to retire till the end of March 2014.

==Hongkonger and Hong Kongese have been added in Oxford English dictionary in recognition of local identity of inhabitants of Hong Kong.

==Saugata Gupta chief executive officer (CEO) of Marico  was promoted as Managing Director (MD).

==Japan signed an agreement to remove highly enriched Uranium and separated plutonium to US.

==The acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Jet Airways Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan resigned on 25 March 2014.

==The book Lal Bahadur Shastri: Lessons in Leadership written by the Pavan Choudary.

==Harish Rawat has ordered deployment of newly constituted SDRF personnel in the danger zone that is prone to disaster, during Char Dham Yatra.

==Indian Ordinance factory has launched a light-weight revolver named Nirbheek, designed especially for women to defend themselves from assault.

==Britain’s Royal Mail issued a postage stamp of Noor Inayat Khan, World War II Indian origin heroine.

==Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on conferred Gallantry and Distinguished Service Awards. He conferred three Kriti Chakras and ten Shurya Chakras to Armed Personnel at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Other medals conferred by Mukherjee on the day were
• Param Vishisht Seva Medals to fifteen persons
• Uttam Yudh Seva Medals to two persons
• Bar to Ari Vishist Seva Medals to three persons
• Ati Vishisht Seva Medals to twenty two persons

==Bank of India   launched Instant Money Transfer (IMT) scheme in Mumbai

==Vandana Foundation has launched AQUATM water vending machine in Mumbai. It will release 1 liter water at a price of 1 rupee.

==GAIL signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chubu Electric Power Co.Inc. of Japan  in  South Korea

==SC directed the Centre to withdraw the instruction issued by centre for making Aadhaar card mandatory for citizens to benefit government services.

==Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. (TCPSL) launched the white label Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) network.

==RSPB won the 4th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship (Division A) in Bhopal after defeating defending champions Haryana by 4-0.

==Nanda, the veteran actress of Hindi and Marathi films died  in Mumbai at the age of 75.

==Egyptian Court sentenced 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi to death.

==Govind Mishra to given the Sarawasti honour for year 2013 for his book Dhool Paudho Par. He will be the second person to receive this award.

==Ebola Virus causing haemorrhagic fever was detected   in Guinea.

==Assam Government sought an opinion of the people on trimming the horns of rhinos to save them from the poachers.

==Israeli diplomats   launched an unprecedented and indefinite strike over a long-running pay and conditions dispute.

==Adolfo Suarez, the first elected Prime Minister of Spain died on 23 March 2014.

==Pranab Mukherjee conferred three Kriti Chakras and ten Shurya Chakras to Armed Personnel at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

==Bhavani Island in A.P on the waves of River Krishna was developed as new adventure sports on 23 March 2014.

==Carlotta Gall in her new book has claimed that 2008 terror attack on Indian embassy in Kabul was monitored and sanctioned by senior officials of ISI.

==Over a dozen of citizens of Myanmar started a march of 2400 km   to protest against the construction of Myitsone dam.

==Stuart Oliver of Castrol Vecton team won the inaugural Tata T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship at Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.

==The book Rationalised Roman for Kashmiri written by Dr R L Bhat was released on 23 March 2014.

==Syrian military jet was shot down by Turkey near the Turkish-Syrian border. The jet was shot by Turkish F-16 on violation of the Turkish airspace.

==Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) revalidated ten varieties of Genetically Modified crops.

==Big Hoss is the World largest TV unveiled for the first time at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

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==World Water Day observed   with the theme Water and Energy.

==Thailand announced to lift state of emergency on 18 March 2014.

==Physicist Rajesh Gopakumar won the G D Birla award for scientific research for the year 2013

==Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic lost the shortest match in Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) history

==Former Brazilian international footballer Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini died after a heart attack.

==Indian journalist Shubranshu Choudhary won digital activism award   for regional news service.

==World Poetry Day observed on 21 March 2014

==The Sahara Testaments was written by Nigerian poet, Tade Ipadeola.

==UNHCR report Asylum Trends 2013 claims sharp rise in asylum in 44 industrialised countries, primarily driven by the Syrian crisis.

 ==Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 vanished from radar screens over South China Sea with 239 people on board on its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

==Supreme Court has directed the lower courts to complete trial in cases that involves lawmakers within one year of framing of charges.

== IPL 2014 to be held in 3 phases at UAE, Bangladesh & India. Bangladesh will be venue if Home Ministry denies permitting to hold game during election.

== The European Union (EU) announced 11 billion euro package of loans and grants for Ukraine

== The Election Commission on 11 March 2014 created a multi-agency grid of revenue and security intelligence agencies.

