RBI/ BANKING/ BUSINESS NEWS THIS MONTH
March 2: The Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, BBK, plans to
expand its operations in India by opening its fourth branch in the country in
New Delhi.
March 2: Corporation Bank has bagged the awards for
lending to MSE (micro and small enterprises) and to micro enterprises from the
Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for 2012-13.
March 2: Indian Bank has bagged national award for
excellence in lending to micro enterprises for 2012-2013, for the consecutive
second year.
March 4: RBI has extended the date for exchanging pre-2005 banknotes to 1st
January, 2015.
Note: The Reserve Bank has further clarified that
the public can continue to freely use these notes for any transaction. RBI has
said that people can unhesitatingly receive these notes in payment, as all such
notes continue to remain legal tender.
March 7: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expects to
hand out new bank licences in a few weeks.
March 9: State-run banks may set up only 14,855 ATMs
by December, leaving an uphill task of installing close to 20,000 more cash
dispensing machines by March-end to achieve the target of at least one onsite
ATM in every branch.
March 15: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 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.
March 16: Federal Bank launched its Namma Metro
Transit-cum-Debit Card in partnership with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation
Ltd.
March 16: Singapore‘s DBS Bank said it had agreed to
buy the Asian private banking business of French lender Societe Generale in a
deal worth $220 million, boosting its access to the region‘s super rich.
March 21: KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank
of India, has quit three months ahead of completion of his term.
March 22: The RBI has decided to utilise unclaimed bank
deposits, which are estimated at 3,650 crore rupees for education and awareness
of depositors. The apex bank has announced the Depositor Education and
Awareness Fund Scheme for the purpose.
March 22: The Reserve Bank came out with final guidelines for the
non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with regard to the early detection and
recovery of bad loans.
Note: The guidelines will be effective from 1st
April.
March 22: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued notice to banks to take
measures to counter the threat expected to arise from discontinuation of
Windows XP from 8 April 2014.
Note: Microsoft the maker of the Windows XP
operating system will be withdrawing support for the operating system from 8
April 2014. Microsoft introduced Windows XP in October 2001.
March 22: The Government of India divested its 9
percent stake in Axis Bank on 21 March 2014. The divestment resulted into
generation of 5500 crore rupees.
March 23: Customers should be given a free copy of
their credit profile as it would help in promoting financial discipline among
loan seekers, an RBI report says.
March 23: Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited, which is an
all women bank established four months earlier, has opened a new branch in the
southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
March 25: Bank of India (BoI) launched Instant Money
Transfer (IMT) scheme in Mumbai.
March 26: The Reserve Bank of India has decided to
increase the maximum limit for investment in Inflation Indexed National Saving
Securities - Cumulative (IINSS-C) from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per annum for
eligible individual investors and from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per annum for
institutions such as HUFs, Charitable Trusts, Education Endowments and similar
institutions which are not pro-profit in nature.
March 26: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched its online
social account integrated with Facebook and Twitter.
March 28: To promote centralised clearing of OTC derivative products, the
Reserve Bank eased stand-alone primary dealers' exposure ceiling to a qualified
central counter party by keeping the limit outside the existing 25 percent of
net-owned funds.
March 28: Canara Bank has opened its
6000th ATM at Vikasa Soudha (Secretariat Building), Bangalore.
March 29: India's foreign exchange
(forex) reserves rose by $1.34 billion to $298.63 billion for the week ended
March 21, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.
March 31: The RBI‘s recent delay of
Basel III implementation offers Indian banks more time to meet the minimum
capital requirements, Fitch Ratings said in a report.
March 31: Raghuram Rajan headed
search panel has zeroed in on a successor to RBI Deputy Governor K C
Chakrabarty and PNB Chairman K R Kamath is believed to be top in the reckoning.
NATION THIS MONTH
March 1: Hamid Ansari, the Vice
President of India released a book entitled Akbar, The Aesthete in New Delhi.
March 5: Telangana,
the country's 29th state, will come into existence on June 2.
March 6: In
Nepal, a joint military excise between India and Nepal is on at Saljhandi in
Rupandehi district.
March 6: India,
Sri Lanka and Maldives held National Security Advisor-level meeting on maritime
security cooperation in New Delhi.
March 7: The
foundation stone of a 212-meter (700-foot) high Krishna temple, reputedly the
world's tallest, will be laid in Vrindavan.
March 7: On the occasion of International Women‘s Day,
President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Stree Shakti Puraskar to six persons
for their distinguished services for the upliftment of women.
Note: The awards are named after six legendary women of India, Rani
Lakshmibai, Rani Rudramma Devi, Kannagi, Rani Gaidinliu Zaliang, Rani Ahilyabai
Holkar and Mata Jijabai.
March 10: The
Central Bureau of Investigation filed a charge-sheet in a Delhi Court against
Hyderabad-based Nava Bharat Power Pvt Ltd and two of its directors in a coal
block allocation scam.
March 11: India
has committed 8.5 billion rupees to Bhutan for Small Development Project for
the country‘s the 11th Five Year Plan.
March 13: The
Delhi High Court upheld the death sentences awarded to four convicts in the
December 16, 2012 gangrape case.
March 13: India
and United States Energy dialogue was held in New Delhi from 5 March 2014 to 11
March 2014.
March 13: 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.
March 14: Export-Import
Bank of India has, at the behest of the Government of India, extended a Line of
Credit of $89.90 million to the Government of Republic of Congo, for
development of transportation system in the Republic of Congo.
March 14: India
and Bangladesh will conduct a joint assessment of stocks of hilsa fish in Bay
of Bengal.
March 15: An
arrest warrant was issued against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade on visa
fraud charges after her fresh indictment by US prosecutors who accused her of
―illegally‖ underpaying and
―exploiting‖ her domestic maid.
