Current Affairs 14th March 2017

Current Affairs 14th March 2017 - Important Points

• All England Open Men's Singles title won by - Lee Chong Wei
• New Chief of Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Unites States is - Seema Verma
• Malayalam filmmaker Diphan passed away on - 13th March 2017
•  Union Government launches Mission Fingerling to achieve - Blue Revolution
• India’s largest Floating Solar PV Plant installed by - NTPC
• India suspends cross-LoC travel to Pakistan from - Poonch district
• Chief Justices in four High Courts appointed by - President Pranab Mukherjee 

Current Affairs 14th March 2017 - Details

All England Open Men's Singles title won by - Lee Chong Wei

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia won his fourth All England Open crown on 12th March 2017. Lee defeated first-time finalist Shi Yuqi of China 21-12, 21-10, to grab the Men’s Singles title at the tournament.

Important Highlights

• Born on 21st October 1982, Lee Chong Wei is the only Malaysian badminton player to hold the number one ranking for more than a year.
• He was ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks as a singles player from 21st August 2008 to 14th June 2012.
• He is the fourth Malaysian player after Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann to achieve this ranking.
• He is triple silver medallist at the Olympic Games and sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal.
• "All England Open" is the world's oldest championship,held annually in England.
• This tournament was given Superseries status in 2007. It upgraded to Superseries Premier status in 2011.
• The tournament was paused in two instances: from 1915 to 1919 (during World War I) and from 1940 to 1946 (during World War II).

Did you know?

China’s Lin Dan won Men’s Singles title in 2016.

 New Chief of Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Unites States is - Seema Verma

The US Senate confirmed healthcare consultant Seema Verma as administrator of the 1 trillion dollars Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on 13th March 2017. The Senate voted 55-43 to approve Seema Verma to run the US health program. Seema Verma was nominated by President Donald Trump on 29th November 2016. The Indian-American woman will be taking care of the US government’s health program for the elderly, poor and disabled.

More about Seema Verma

• Verma is the owner of a healthcare consulting firm, SVC Inc.
• She will report to US Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
• She earned a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1996.

Malayalam filmmaker Diphan passed away on - 13th March 2017

 Malayalam filmmaker Diphan passed away on 13th March 2017 due to liver cirrhosis and kidney failure in a private hospital at Kochi. He was 47 at the time of his death. He was best known for his films namely Puthiya Mukham, Hero and SIM.

More about Diphan

• Diphan was the son of dubbing artist Anandavally, a native of Thiruvananthapuram.
• He worked as an assistant director for many years in the Malayalam film industry.
• His upcoming movie Sathya, which has Jayaram in the lead, was in the post production stage.

 Union Government launches Mission Fingerling to achieve - Blue Revolution

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare launched Mission Fingerling on 11th March 2017, a programme aims to achive the Blue Revolution by enabling holistic development and management of fisheries. The main objective behind this programme is to enhance the fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21.

Important Highlights

• The Blue Revolution focuses on enabled environment for an integrated and holistic development and management of fisheries for the socio economic development of fish farmers
• It is expected to produce 20 lakh tonnes of fish annually and will benefit about 4 million families.
• It lays greater emphasis on infrastructure with an equally strong focus on management and conservation of the resources through technology transfer.
• Productivity enhancement will also be targeted through integration of various production oriented activities such as production of quality fish seeds, cost effective feed and adoption of technology etc. 
• Fish Fingerling production is the single most important critical input visualised to achieve fish production targets under the Blue Revolution. 
• Use of high yielding verities of brooders is another significant aspect to be addressed on priority. 
• The implementation of this programme will supplement the requirement of stocking material up to a large extent to achieve the enhanced fish production.

 India’s largest Floating Solar PV Plant installed by - NTPC

The NTPC Ltd installed India’s largest floating solar photo voltaic plant at the Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant (RGCCPP) Kayamkulam in Kerala in the second week of March 2017 . The plant was inaugurated by Director (Technical) of the NTPC Ltd, AK Jha.

Key points

• This plant is the largest of its kind in India as on date.
• NETRA (NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance) has developed this floating platform in collaboration with Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Chennai.
• The system was installed within the span of 22 days.
• It gives various benefits like conserving water through the reduction of evaporation, increasing generation of electricity due to cooling effect on the panels and reduced installation time.
• Installation scope of such type of systems is huge in India due to the abundance of water bodies.
• NTPC is India’s largest energy conglomerate with roots planted way back in 1975 to accelerate power development in India.
• From fossil fuels, it has made into generating electricity via hydro, nuclear and renewable energy sources.
• It will play a major role in lowering its carbon footprint by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

India suspends cross-LoC travel to Pakistan from - Poonch district

Deputy Commissioner of Poonch district, Mohammad Harun Malik announced the suspension cross-LoC travel between India and Pakistan on the Poonch-Rawalakote road following heavy unprovoked mortar shelling and automatic weapon firing by the Pakistani troops at various places in the district. Some damage has been caused to a two storey administrative block at the Trade Felicitation Centre in the district’s Chakkan Da Bagh area.

Important Points

• The 82 mm mortar shelling was initiated by the Pakistani troops on 12th March 2017 in Krishnagati sector along LoC in Poonch district.
• The travel on cross-border Poonch-Rawlakote bus service was suspended precautionery after the shelling.
• The shelling was resumed after a brief cease-fire, targeting Indian posts and civilian areas near the LoC.
• According to an army spokesperson, Indian forces responded to the shelling.
• Apart from causing damage to its walls, the shelling blew off its tin sheet roof and left holes in the equipment and infrastructure installed inside it.
• Speaking on the damage caused, the Custodian of cross LoC trade Tanveer Ahmed said that they are still checking the damage and will take some time to restore the block and its infrastructure.
• In another precautionary measure, Jammu & Kashmir’s education department has postponed the 6th and 7th class exams in the areas affected by firing in Poonch.

Chief Justices in four High Courts appointed by - President Pranab Mukherjee 

President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Chief Justices for High Courts in Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand on 10th March 2017. Hemant Gupta is appointed as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court. Acting Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court P K Mohanty is appointed as the Chief Justice of Jharkhand itself. Justice Navniti Prasad, a judge in Patna High Court, is appointed as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court.  Justice T B Radhakrishnan, Acting Chief Justice of Kerala High Court, is named as the Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court.

Did you know?

As on 1st March 2017, the 24 high courts were working with 642 judges, while the approved strength is 1079. There was still a shortfall of 437.