== India and United States Energy dialogue held in New Delhi.

==Vice President of Afghanistan Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim died on 9 March 2014 due to natural cause.

==Scientists discovered a new class of antibiotics called oxadiazoles on 9 March 2014.

== Researchers discovered the largest yellow star, HR 5171 A measuring 1300 times more than the diameter of sun and nearly 12000 light-years from Earth

== Grand jury of US indicted Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was accused for visa fraud and for under paying her housekeeper.

== Nandan Nilekani resigned as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

== Parliament of Syria unanimously approved new election law allowing multiple candidates to run for the post of President.

== Indian archers on 13 March 2014 bagged 2 gold and silver in the team events of 1st Asian Grand Prix Archery Championships at Bangkok.

== The IRDA on 12 March 2014 ordered a CBI probe into alleged fraud in four government-sponsored insurance schemes

== World Kidney Day was observed annually on the second Thursday in March. The theme of World Kidney day of 2014 is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and aging.

== Spice Jet and Boeing Company signed a deal worth 4.4 billion dollar.

== SBI Life Insurance Company on 12 March 2014 announced that it will appeal against the order of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA)

== Supreme Court has directed the Law Commission to look into the issue of hate speeches and frame guidelines to regulate such provocative statements.

== Japanese electronics firm Panasonic announced on 12 March 2014 to pay its employees a pollution premium to workers who are working in China.

== Mercedes Benz, the German luxury car maker announced that it has commenced the local assembly of the S-Class sedan in India at Chakan, Pune.

== Tech Mahindra in association with Alstom Transport announced a new global development centre located in Bangalore.

== Scientists in their study of a 70-million-year-old fossil found in Alaska said that it was the new species of dinosaur and it is smaller cousin T Rex.

== The maximum number of voters in Haryana who will cast their vote first time in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections fall in Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency.

== Soma Mondal on 12 March 2014 was appointed as the first woman director (commercial) of National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO)

== Ali Zeidan, the Prime Minister of Libya was sacked by the countries Parliament after a tanker loaded with crude oil of rebels escaped from navy.

==Jordan and Egypt signed MoU with Iraq on 9 March 2014 under which natural gas will be supplied from Iraq to Jordan and Egypt.

==Report of Dubai Department of Economic Development claimed India as the largest non oil trading partner of Dubai in 2013-14.

==China on 9 March 2014 tested a domestically-produced anti-smog drone aircraft.

==Kush Sharma, an Indian-American student won the National Spelling Bee Competition in the US in a verbal duel after defeating Sophia Hoffman.

==Sheila MacRae, a veteran stage, film and TV performer died at the age of 92 in New Jersey.

==Election Commission of India organized a campaign titled Election Awakeningfor Women and Youth.

==Pooja Ghatkar, Indian shooter won the gold medal in women’s air rifle event at the 7th Asian Championship in Kuwait.

==Indian writer Pankaj Mishra on 9 March 2014 won Windham Campbell Literature Prize in non-fiction category

==President of India conferred Stree Shakti Puruskar to six women in recognition of their achievements in to mark International Women’s Day.

Rani Lakshmibai Award-Manasi Pradhan from Odisha-Work in the field of women’s empowerment

Rani Rudramma Devi Award-Dr. M. Venkaiah from Andhra Pradesh-Contribution in the field of women’s health

Mata Jijabai Award-Bina Sheth Lashkari from Maharashtra-Achievement in the field of education and training

Kannagi Award-T. Radha K. Prashanti from Andhra Pradesh-Achievement in the field of providing support to orphans, visually impaired, handicapped and destitute women

 Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award-Dr. Vartika Nanda from Delhi-Creating awareness on women’s issues through media

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Award-Dr. Seema Sakhare form Maharashtra-Contribution in the field of women’s rights, gender issues, legal counseling and institutional support to women and girls

==Frank Jobe orthopedic surgeon who pioneered surgery in sports died due to illness in Santa Monica, California at 88.

==Mizoram 68th Santosh Trophy for senior National football championship by defeating Railways 3-0 at Kanchenjungha Stadium in Siliguri, West Bengal.

==International Women Day is being observed across the world on 8 March 2014.

An Indian-American engineer Abraham Pannikottu on 7 March 2014 announced to develop Zero Pressure tyres for the US military.

==Saudi Arabia on 7 March 2014 declared Muslim Brotherhood with other three militant group as Terrorist Group.

==Avaya appointed Priyadarshi Mohapatra as Managing Director for India and SAARC

==Technology firm Avaya on 6 March 2014 appointed Priyadarshi Mohapatra as Managing Director for its India and SAARC operations.