March 17: India
and China will hold the third round of their strategic economic dialogue this
week aimed at raising the speed of Indian trains and improving heavy haul
operations and rail stock.
March 20: The
Indian Air Force formally inducted Russia-made MI-17 V5 series helicopters,
known for their manoeuvring and weight-carrying capacity, at its Jamnagar base
in Gujarat.
March 20: SEBI
(Securities and Exchange Board of India) inaugurated its local office at
Ranchi, Jharkhand.
March 22: AirAsia
India took delivery of its first Airbus A-320 as it landed in Chennai after
flying in from Toulouse headquarters of the European aircraft manufacturer.
March 24: The
Supreme Court has directed the Government of India to withdraw all orders,
which make the Aadhaar card mandatory for availing any service.
March 24: Retirement
fund body EPFO will start providing permanent account numbers on the pattern of
core banking services to its five crore subscribers from October this year.
March 25: In
a major breakthrough, chief of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, Tehseen Akhtar
alias Monu, one of the most wanted terrorists blamed for a number of terror
attacks, has been arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.
March 26: Jammu
and Kashmir became the first state in the country to declare all election
booths in the coming Lok Sabha polls as no smoking zones.
March 29: Securities
and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has got back the power to act against ponzi
schemes, illegal deposit schemes and assess call data records in
securities-related offences, besides others.
March 29: People
will turn off all non-essential lights to raise awareness about environmental
challenges from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time.
March 31: The Directorate of revenue Intelligence has
seized a record over 2.4 lakh kg of ozone-depleting restricted refrigeration
gas ‗R-22‘, which
was being smuggled into the country.
INDIAN ECONOMY THIS MONTH
March
2: The government decided to include the Jat community in the central list
of Other Backward Class (OBC‘s) in nine states, a move that is expected to
benefit about nine crore people from the community.
March
2: The Finance Minister has allowed retirement fund body Employees'
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to become a member of a stock exchange
although its trustees oppose parking even a part of its over Rs five lakh crore
corpus in equities.
March
2: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Gulam Nabi Azad dedicated the
978 bedded All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar to the
people of Odisha.
March
3: AIIMS has started issuing Unique Health Identification numbers to its
patients with a view to electronically tracking medical care facilities
provided to them and also to have a systematised database in place.
March
3: Now you will no longer have to dial 139 or visit the rail website to
check the status of your waitlisted ticket as the railways will now send
booking status messages to passengers on mobile phones, if the tickets get
confirmed before the journey.
March 5: Assam became
the first state in India to observe State Child Protection Day.
Note: Internationally Child Protection Day is
observed on 19 November every year. It was launched by the Women‘s World Summit
Foundation (WWSF) in 2000.
March
5: The government launched the 'Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme' which
would see a 'Sehat Card' being issued to each minority student enrolled in
institutions aided by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation.
March 5: The government
has decided to hike interest rates on fixed deposit schemes offered by post
offices by up to 0.2 per cent.
Note: The rates apply to post office saving schemes
and the return on 1-2 years deposits has been hiked by 20 basis points from 8.2
percent to 8.4 percent.
March 7: North Delhi
Municipal Corporation (NDMC) launched a new health scheme Stri Swasthya
Suraksha Yojna for women.
Note: The Scheme aims to bring services closer for
those living in rural areas and unauthorized colonies.
March
14: India‘s economy is likely to grow at 5.5 per cent in the fourth quarter
of the current fiscal on higher agriculture output and pick up in the manufacturing
activities, Prime Minister‘s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) chairman C
Rangarajan said.
March
14: Wholesale price based inflation dropped to a nine-month low of 4.68 per
cent in February this year, from 5.05 per cent in January, as prices of kitchen
staples like onions and potatoes eased.
March
19: Global ratings agency Standard & Poor‘s said an increasing focus by
India Inc on lowering debt is likely to improve their credit profiles.
March 19: Gujarat has
been ranked number one in a list of India's 20 largest states in terms of
―economic freedom‖.
Note: The index on ―economic freedom‖ takes into account governance, growth,
citizens‘ rights, and labour and business regulations.
March
22: Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL), a pre-paid/remittance provider
with the m-Pesa platform, has started a pan-India inter-bank money transfer
service by joining hands with the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) of NPCI.
March 26: In a bid to
woo tribals ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the government raised the workdays under
its flagship rural employment guarantee programme MNREGA from 100 to 150 for
tribals, a move that will benefit 14 lakh families.
Note: The Union Cabinet decision will come into
effect from April this year.
March
30: India's economy is likely to grow 5.5 per cent in 2014-15 as industrial
output will recover to expand at 3.3 per cent.
March 31: State-owned
power equipment maker Bhel has secured Rs 125 crore contract for setting up a
120 MW Hydro Electric Project in Bhel.
INDIAN LEADERS VISITING ABROAD/
FOREIGN COUNTRY NATIONALS VISITING INDIA
March 13: The Indian
Army chief, Gen. Bikram Singh, arrived in Nepal on a two-day official visit at
the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart, Gen. Gurav Sumsher Rana.
GLOBE-TROT THIS MONTH
March 1: A US company is planning to build an 'Outernet - a global network
of cube satellites broadcasting Internet data to all the people on the planet -
for free.
March 6: Yahoo has reportedly acquired a startup that lets people create
infographics and videos out of social data.
March 7: Authorities in Crimea voted to accelerate secession from Ukraine
and unanimously backed a law that declared the territory to be part of the
Russian Federation.
March 8: Saudi Arabia has declared Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Nusra
Front, ISIL and Yemen‘s Houthis as terrorist organizations.
