Notes:
Bidya Devi Bhandari has been re-elected as President of Nepal for second term in office with an overwhelming majority. She defeated her Nepali Congress rival Kumari Laxmi Rai in the election held on March 13, 2018. Ms Bhandari secured 39,275 votes while the NC’s Rai garnered 11,730 votes. She became Nepal’s first woman President in 2015.

Notes:
India’s tallest national flag has been unfurled in Belagavi (also known as Belgaum) in Karnataka. The 9,600 sq.ft flag on a 110 m flag pole was unfurled by Ramesh Jarkiholi, District in-charge Minister. The event was attended by leaders, school children, and religious leaders of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh institutions at the Kote Kere front. The 110 m tall flag post at Kote Kere is near the historic Belagavi fort in the city. It is taller than the post in Pune (107 m) and the one at the India-Pakistan border at Attari (105 m) in Punjab.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the World Hindi Secretariat building in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, on March 13, 2018. The Secretariat is fully financed by India and a grant of Rs 33 crore was provided. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of this building in 2015. The purpose of the secretariat is to present Hindi as a common man’s language ‘Janbhasha’ in front of the world.

Notes:
Stephen Hawking (76), the legendary British theoretical physicist, has passed away in Cambridge, United Kingdom on March 14, 2018. Known for his unique way of speaking while living his life in a wheelchair, Hawking became an emblem of human determination and curiosity. He is known for his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity. He contracted motor neurone disease in 1963 and was given two years to live but he went on to study at Cambridge and became one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein. Mr Hawking was the author of several popular science books, including ‘A Brief History of Time’, which sold more than 10 million copies and was translated into 40 different languages. The physicist had won the Albert Einstein Award, the Wolf Prize, the Copley Medal, and the Fundamental Physics Prize. His life story was the subject of the 2014 film ‘The Theory of Everything’, starring Eddie Redmayne.

Notes:
Narendra Jha (55), the noted film and television actor, has passed away in Nashik, Maharashtra on March 14, 2018. He was born in Madhubani, Bihar. He began his small screen journey with Mandira Bedi’s Shanti and went on to model in TV ads. He is best known for his performances in films such as “Raees”, “Kaabil”, “Mohenjo Daro” and “Haider”.

Notes:
The Haryana government will constitute a committee to find a solution to polluted water flowing in Yamuna river affecting the four districts of the state. The committee, led by State Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Om Parkash Dhankhar, will discuss the issue with the Delhi government and the Centre. It was announced by the Chief Minister of Haryana in the Haryana Assembly during Zero hour to the issue of quality of water in Okhla Barrage and effulents entering Yamuna from 37 polluted channels in Delhi.

Notes:
The Executive Committee, which is the apex body for all nutrition related activities under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, held its first meeting to decide on the road map for the mission on March 14, 2018. The Committee is headed by Rakesh Srivastava, Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development. An official release stated that on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on 14th of April, Gram Panchayats across the country will hold meetings to discuss on the nutritional aspects and their implementation along with health and sanitation issues. Besides, a National Seminar is also being organised on 20th March for taking the Mission forward. Apart from executive committee, the National Council on India (NCI)’s nutritional challenges under chairmanship of Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog has also been set up under the POSHAN Abhiyaan. The Council will submit report to the Prime Minister every 6 months. It must be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the POSHAN Abhiyaan at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan on 8th March 2018.

Notes:
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the research body of the health ministry, has been awarded the International Kochon Prize 2017 for its contribution to the national programme in Tuberculosis research. The ICMR through its TB Consortium has accelerated the efforts for research and development on the disease in the country. The TB consortium is working with public and private institutes, to guide the country’s research efforts towards the development of point-of-care diagnostics, shorter treatment regimens and an effective vaccine for Tuberculosis. The Kochon Prize is given by the Kochon Foundation, a non-profit foundation registered in the Republic of Korea. It comprises an award of USD 65,000. The headquarters of ICMR is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
The first regional conference on ‘Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) for Urban Areas – Opportunities and Challenges was held in Kolkata, West Bengal on March 13, 2018. The conference was jointly organized by Ministry of Finance, AIIB, ASSOCHAM and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). Before the 3rd annual meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to be held in Mumbai from June 2018, eight such regional conferences will be held on the issues relating to infrastructures development, sustainable infrastructure, mass rapid transportation system, port and coastal infrastructure, urban development and the like in eight different cities of India.

Notes:
The Jhanor-Gandhar Thermal Power Station is a gas-based power plant located at Urja Nagar, in Bharuch district of Gujarat. It is run by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).