==Indian-American scientist Anil Jain on 6 March 2014 developed the first 3D model of a human fingerprint called Phantom.

==Tom Albanese was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vedanta Resources.

==China announced a biggest hike of 12.2 percent in defence budget

==Ragala Venkat Rahul won 2 Gold and 1 Silver on the second day of the 16th Asian Youth Weightlifting Championship on 6 March 2014.

==Indian Revenue Department has tightened baggage rules for inbound Indian passengers curb gold smuggling and to prevent misuse of gold import facility.

==The second update of the Annual Health Survey was released on 6 March 2014.

==Home Ministry issue says that OCIs and PIOs will not require medical visa for commissioning surrogacy but in case couples are married for two years.

==Authorities in Crimea voted to accelerate secession from Ukraine and unanimously backed a law to be part of the Russian Federation on 6 March 2014.

==CAPRISA announced a remarkable discovery that potent antibodies which can neutralize and kill multiple strains of HIV.

==China announced to extend the Qinghai-Tibet railway line to Xigaze on 6 March 2014.

==National security advisor-level meet on maritime security cooperation between India, Sri Lanka and Maldives held in New Delhi.

==European Union froze the assets of ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and 17 ministers, businessmen and security chief.

==Tamil Nadu men and Railways women won the Federation Cup Volleyball titles by defeating services and Kerala respectively.

==Bharti Airtel and  Etisalat signed a pact to set up a multi-service regional network infrastructure node in India

==Mumbai was the least expensive major city for expatriates according to annual ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit

==The Punjab Cabinet approved the Backward Class (BC) status for the Jat and Jat Sikhs of the State on 5 March 2014.

==Delhi high court ordered Delhi Police to set up a unit to prevent racial profiling of people from North East India on 5 March 2014.

==NDMC launched a new health scheme Stri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna for women

==The 64th National Basketball Championship concluded on 5 March 2014 at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.

==India and Nepal army has started a joint military exercise Ex-Surya Kiran Drills VI at Saljhandi in Rupandehi district of Nepal.

==Migrant Entrepreneurs: Building Our Business, Creating Our Jobs report claims that migrant entrepreneurs are one in seven of all UK companies.

==Latest study claims that eating lot of protein-rich food increases the risk of cancer, which is almost as much as smoking 20 cigarettes a day.

==Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports inaugurated National Cycling Academy at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex,dELHI. 

==World on 6 March 2014 observed the World Dentist Day to raise awareness about dental health.

==Scientists in the British community discovered a way to rebuild ears and noses using stem cells from body fat on 4 March 2014.

==MoEF accepted the recommendations of the Kerala Government regarding ESA boundaries.

==Rail link between Kilinochchi to Palai in North Sri Lanka was inaugurated. This link was reconstructed by IRCON.

==Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa on 4 March 2014.

==Election Commission has announced the date of Assembly elections in Sikkim, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to be held simultaneously with the LS polls.

==Election Commission announced that Lok Sabha elections will be held from 7 April to 12 May 2014. Counting will be done on 16 May 2014.

==Low-cost carrier SpiceJet appointed R.Neelakantan as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on 4 March 2014.

==Graeme Smith announced that he will retire from international cricket at the end of the test match against Australia at Newlands.

==Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Apple Inc Peter Oppenheimer announced his retirement on 4 March 2014.

==US honoured Laxmi, the person who started the movement to end acid attacks in India with the prestigious International Women of Courage Award.

==Assam is the first state in India to celebrate Child Protection Day ON 5-MARCH

==Sheila Dikshit appointed as the Governor of Kerala. She will succeed Nikhil Kumar, who has tendered his resignation to the President of India.

==Union Ministry of Minority Affairs launched Nalanda Project for Minorities Higher Educational Institutions

==Union Ministry of Minority Affairs launched a new initiative Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme for the welfare of minorities.

==Cairn Energy founder Sir Bill Gammell announced retirement from the post of non – executive chairman on 3 March 2014.

Bill Gates is the World’s top richest Billionaire according to Forbes magazine’s annual World billionaires list, telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico (2nd), Amanico Ortega, Spanish clothing retailer is ranked 3rd  for the second year in a row followed by Warren Buffet (4), Oracle founder Larry Ellison(5), Koch Industries CEO Chalres Koch (6), Chairman and CEO of Arvest Bank group (10), mukesh ambani(56)Arcelor Mittal Chairman andCEO Laxshmi Mittal (52), Wipro Chairman Azim Premji (61), co-founder of Sun Pharma Dilip Shanghvi (82), HCL co founder Shiv Nadar(102), Hinduja brothers (122) and Kumar Birla (191).