March 8: A Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing with
239 people on board, including five Indians crashed into the sea off Vietnam‘s
southern Phu Quoc Island, Vietnamese media reported.
March 9: The success of Aam Aadmi Party in India seems to have crossed
boundaries and inspired people in Pakistan, where a party has been launched
with the same name.
Note: A group led by Arslan-ul-Mulk, a rights
activist from Gujranwala, has registered Aam Admi Party (AAP) with the Election
Commission of Pakistan.
March 11: The World Bank has said it would provide up
to $3 billion in aid for Ukraine in 2014 to help the country deliver much-needed
economic reforms.
March 11: World Longest aircraft Airlander or HAV304 was unveiled at
Cardington in Bedfordshire, Britain in the first week of March.
Note: The aircraft looks like a giant blimp and is
being manufactured by the Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd (HAV).
March 14: The United States has lifted a ban that prevented the oil giant BP
from winning new government contracts.
Note: The ban was imposed as a penalty for the 2010
Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst in US history. The ban has been lifted
after the firm agreed to a set of safety, operations and compliance
requirements. As part of the agreement, BP will also drop its lawsuit against
the US Environmental Protection Agency.
March 15: Rajeev Suri, the head of Nokia's telecoms
network equipment division, is likely to become the Finnish group's next chief
executive following the sale of its handset business to Microsoft.
March 18: France‘s foreign minister says that leaders
of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russia‘s participation in the
club amid tensions over Ukraine and Russia‘s incursion into Crimea.
March 18: Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia
signed a decree that recognises Crimea as a sovereign state. This signing of
the decree has paved a way for absorption of Crimea into Russia.
March 18: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation filed a law-suit on 16 of
the world‘s largest banks. The regulator accused the banks for allegedly
manipulating the Libor interest rate.
Note: This Banks that has been sued includes
Barclays Plc, HSBC, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and British
Bankers Association (BBA) and others.
March 19: The Russian Federation signed an agreement
with Crimea for accession of Crimea in the Russian Federation in Kremlin in
Moscow, Russia.
March 20: Malaysia is not providing visa-on-arrival to
Indian visitors although Indian visitors with a visa for a third country like
Singapore or Thailand are allowed entry into Malaysia,
March 21: World Forestry Day or International Day of
Forests is celebrated worldwide every year on 21st of March at the
international level in order to increase the public awareness among communities
about the values, significance and contributions of the forests to balance the
life cycle on the earth.
March 21: Kuwait is set to organize the Arab Summit
2014 for the first time in the country from March 25 to 26.
March 21: The European Union leaders and Ukraine‘s
interim Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, have signed several chapters of a
landmark agreement meant to boost political ties between the two sides.
March 21: UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously voted
in favor of a resolution 2146 (2014) that condemns the illegal (illicit) export
of Libyan crude oils. The Security Council also imposed sanctions on vessels
carrying illicit oil shipments.
March 24: Malala Yousafzai and Misbah-ul-Haq along with
103 others were conferred with the Pakistan‘s Civil Awards during a ceremony to
observe the Pakistan Day.
March 25: The 25th edition of Arab League Summit begins
in Kuwait city.
March 25: The G7 group of top economic powers have
kicked out Russia from the powerful G8 over its annexation of Crimea and
threatened to impose far-reaching sanctions if Moscow continued its incursion
into Ukraine.
March 27: The Third Nuclear Security Summit was held in
The Hague, Netherlands from 24 to 25 March 2014.
March 29: Abdullah, the king of Saudi Arabia appointed
his half-brother Moqren (69) as the next heir to the throne. This step has
paved a way for Moqren to become a future king of the world‘s largest exporter
of crude oil.
March 30: Nepal will hold the 18th SAARC Summit in
Kathmandu on 14th November, the third time the country is hosting the event
since the establishment of eight-member regional grouping in 1985.
March 31: A 10 day long World Telecommunications Development Conference has
begun at the Dubai World Trade Center.
March 31: Israel's former Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert has been found guilty in a bribery trial in a case which
forced him to resign in 2008. Olmert was convicted in the Holyland affair in
which bribes were paid and received to speed up a luxury property development.
APPOINTMENTS/ RESIGNATIONS THIS MONTH
March 1: Saurabh Chandra assumed
charge as Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Note: He succeeds Vivek Rae, who demitted office on superannuation.
March 1: Uttar Pradesh government
has appointed A L Banerjee as new Director General of Police.
Note: He succeeds Rizwan Ahmad, who retired recently.
March 3: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Kalyan Singh was appointed the vice president of Bharatiya Janata
Party. BJP president Rajnath Singh made the appointment.
March 3: In a major embarrassment to
the Congress government at the Centre, Justice KT Thomas has quit as the head
of the Lokpal Committee Search Panel.
March 5: Sheila Dikshit, a former
three-term Chief Minister of Delhi, was appointed Governor of Kerala.
March 8: Technology firm Avaya
appointed Priyadarshi Mohapatra as Managing Director for its India and SAARC
operations.
March 11: Akhilesh Gupta, has been
elected as President of the Indian Meteorological Society for 2014-16.
March 13: Soma Mondal has been
appointed as the first woman director (commercial) of Navratna Public Sector
Unit (PSU) National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO).
March 13: Amitabh Kant, CEO and
Managing Director of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development
Corporation, will take charge as Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion.
March 13: Canara Bank, which has long
been reeling under piling non-performing assets or bad loans, appointed
cricketer Shikhar Dhawan as its brand ambassador.
March 14: Former Home Secretary G.K.
Pillai today resigned as Chairman of MCX Stock Exchange.
March 16: Tesco Hindustan Service
Centre (Tesco HSC), the global technology and operations centre for Tesco, has
appointed Glen Attewell as Chief Executive Officer.
