Current Affairs March 2017 - Places in NEWS

News 1 - Dharamshala approved to be Himachal’s second capital

Himachal Pradesh cabinet approved Dharamsala as the second capital of the state, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Since, Dharamsala is considered as tourist capital and commercial capital of the state, it deserves to be considered as 2^nd capital of Himachal Pradesh.

Dharamsala was already marked special due to presence of Dalai Lama’s residence and the headquarters of Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile). Dharamsala is a city in Himachal’s Kangra district. Kangra is the largest district in the state.

News 2 - Government’s Biotech Innovation to be launched in Bengaluru

The BIRAC Regional Entrepreneurship Centre (BREC), Indian government’s innovation hub has been decided to be set up at Bengaluru, by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms – C-CAMP, technology and innovation hub. The full form of BIRAC is the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council.

It is set up by the Government with an aim to raise Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Awareness Programs, conduct workshops with international experts, boost biotech start-ups and improve the biotechnology entrepreneurship scenario across India.

News 3 - A 3-day National Conference on Innovation in Educational Administration

A three-day National Conference on Innovation in Educational Administration organized by National University of Educational Planning and Administration was held in New Delhi.

About 150 district and block level education officers from across India and resource persons and faculty of the university participated in the conference. The main objective of the programme was to recognise innovative ideas and best practices adopted by district and block level education officers for effective management of the educational administrative system at district and block levels.

News 4 - National conference on Jal Kranti Abhiyan organised in New Delhi

Ministry of Water Resources and River Development organized a national conference on Jal Kranti Abhiyan in New Delhi. About 700 participants representing various stakeholder groups such as farmers, panchayat members, NGOs and students attended the daylong conference.

The Ministry had launched Jal Kranti Abhiyan on June, 2015 to consolidate water conservation and management in the country through a holistic and integrated approach involving all stakeholders.

News 5 - India’s tallest Tricolor hoisted at Attari border

India's tallest tricolour was hoisted at Amritsar's Attari border. The flag is 360 feet high. It measures 120 feet in length, 80 feet in breadth. It was a project of the Amritsar Improvement Trust Authority of the Punjab government.

The flag is said to be visible from Lahore. The entire project was built at an approximate cost of Rs3.50 crore. Previously, Ranchi had the tallest national flag at 300 feet.

News 6 - Chandigarh to host Destination North East 2017

The three day ‘Destination North East-2017’ event was hosted by Chandigarh beginning 6^th March, 2017. The annual event was organized outside Delhi for the first time.

The ‘Destination North East-2017’ was organized by Ministry of DoNER to showcase North East as a potential destination for investment and highlight the rich traditions and customs of the region. The core theme of the festival is to highlight the use of appropriate technologies in all sectors of development for North Eastern Region.

News 7 - Tribal festival 'Bhagoria' celebrated in MP

The annual tribal festival 'Bhagoria' was organised at Bhagoria haats (local markets) in Jhabua, Alirajpur, Dhar, Khargone and Barwani districts in western Madhya Pradesh.

The festival is celebrated in the month of March before the Holi Festival by the local tribes called Bhils and Bhilalas. It is also called as the festival of love. Bhagoria Haat Festival is one of its kind in which young girls and boys have a right to elope after choosing their life partner.

News 8 - Mobile World Congress to be organized in Delhi

To involve Indian business association with Mobile World Congress, GSM Association announced to organize three day India World Congress in New Delhi, India from September 27. It is announced with an aim to focus on reaching out to the South East Asian markets and highlight technological developments in the world of mobile telephony.

Every year, GSM Association holds Annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and Shanghai. The event invites representatives from global tech giants Facebook, Huawei, Ericsson,vendors and content owners.

News 9 - A 2-day North-East Business Summit held in New Delhi

The 11^th North East Business Summit held in New Delhi. The two-day event was an initiative to facilitate investment, highlight strengths of the North-East Region and business opportunities which North-East must offer.