==Suspected militant Islamists group Boko Haram attacked a town in north-east of Borno State of Nigeria on 2 March 2014.

==Union Health Ministry has issued new guidelines for treating rape victims and outlawed two-finger test performed saying it unscientific.

==Hyderabad-based Natco Pharmaceuticals won a patent case against Teva Pharmaceuticals of Israel on 3 March 2014.

==Hockey India has been accorded with the status of a National Sports Federation for governing the sport of hockey (both men and women) in India.

==The Union Ministry of Sports decided to make Hockey India (HI) the sole body to be responsible for the promotion of the sport on 3 March 2014.

==IFAW-WTI captured and translocated the seventh family of the Gibbons to Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary in Lower Debang Valley.

==Jaswant Singh released a book entitled India at Risk – Mistakes, Misconceptions and Misadventures of security policy on 3 March 2014.

==Arvind Bhat won the German Open Grand Prix title against Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the men’s singles in Germany

==Retired Supreme Court judge K.T.Thomas refused to head the Lokpal Committee Search panel on 3 March 2014.

==Defence Ministry ordered CBI investigation into purchase of jet fighter engines from Britain’s Rolls-Royce between 2007 and 2011 by Rolls-Royce.

==TAQA led consortium, the international energy and Water Company decided to acquire two hydroelectric power plants for about 1.6 billion US dollar

==Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the DMIC chapter of Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow

==Study suggested that Climate change contributed in collapse of Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation that spanned across present India and Pakistan.

==Former Union Minister Bhuvnesh Chaturvedi died at a private heart hospital in Kota after protracted illness at the age of 85.

==South Africa for the first time won the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup by defeating Pakistan by at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

==The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the actors, technical achievements, and films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Most awards - Gravity(7)
Most nominations - American Hustle and Gravity (10)

WINNERS:
Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Jared Leto  (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature - Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography - Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design - The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing - Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature - 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Documentary Short - The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing - Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film - The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling - Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score - Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song - Let It Go - Frozen
Best Production Design - The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film - Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film - Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing - Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing - Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects - Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay - 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay - Her (Spike Jonze)

==282 mortal remains of Indian soldiers of 1857 mutiny were exhumed from the well at Ajnala in Amritsar district of Punjab.

==President of India, Pranab Mukherjee Signed the Telangana Bill to carve out Telengana state.

==The President Pranab Mukherjee signed the proclamation to impose President Rule in Andhra Pradesh.

==Union Cabinet cleared reservation for Jat community under the central list of OBC category in nine northern states.

==Roger Federer defeated Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on 1 March 2014 to win the Dubai Championships for the sixth time.

==Vinegar can effectively kill mycobacteria, even highly drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

==Government raised the number of workdays FOR Tribals under MNREGA from 100 days to 150 days.

==The IIFA announced the winners of the technical categories of India’s most prestigious international awards, The Tata Motors IIFA Awards.

The IIFA Magic of the Movies and Technical Awards will take place on 25 April 2014 in Tampa.  This will be IIFA’s debut in the United States.

Cinematography-Binod Pradhan-Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Screenplay--Prasoon Joshi--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Dialogue--Prasoon Joshi--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Editing----P. S. Bharti--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Production Design--Wasiq Khan--Goliyon Ki Rasleela- Ramleela

Choreography--Remo D’souza--Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Action--Sham Kaushal & Tony Ching Siu Tung--Krrish 3

Sound Design--Nakul Kamte--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Song Recording--Vinod Verma for Lungi Dance--Chennai Express

Sound Mixing--Anup Dev--Debajit Changmai--Chennai Express--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Background Score--Shankar-Ehsaan- Loy--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Costume Designing--Dolly Ahluwalia--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Make-Up--Vikram Gaikwad--Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Special Effects (Visuals)--KeitanYadav & Haresh Hingorani ( Red Chillies VFX)--Krr

==National Food Security Act came into force in Madhya Pradesh and will cover overall 75 percent total population of the state.

==Vice President released book entitled Akbar – The Aesthete authored by Dr. Indu Anand. The book is a presentation of the miniatures of Mughal era.==India and Iran have agreed to take a decision on Chabahar port by March-end during meet of Salman Khurshid and Javad Zarif in New Delhi.

==Union Cabinet approved for setting up a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar, Karnataka.

==Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh PK Mohanthy constituted a Reorganisation Committee to ensure smooth bifurcation of the state.

==Gandhian environmentalist and social activist, Chandi Prasad Bhatt was selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2013.