Note: He succeeds Sandeep Dhar, who spent over five years as CEO.
March 18: Chetan Tamboli, Steelcast
Ltd‘s Chairman, and Sanjay Kirloskar, CMD of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, have been
elected Chairman and Deputy Chairman, respectively, of Confederation of Indian
Industry, Western Region.
March 18: Private sector lender ING
Vysya Bank announced the return and appointment of Uday Sareen as Deputy CEO,
Head of Wholesale Banking and Strategy with effect from April 1, 2014.
March 21: Aditi Khanna was
unanimously elected as the first women President of Indian Journalists‘
Association (IJA) in London.
March 25: Rajiv Takru, a 1979 batch
IAS officer, has been appointed as the new Revenue Secretary and will succeed
Sumit Bose, who retires on March 31.
March 26: After nine years at the
helm, Vinita Bali will step down as Managing Director of Britannia Industries
with effect from March 31. She will be succeeded by Varun Berry, in line with
the succession plan put in place by the company last year.
AWARDS/HONOURS/WORLD TITLES/NEW DISCOVERIES THIS MONTH
March 1: Eminent Gandhian and
environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt has been selected for the 2013 Gandhi
Peace Prize.
March 5: Laxmi, an acid attack
victim and a standard-bearer for the movement to end acid attacks in India, was
honoured in the US with the prestigious International Women of Courage Award.
March 5: Several prominent Indian
newspapers have made it to the list of 90 finalists at this year's
International News Media Association, INMA awards.
Note: The Times of India received
maximum number of seven nominations while Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagaran
were namedfinalists in three categories. Other Indian publications that made it
to the finalist entries were The Hindu, Navbharat Times and The Hindustan
Times.
March 8: Indian-American scientist
Anil Jain developed the first 3D model of a human fingerprint called Phantom.
The development could boost the accuracy of fingerprint-matching systems and
improve security technology.
March 10: Indian writer Pankaj Mishra
won Windham Campbell Literature Prize 2014 in non-fiction category.
Note: Pankaj Mishra is an Indian essayist, memoirist, travel writer and
novelist.
March 17: Tomas Halik, the Czech
priest won the Templeton Prize for 2014. The award was announced by the John
Templeton Foundation and under the award he will receive 1.1 million Euro.
March 17: Infosys has bagged a
multi-year deal from Volvo Cars. the company did not mention the value of this
outsourcing deal or the duration of this deal, it said that has been engaged
with Volvo since 2010 and as a part of this deal,
March 18: Gyan Correa bagged the
Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2013.
March 18: India nominated Rani-ki-Vav
located in Patan, Gujarat and the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in
Himachal Pradesh for UNESCO‘s World Heritage Site Status for 2014.
March 19: An Assamese thriller film,
Ekhon Nedekha Nadir Xipaare (As River Flows) won the audience choice award in
North Carolina film festival.
March 21: India and Singapore won the
2014 edition of the UN-Water ―Water for Life‖ Best Practices
Award for their sustainable practices of water resources.
March 21: Indian journalist
Shubhranshu Choudhary, who launched a unique grassroots communication platform
in 2004 in Chhattisgarh called CGNet Swara to give voice to millions of
tribals, was awarded a prestigious award for digital activism at the Barbican
in London
March 22: Three officers, including
an IAF officer who died while saving Uttarakhand flood victims, a naval officer
who non-stop sailed around the world and an Army Major who killed three
terrorists, were awarded the Kirti Chakra, the second highest peacetime
gallantry award.
March 22: Physicist Rajesh Gopakumar
was selected for the 23rd G D Birla Award for scientific research for the year
2013.
March 22: IT major Tata Consultancy
Services on Friday said it has been named as the top employer in Europe for the
second consecutive year by the Top Employers Institute.
March 23: Ace Indian golfer Jeev
Milkha Singh said he was immensely proud on being named as one of five golfers
nominated for Asian Tour‘s ‗Player of the Decade‘ award.
March 25: Govind Mishra, the renowned
Hindi author will receive Sarawasti Samman for the year 2013 for his book ‗Dhool Paudho Par‘ published
in 2008.
March 26: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan
was conferred India's Global Icon of the Year award at the NRI of the Year
awards in Mumbai.
March 27: India and the 11-country
South-East Asia region received formal certificates to mark a health milestone
– being polio-free.
March 27: Japanese architect Shigeru
Ban won the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2014. He won the award for his creative
and inexpensive designs for disaster relief shelters.
March 27: An Indian-origin MBA
student at the University of Cambridge, Gopal Rao, has won accolades from
British Foreign Secretary William Hague after winning a Twitter competition
which asked a question regarding UK's foreign policy.
March 30: ICICI Prudential Mutual
Fund has bagged Morningstar India‘s best fund house award in the debt, equity
and multi-asset category.
March 31: President Pranab Mukherjee
conferred Padma Awards on 66 eminent personalities at a ceremony held at
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
SPORTS NEWS THIS MONTH
o March 2: Rashid Khan of India
claimed a play-off victory over Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman at the SAIL-SBI
Open with a birdie on the first extra hole at the Delhi Golf Course (DGC) in
New Delhi.
o
March 2: South Africa lift the ICC
Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2014.
