[CA] Sunday Bytes - March 05, 2017

·        Government of India has taken a decision to celebrate Dec 03 as "Agriculture Education Day" to commemorate the anniversary of first President and Agriculture Minister of India, Bharat Ratna, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, for inspiration of youth. Similarly, it has been decided to celebrate Oct 15 as Women Agriculture Day

·        Number of ODF (Open Defecation Free) districts in the country has now crossed 100. Over 1.7 lakh villages have become ODF.

·        DRDO conducted the successful launch of the interceptor missile Advanced Area Defence (AAD) from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha.

·        DRDO formally handed over an indigenously developed Weapon Locating Radar (WLR) system called “Swati” to the Army. It has been extensively tested along the LoC.

·        Kalvari, the first of the Scorpene submarines being built in India successfully conducted its maiden test – firing of an anti –s hip missile in the Arabian Sea

·        A Government appointed Panel (headed by Partha Mukhopadhay) has recommended necessary legal and policy framework to protect the interests of the migrants in the country, stating that the migrant population makes substantial contribution to economic growth and their Constitutional rights need to be secured.

·        A call by the traders Federation in Tamil Nadu to ban sales of Coca-Cola and Pepsi soft drinks came into effect on March 01, 2017 in the State of Tamil Nadu

·        Virat Kohli has been chosen for the BCCI’s International Cricketer of the Year (2016) for the third time and will receive the Polly Umrigar  Award

·        Leading up to International Women’s Day on March 8, 2017, Ministry of Women and Child Development has initiated a social media campaign - #WeAreEqual - targeted at raising awareness about gender discrimination

·        Singer Rihanna has been honoured with the 2017 Harvard Humanitarian of the Year Award

·        President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Kochi Muziris Biennale Seminar on ‘Importance of sustainable cultural building’

·        Half of the 4096 km border of India – Bangladesh border had been fenced

·        Sweden announced that it will reintroduce military service (for all Swedes born after 1999) starting this summer to respond to global security challenges

·        Joint secretary Gopal Baglay has been appointed as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs .He is replaced by Vikas Swarup

·        March 03: World Wildlife Day; theme: "Listen to the Young Voices"