It was announced in the Summit that an e-commerce portal will soon be launched to sell NER handicrafts and handloom worldwide on the IRCTC website and land will be provided for expansion of the rail link to Darjeeling, which will be further extended to Sikkim.

News 10 - The 10^th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance: ICEGOV 2017

The 10^th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2017) was organised in New Delhi, between 7 and 9 March 2017. The theme of the event was "Building Knowledge Societies: From Digital Government to Digital Empowerment".

The key objective of ICEGOV2017 was to explore how Digital Government can lead to Digital Empowerment by local knowledge. ICEGOV 2017 is the 10^th edition of ICEGOV. The conference was conducted in Montevideo in 2016).

News 11 - ‘International Vision Zero Conference’ on Occupational, Safety and Health

Three days International Conference on the VISION ZERO and its relevance to Occupational Safety and Health was held from 15^th to 17^th, March 2017 in New Delhi. It is organized by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment and German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany in association with International Social Security Association - Manufacturing, Construction and Mining.

The conference aims to focus on the Occupational Safety and Health issues and challenges in the Manufacturing, Construction and Mining sector.

News 12 - Second India-UAE conference on globalization held in Dubai

The second India-UAE conference on Globalisation was held in Dubai. The Conference was organised by the All India Management Association (AIMA). It aims to create a thought leadership platform for a constructive dialogue on key areas of mutual interest between the two countries.

The theme of the conference is ‘Resetting Globalisation: Collaborating in a Fast Changing World’. The conference will bring together policy makers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors and senior managers from both India and the UAE.

News 13 - A 3-Day International Buddhist Conference inaugurated at Rajgir

The three days “International Buddhist Conference” was organized by Ministry of Culture and Nava Nalanda Mahaviahra, Deemed University at Rajgir International Buddhist Conference, Bihar and inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of Culture and Tourism.

The main highlights of the conference were release of the reprint of the Pali Tripitaka in Devanagri script by Holiness the Dalai lama and announcement of the opening of the department of the Buddhist science for the first time in Asia.

News 14 - 'Make in India' Conference held in Houston

The first-ever Houston India Conference was held in Houston, USA and hosted by Asia Society Texas Centre. The theme of the two-day conference was ‘Make in India – The Inside Story’.

The conference held discussions on best ways of doing business in India including dialogue on ‘Make in India’. The central focus of the conference was to provide a collaboration platform and share today’s India story with the audience in Texas who are interested in investing in India.

News 15 - Osmania University to host the 105^th Indian Science Congress

Osmania University will host the 105^th edition of the Indian Science Congress during January 3-7, 2018. The conference will be on the theme ‘Science and Technology - Reaching the Unreached’.

About 20 Nobel laureates are expected to attend the conference. This will be the sixth time the university will be hosing the conference. The university had hosted the 85^th session of the event in 1998. The 104^th session of the event was held at the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati in January this year.

News 16 - G-20 Framework Working Group (FWG) held in Varanasi

The Government of India and RBI hosted the two-day 3^rd Meeting of the G-20 FWG in Varanasi on the 28^th and 29^th of March, 2017. The G-20 FWG discussed the Current State of the Global Economy as well as G-20 agenda on Inclusive Growth and Reports on Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth & G-20 Enhanced Structural Reform Agenda among others.

The G-20 FWG is one of the core Working Group of G-20 and deliberates on matters related to global economy and on the policy co-ordination that is required between the major economies of the world to face global economic challenges.

News 17 - Sarhul Festival celebrated in Jharkhand

The popular tribal festival of nature worshipping - 'Sarhul', was celebrated all over Jharkhand with enthusiasm. It started with the tribal priests- called 'Pahan', worshiping nature at various common religious places- called 'Akhara'.

People came out in traditional dresses on streets in large number where various dance groups, musical groups and tableau were centers of attractions. Sarhul also marks the beginning of the New Year for the tribal of Jharkhand.