Note: They defeated Pakistan by six wickets at Dubai.
o March 2: Roger Federer won singles
title of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship by defeating Tomas Berdych in
the final.
o March 5: Graeme Smith, the South
African cricket team Captain announced that he will retire from international
cricket at the end of the test match against Australia at Newlands. Smith is
the longest serving captain for South Africa in international cricket.
o March 7: Tamil Nadu men and Railways
women won the XXVII (twenty seventh) Federation Cup Volleyball titles in the
finals at Kizhakkambalam, Ernakulam in Kerala.
o March 8: India managed to hold to
their second position in the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings.
o March 9: Sri Lanka regained the Asia
Cup trophy with a comfortable five-wicket victory over defending champions
Pakistan.
o March 9: Mizoram won the 68th senior
National football championship of Santosh Trophy by defeating Railways 3-0 in
the final match played at Kanchenjungha Stadium in Siliguri, West Bengal.
o March 9: Virat Kohli has reclaimed
the No.1 position in the latest ICC rankings for One-Day International (ODI)
batsmen released at the conclusion of the Asia Cup which was won by Sri Lanka.
o
March 10: Australian all-rounder
Shane Watson will captain Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming Indian Premier
League.
March 11: Ace paddler Sharath Kamal will lead the
10-member Indian contingent including five women in the World Table Tennis
championships to be held in Tokyo from April 28 to May 5.
o
March 11: Vishnu Prasad and Gaurav Gill got tremendous
applause at the FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Club of India) 2013 awards
function.
Note: The former was named the Motorsport Person of
the Year, the latter became the first Indian to win the APRC title.
o March 11: Chain Singh and Heena Sidhu claimed gold
medals in the seventh Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait City.
o March 11: Pooja Ghatkar asserted the Indian supremacy
against tough Chinese competition by clinching the gold in women‘s air rifle in
the seventh Asian air gun championship in Kuwait City.
o March 13: Sachin Tendulkar is among the three greats to
have emerged as the leading contenders for ESPNcricinfo‘s Cricketer of the
Generation award; even as the Indian‘s long-time fierce rival from the West
Indies Brian Lara missed out on a place in the final three.
o March 13: The Committee recommended a ban of six months
on Sarvanjit Singh and Karamjit Singh, players for Punjab & Sind Bank and
Gurpreet Singh, player Air India with effect from April 1, 2014 from all Hockey
India and Hockey India sanctioned tournaments.
o March 15: Iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been
voted the Cricketer of the Generation by a 50-member jury of current and former
cricketers and journalists, beating the likes of spin legend Shane Warne and
all-rounder par excellence Jacques Kallis.
o March 16: The world‘s number two Novak Djokovic
defeated Roger Federer to win the BNP Paribas Open Final in Indian Wells ATP
Tennis Masters in California.
o March 19: Karnataka won the Vijay Hazare Cricket Trophy
2013-14 by defeating Railways by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
o March 20: The seventh edition of the Indian Premier
League (IPL) will start on April 16, with Abu Dhabi hosting the opening match
between defending champions Mumbai Indians and 2012 winners Kolkata Knight
Riders.
o March 20: India‘s ace men‘s shuttler Parupalli Kashyap
has jumped a rung to the 24th spot in the latest Badminton World Federation
rankings
o March 23: Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) shocked
defending Champions Haryana 4-0 to clinch the 4th Hockey India Senior Women
National Championship (Division A) in Bhopal
o March 27: In a big setback BCCI President N Srinivasan,
the Supreme Court proposed his replacement by Sunil Gavaskar and suspension of
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) along with Rajasthan Royals (RR) from IPL 7 till the
pendency of case of betting and spot fixing scandal before it.
o March 27: Olympian and former India captain Jude Felix
was appointed coach of the National men‘s hockey team.
o March 28: The Supreme Court handed over the reins of
BCCI to former player Sunil Gavaskar during IPL 7 and did not bar
Srinivasan-promoted Chennai Superkings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) from
participating in the tournament.
o March 28: West Zone won the cricket's Deodhar Trophy
2014. They lifted the trophy after defeating North Zone in the Day-Night final
at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam by a
margin of 133 runs.
o March 29: World number two air pistol shooter Heena
Sidhu continued her impressive form as she clinched a silver medal at the ISSF
World Cup in Fort Benning, USA, the feat taking her closer to the numero uno
spot in her event.
o March 29: Darren Sammy's twin sixes in the final over
sealed a six-wicket win for the West Indies against Australia in the ICC World
Twenty20 match.
o March 30: Novak Djokovic won his fourth career title at
the Miami Masters.
o
March 31: Britain's Lewis Hamilton won the Malaysian
Grand Prix with a pole-to-flag victory ahead of Nico Rosberg
EULOGIES THIS MONTH
March 1: Former Bharatiya Janata Party president
Bangaru Laxman died in Hyderabad after a prolonged illness.
March 3: Former TRAI Chairman J.S. Sarma, an advocate
of telecom sector reforms, has passed away after an illness.
March 5: Leading Brazilian film director Eduardo
Coutinho was killed in an attack at his Rio de Janeiro home
March 7: Former Foreign Secretary Jagat Singh Mehta
died in Udaipur following age-related ailments.
March 9: William Clay Ford Sr., who helped steer Ford
Motor Co. for more than five decades and owned the National Football League‘s
Detroit Lions, has died at the age of 88.
March 10: Sheila MacRae, a veteran stage, film and TV
performer died at the age of 92 in New Jersey.
March 11: K. Suryanarayana Raja, former international
basketball player and a vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Basketball
Association, passed away.
March 11: Joe McGinniss, an author of nonfiction and
novels died at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. He
died at the age of 71 due to prostate cancer.
March 14: Tony Benn, the totem of the British left who
spearheaded the movement against the Iraq war, died.
March 15: Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, the former President and leader of Sierra
Leone died.
March 15: Former Arunachal Pradesh Minister T C Teli
passed away.
March 20: Famous writer and journalist Khushwant Singh
passed away he was 99. Note: Singh was best known for his trenchant
secularism, his humour, and an abiding love for poetry.
March 22: Former Brazilian international footballer
Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini died after a heart attack.
