CURRENT AFFAIRS MARCH /19/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS MARCH /19/2015

1.Mumbai gets its first local train with automatic sliding doors.

The train was introduced on the Churchgate to Borivali route.

Railway plans to add at least four rakes on both Central and 

Western Railway with closed doors in the next one year.

The local trains ferry 7.5 million commuters daily - roughly 30 per cent of the daily national rail traffic.

Some 37,383 persons were killed in local train accidents in the past decade.

2. Astra - indigenously developed air-to-air missile - successfully 

test - launched from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft.

The all-weather 'Beyond Visual Range (BVR)' missile can destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speed.

This 3.8 metre long missile is the smallest of the DRDO-developed missiles.

It’s also capable of being launched from different altitudes.

3. Railway tracks and platform will cost you a fine of Rs 5000 from now on.

The ruling has been given by National Green Tribunal to help the cleanliness drive in the country.

The bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, also passed a slew of instructions to Railways and other authorities on how to keep the premises clean.

4. Department of Consumer Affairs launches a web portal 

"GAMA" (Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements) 

for redressal of grievances against misleading advertisements.

It also introduced "Grahak Suvidha Kendras" - one stop consumer 

service centers, in six cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, 

Kolkata, Patna and Delhi.

These new initiatives aims to enhance consumer awareness and 

strengthen support services to them across the country.

5. For every convict, there are more than 2 undertrials in Indian jails.

As per the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau at the end of 2013, there were 4,11,992 inmates in the jails of the country, out of which the number of convict prisoners was 1,29,608 and the number of undertrials was 2,78,503.

'Prisons' is a state subject under Entry 4 of List II of the 7th schedule to the Constitution and prison administration is primarily the responsibility of the state governments.

6. Indian Oil Corporation is in talks with Nepal Oil 

Corporation for setting up a petroleum product pipeline from 

Raxaul in India to Amlekhganj  in Nepal.

The proposed pipeline, measuring some 38 Km, would come up at estimated cost of around Rs 200 crore.

7. SMRITI IRANI CHOSEN AS YOUNG GLOBAL LEADER FROM INDIA:

Union HRD Minister, Smriti Irani is named as Young Global leader from India by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Smriti Irani is among 10 Indians to be included in the list of a total of 187 young Global leaders.

HRD –  Human Resource Development.

8. HDFC BANK LAUNCHED MOBILE APP ‘CHILLR’:

HDFC Bank launched a mobile app ‘Chillr’ to allow its customers to instantly transfer money to any person in India.

HDFC Bank launched this app in partnership with Kochi based mobile value added service company MobME.

Maximum transaction limit allowed is 5000 rupees or a maximum of 10 transactions per day and Rs. 50,000 a month.

Money can be transferred to any contact in the phone book via app.

CEO of MobME – Sanjy Vijayakumar

Headquarter of MobME – Cochin, India

9. INDIA WILL HOST NEXT AMCDRR CONFERENCE:

India will host the 7^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in 2016.

Decision was taken at the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan.

6^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) was held in Thailand in June 2014.

Note: First AMCDRR held in China in the year 2005.

10. INDIA SIGNED MoU WITH KYRGYZSTAN ON TEXTILE SECTOR   COOPERATION:

Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the centralAsian Republic of Kyrgyzstan on cooperation in the textiles Sector.

The Two countries have agreed to set up a joint working Group (JWG) to explore details of cooperation within the scope of the MoU.

The MoU was signed by Minister of State for Textiles, Santosh Kumar Gangwar and his counterpart Kubanychbek Turdubaev, Minister of Energy and Industry of Kyrgyzstar.