March 25: Veteran Bollywood actress Nanda, best known
for her stellar performances in films like ‗Hum Dono‘, ‗Ittefaq‘ and
‗Gumnaam‘, passed away.
March 25: Adolfo Suarez, the first elected Prime
Minister of Spain died.
March 28: Yesteryear veteran director P Ramdas, who introduced the neo-realistic
wave in Malayalam cinema during the 1950s through his path breaking movie Newspaper
Boy, has passed away at a hospital in kerala.
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS THIS MONTH
March 7: The latest data released by the Central Statistics Office shows
that Bihar is the fastest growing State with its Gross State Domestic Product
growing at 15.05 per cent during 2012-13. It is the only State to clock a
double-digit growth rate.
Note: According to the CSO data, Gujarat ranked 6th
with growth rate at 7.96 per cent, behind Bihar and Madhya Pradesh with 9.89
per cent, Goa 8.47 per cent, Kerala 8.24 per cent and Odisha 8.09 per cent. The
all-India growth rate in 2012-13 was 4.47 per cent.
March 9: India has once again emerged as the largest
non oil trading partner of Dubai in 2013-14.
March 9: A group of 25 women commuters were invited by
the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to the Central Secretariat metro station and
taken on a tour of the station. Note: They were shown important
components of the metro system, like the station control and technical rooms,
as part of its ―Know Your Metro‖ campaign.
March 9: After a two-week 90-round gruelling battle, a
13-year-old Indian American student Kush Sharma finally broke a tie in a local
county contest to go to the National Spelling Bee competition.
March 10: Nokia‘s first Android smartphone launched for
Rs 8,599; the company said it will bring the other two devices — X+ and XL — in
the Indian market in the next 60 days.
March 11: India has emerged the most optimistic nation
in terms of hiring plans for the next three months and sectors such as
aviation, IT & ITeS and retail are likely to see an increase in payrolls.
March 11: Max Life Insurance has tied up with Toyota
Financial Services India Ltd to provide insurance cover to car loan customers.
March 13: Some 5.5 million Syrian children fell victims
to the three-year-old crisis in the war-torn country, the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) said while releasing a new report on the prevailing situation in the
country.
March 15: A new lot of silver coins bearing retired
cricket great Sachin Tendulkar's face embossed on them along with the number of
Tests (200) he had played was launched by Valuemart Gold & Jewels, in
association with Diamond India in Mumbai.
March 16: Infosys has bagged a multi-year deal from
Volvo Cars.
March 17: British mobile phone giant Vodafone has
agreed to buy Spanish cable television and Internet provider Ono for 7.2
billion euros (USD 10 billion).
March 18: A research report entitled A Tale of Two
Britains published by anti-poverty charity Oxfam has ranked Hinduja brothers as
third richest family in Britain.
March 18: A new data on international arms transfers
released that India‘s import of weapon systems is three times more than
Pakistan and China.
March 20: Online travel company Ibibo Group, that owns
portals such as Goibibo.com, redBus.in and Travelboutique has acquired 51 per
cent stake in online bus tracking and analytics platform YourBus.com for an
undisclosed amount.
March 22: The Election Commission is likely to sign up
film star and now host of popular TV show 'Satyamev Jayate', Aamir Khan, as its
national icon next week.
March 23: Dalai Lama released 'Lal Bahadur Shastri:
Lessons in Leadership', a biography that encapsulates former PM Lal Bahadur
Shastri's life.
March 23: Telecom service provider Vodafone launched
its popular mobile money transfer and payment service M-Pesa partnering with private
sector ICICI Bank.
March 25: Royal Mail in Britain issued a postage stamp of Noor Inayat Khan,
World War II heroine of Indian origin, on 25 March 2014.
Note: She fought fascism and died in the Dachau
concentration camp.
March 25: Over around a year after the shocking Delhi
gangrape case, Indian Ordinance factory launched a light-weight revolver
―Nirbheek‖, designed
especially for women to defend themselves from assault.
March 25: Google Inc has partnered with Luxottica SpA, the makers of Ray-Ban
and Oakley sunglasses, to bring a high fashion sensibility to its high-tech
wearable computer, Google glass.
March 26: Young actor Arjun Kapoor
has been named the national ambassador of the Earth Hour to be observed March
29.
March 27: Facebook decided to acquire
two year old virtual reality technology firm Oculus VR for 2 billion dollar. As
per the analyst, virtual reality technology could be a new way for people to
communicate, learn or be entertained.
March 28: Walmart Stores Inc has
filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc, accusing the credit & debit card giant of
conspiring with banks to fix fees that merchants pay for accepting payments
through Visa cards.
RECURRING TERMS IN NEWSPAPER THIS MONTH
Chipko Movement: The Chipko movement or
Chipko Andolan is a movement that practiced the Gandhian methods of satyagraha
and non-violent resistance, through the act of hugging trees to protect them
from being felled. The modern Chipko movement started in the early 1970s in the
Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, then in Uttar Pradesh with growing awareness
towards rapid deforestation. The landmark event in this struggle took place on
March 26, 1974, when a group of peasant women in Reni village, Hemwalghati, in
Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, acted to prevent the cutting of trees and
reclaim their traditional forest rights that were threatened by the contractors
assigned by the state Forest Department. Their actions inspired hundreds of
such actions at the grassroots level throughout the region. By the 1980s the
movement had spread throughout India and led to the formulation of
people-sensitive forest policies, which put a stop to the open felling of trees
in regions as far reaching as Vindhyas and the Western Ghats. Today, it is seen
as an inspiration and a precursor for Chipko movement of Garhwal. Its leader
was Sunderlal Bahuguna.
BIMSTEC: The
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
(BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in
South Asia and South East Asia. These are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
International
Women of Courage Award: The International Women of Courage Award is an
American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to
women around the world who have shown leadership, courage, resourcefulness and
willingness to sacrifice for others, especially for better promotion of women's
rights.
G D Birla
award: The G D Birla award for scientific research was instituted in 1991
to recognise significant scientific research undertaken by Indian scientists
below the age of 50, working in India.
Pakistan
Day: Pakistan Day is observed in form of celebration in the country to mark
the passage of the Lahore Resolution of 1940 that led to the creation of
Pakistan. Apart from this, Pakistan on 23 March 1956 adopted its first
Constitution, which was the day of transition of dominion of Pakistan to the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan on 23 March 1956 became the world's
first Islamic republic.
Basel III: Basel III (or the Third Basel Accord) is a
global, voluntary regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing
and market liquidity risk. It was agreed upon by the members of the Basel
Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010–11, and was scheduled to be introduced
from 2013 until 2015; however, changes from 1st April 2013 extended
implementation until 31 March 2018. The third installment of the Basel Accords
(see Basel I, Basel II) was developed in response to the deficiencies in
financial regulation revealed by the late-2000s financial crisis. Basel III was
supposed to strengthen bank capital requirements by increasing bank liquidity
and decreasing bank leverage.
Key principles of BASEL III Capital requirements: The original Basel III rule
from 2010 was supposed to require banks to hold 4.5% of common equity (up from
2% in Basel II) and 6% of Tier I capital (up from 4% in Basel II) of
"risk-weighted assets" (RWA).[3] Basel III introduced
"additional capital buffers", (i) a "mandatory capital
conservation buffer" of 2.5% and (ii) a "discretionary
counter-cyclical buffer", which would allow national regulators to require
up to another 2.5% of capital during periods of high credit growth. Leverage
ratio: Basel III introduced a minimum "leverage ratio". The
leverage ratio was calculated by dividing Tier 1 capital by the bank's average
total consolidated assets;[4] The banks were expected to maintain a leverage
ratio in excess of 3% under Basel III. In July 2013, the US Federal Reserve
Bank announced that the minimum Basel III leverage ratio would be 6% for 8
Systemically important financial institution (SIFI) banks and 5% for their
insured bank holding companies.[5] Liquidity requirements: Basel III
introduced two required liquidity ratios.[6] The "Liquidity Coverage
Ratio" was supposed to require a bank to hold sufficient high-quality
liquid assets to cover its total net cash outflows over 30 days; the Net Stable
Funding Ratio was to require the available amount of stable funding to exceed
the required amount of stable funding over a one-year period of extended
stress.
Tier I Capital: Tier 1
capital is the core measure of a bank's financial strength from a regulator's
point of view. It is composed of core capital, which consists primarily of
common stock and disclosed reserves (or retained earnings), but may also
include non-redeemable non-cumulative preferred stock. The Basel Committee also
observed that banks have used innovative instruments over the years to generate
Tier 1 capital; these are subject to stringent conditions and are limited to a
maximum of 15% of total Tier 1 capital. This part of the Tier 1 capital will be
phased out during the implementation of Basel III.
Tier II Capital:
Tier 2 capital, or supplementary
capital, include a number of important and legitimate constituents of a bank's
capital base. These forms of banking capital were largely standardized in the
Basel I accord, issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and left
untouched by the Basel II accord. National regulators of most countries around
the world have implemented these standards in local legislation. In the
calculation of regulatory capital, Tier 2 is limited to 100% of Tier 1 capital.
International
Financial Reporting Standards: IFRS is principles based set of accounting
standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), an
independent group of 15 experts. IFRS is steadily becoming the global standard
for the preparation of financial statements of public companies. The IFRS
establishes broad rules and dictate specific treatments in Financial reporting.
International Accounting Standards Board International Accounting Standards
Board (ISAB) is based at London and was founded in 2001 as a successor to the
International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). The IASB has continued to
develop standards calling the new standards IFRS.
Bancassurance:
Bancassurance or Bank Insurance Model refers to the distribution of the insurance
and related financial products by the Banks whose main business is NOT
insurance. So, simply Bancassurance, i.e., banc + assurance, refers to banks
selling the insurance products. Bancassurance term first appeared in France in
1980, to define the sale of insurance products through banks' distribution
channels. Benefits: It helps both the banks and Insurance Companies as follows:
This is a referral business in which the banks tend to leverage the existing
clientele. Insurance companies get the benefit because they can have
distribution relationships with multiple insurers. Business Model: For
Bancassurance, the Banks need to obtain a prior license from the IrDA or
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, so that they can work as
"Composite Corporate Agent" or may have "Referral
Arrangement" with the Insurance Companies.
Retail
Banking: The main characteristic of retail banking , very much similar to
retail trade, is that banks directly execute transactions with consumers rather
than other banks or corporations. The retail banking is characterized by
multiple products, multiple delivery channels and multiple customer segments. The
multiple products may include financial products such as deposits, insurance
products (agency) , investments etc. The multiple delivery channels may include
customer service centers, internet kiosks etc. Multiple customer segments may
include the individual customers, small businessmen and corporates. The main
products of the retail banking in India are as follows: Deposits products such
as flexi deposits. Loan products such as housing, auto, education and personal
loans Card products such as credit cards Travel products such as traveler's
cheques etc.
What is a Lead Bank: Under
the Scheme, each district had been assigned to different banks (public and
private) to act as a consortium leader to coordinate the efforts of banks in
the district particularly in matters like branch expansion and credit planning.
The Lead Bank was to act as a consortium leader for coordinating the efforts of
all credit institutions in each of the allotted districts for expansion of
branch banking facilities and for meeting the credit needs of the rural
economy.
ABBREVIATIONS THIS MONTH
BBK: Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait
MDIF: Media Development Investment Fund
DGP: Director General of Police
EPFO: Employees' Provident Fund Organisation
AIIMS: All India Institute of Medical Science
MSE: Micro and Small Enterprises
BIMSTEC: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation
DHR: Department of Health Research
ICMR: Indian Council of Medical Research
ETF: Exchange Traded Funds
IABF: Indian Amateur Boxing Federation
ASCPCR: Assam State Commission for Protection of
Child Rights
UNICEF: United Nations Children‗s Fund
INMA: International News Media Association
EVM: Electronic Voting Machine
NDMC: North Delhi Municipal Corporation
UIDAI: Unique Identification Authority of India
TFSC: Toyota Financial Services Corporation
CSO: Central Statistics Office
NALCO: National Aluminium Company Ltd
OFB: Ordnance Factory Board
FAO: Food and Agriculture Organisation
IJA: Indian Journalists‘
Association
SUUTI: Specified Undertaking of
the Unit Trust of India
RSPB: Railway Sports Promotion
Board
UAN: Universal Account Number
IINSS-C: Inflation Indexed National
Saving Securities - Cumulative
CSK: Chennai Super Kings
RR: Rajasthan Royals
IMPORTANT DAYS THIS MONTH
March 8: International Womens‘ Day/
International Literacy Day
March 13: World Kidney Day/ World
Rotaract Day
March 15: World Disabled Day/ World
Consumer Rights Day
March 20: World Day of Theatre for
Children and Young People
March 21: World Sleep Day/ World
Forestry Day/ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
March 22: World Water Day
March 23: World Meteorological Day
March 24: World Tuberculosis Day/
International Day for Achievers
March 25: International Day of
Remembrance - Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 27: World Drama Day
SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE MONTH
ACADEMY AWARDS
Best Film: 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 (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen,
Caitrin Rogers)
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)
THIRD BIMSTEC SUMMIT
Background
On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed in
Bangkok.
It was given the name
BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
Myanmar
attended the inaugural June Meeting as an observer and joined the organization
as a full member at a Special Ministerial Meeting held in Bangkok on 22
December 1997, upon which the name of the grouping was changed to BIMST-EC.
Nepal was
granted observer status by the second Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka in December
1998. Subsequently, full membership has been granted to Nepal and Bhutan in
2003.
In the first Summit on 31 July 2004, leaders of the group agreed
that the name of the grouping should be known as BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
Priority Sectors
BIMSTEC has
Fourteen priority sectors cover all areas of cooperation. Six priority sectors
of cooperation were identified at the 2nd Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka on 19
November 1998. They include the followings:
Trade and
Investment, led by Bangladesh
Transport and
Communication, led by India
Energy, led
by Myanmar
Tourism, led
by India
Technology,
led by Sri Lanka
Fisheries, led by Thailand
Third Summit 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. Highlights of this year’s Summit 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.
NUCLEAR
SECURITY SUMMIT
The Nuclear
Security Summit (NSS) is a world summit, aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism
around the globe.
The first
summit was held in Washington, D.C. on April 12–13, 2010.
The second
summit was in Seoul, Korea in 2012.
The third summit was held in The Hague, the Netherlands on March
24–25, 2014.
2014 Summit The 2014 summit in March 2014 in The Hague, the Netherlands,
charted the accomplishments of the past two years, identifying which of the
objectives set out in the Washington Work Plan and the Seoul Communiqué have
not been met and proposing ways to achieve them. The intention of host country,
the Netherlands, was to focus on the following achievable and visible goals:[1]
Optimal
security for and, if at all possible, a reduction in the use of highly enriched
uranium and plutonium.
Ratification
of the amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material by
more countries to ensure that the amendment enters into force as soon as
possible.
More frequent
reviews of state security structures by IAEA advisory missions.
National registration and protection of highly radioactive
sources (e.g. medical equipment).
Greater role for industry
in nuclear security, to enhance the security culture and existing regulations.
States should provide information to their own people and the
international community to demonstrate that they are taking appropriate
measures to maintain the security of their nuclear material and facilities.
These confidence-building measures will increase trust in the international
protection system.
EARTH HOUR
Earth Hour is
a worldwide movement for the planet organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF).
The event is
held worldwide annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and
businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, from 8:30 to
9:30 p.m. on the last Saturday in March, as a symbol for their commitment to
the planet.
It was
famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.
Since then it
has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide.
Today, Earth
Hour engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental
issues.
The one-hour
event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement.
Earth Hour
2014 was on Saturday, March 29, from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm in a location's local
time.
Earth Hour 2015 will be on Saturday, March 28, from 8:30 p.m. to
9:30 p.m. during participants' local time.
I Will If You Will
"I Will
If You Will" (IWIYW) is an Earth Hour campaign to encourage positive
action for the environment.
The actions
required are up to the individual or group.
They could be
big or small and it might be a simple lifestyle change or perhaps something
that leads to political change.
The campaign
intends for people to become the inspiration to their friends, family,
colleagues and communities by sharing what they‘re willing to do to protect the
planet.
Challenges can be created or accepted on Earth Hour's YouTube
channel.
Organisations that support Earth Hour
Earth Hour is supported around the world by Woodland, CBRE, the
National Hockey League, FIFA, UEFA, Manchester United, Hilton Hotels, Girl
Scouts of the USA, World Organisation of the Scouts Movement, UNESCO, UN
Environment Programme, the International Trade Union Confederation, HSBC, World
Association of the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Philips, Ikea, The Body Shop,
ING Vysya Bank, SASKEN and more.
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