GK UPDATE 13TH MARCH
1. India & Aus. to play third test tomorrow
i. The third cricket
test of the 4-match series between India and Australia will be played at the
Punjab Cricket Stadium in Mohali from tomorrow.
ii. Hosts India are
currently leading the series, 2-0. After defeating the Aussies by 8
wickets in the first test at Chennai, Team India had registered a superb, an
innings and 135 runs victory in the second test at Hyderabad.
iii. The final test
between the two teams will be played at Delhi from 22nd March.
2. Govt. granted an aid of 41 Crore Rs. to protect Pashmina Goats
i. The Union
Government on 12 March 2013 decided to provide a financial assistance of 41.21
crore rupees to protect Pashmina goat which produces world-famous
fine luxury fibre.
ii. The idea of providing
assistance came in light of concern over the recent deaths of thousands of
Pashmina goats in the Ladakh region.
iii. As per the
assistance, there is plan which ideates a newPashmina Wool Development
Scheme with a special package and a financial allocation of 41.21
crore rupees.
3. Hockey: India beat Pakistan
i. India defeated arch-rivals
Pakistan 3-1 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament at Ipoh,
Malaysia, yesterday.
ii. In their remaining
two fixtures in the round-robin competition, India will meet New Zealand on
Thursday and hosts Malaysia on Saturday.
4. Laureus World Sports Awards 2013:
Laureus
World Sports Awards 2013 were organised in Rio de Janeiro on
11 March 2013.
The
list of the awardees :
i. Laureus World Sportsman
of the Year- Usain Bolt
ii. Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year- Jessica Ennis
iii. Laureus World Team
of the Year- European Ryder Cup Team
iv. Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year- Andy Murray
v. Laureus World Comeback of the Year- Feliz Sanchez
vi. Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the
Year- Felix Baumgartner
vii. Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a
Disability- Daniel Dias
5. Jagat Singh Negi Elected As the Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly of Himachal
i. Jagat Singh Negi,
the Congress legislator from Kinnaur was elected as the Deputy
speaker of Legislative Assembly of Himachal on 12 March 2013.
ii. The Chief Minister
of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh announced Negi’s name for the post of
Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly.
6. Union Government to launch 10 Rupees Plastic Notes in 5 Cities
i. The Union
Government and RBI on 12 March 2013 decided to introduce one billion pieces of
10 Rupees bank notes made of plastic on a field trial basis in five cities.
ii. A 10 Rupees
note in polymer/plastic on a field trial basis will be introduced
first.
iii. The field trail is
supposed to be conducted in five cities of Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur,
Bhubhaneswar and Shimla with varied geographical locations and
climatic conditions.
iv. As per the RBI, the
primary objective of introduction of polymer notes is to
increase its life, it could also help in combating counterfeiting.
7. Japan Became First Country in the World to
Extract Natural Gas from Methane
Hydrate
i. Japan on 12 March
2013 announced that it had extracted the natural gas from frozen methane
hydrate successfully off the central coast.
ii. With this, Japan
became the first country to do so in the world.
iii. A Japan official
from Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry announced that this was the first
offshore experiment of producing natural gas from methane hydrate in the world.
iv. Also, apart from Japan,
certain other countries such as China, US and Canada have been searching for
the ways to exploit the methane hydrate deposits.
NOTE:
i. Methane
Hydrate, also known as clathrates are a kind of frozen
confinements of molecules of water and methane.
ii. The gas field where
the natural gas was extracted from methane hydrate is situated 50 km away from
the main island of Japan in Nankai Trough.
How
this is beneficial for Japan
i. According to the
researchers, this extraction can prove to be very beneficial because it could
facilitate as an alternative source of energy for Japan. It is important to
note that Japan as of now imports all the energy needs.
ii. It was estimated
that around 1.1tn cubic metres of methane hydrate existed in the offshore deposits.
This is equal to the gas consumption of Japan in more than 10 years.
iii. The extraction of
natural gas from methane hydrate will therefore help Japan in reducing the
pressure on natural resources as well as bringing down the cost of import of fuel.
8. India Clinched a Gold And A Bronze Medal In Asian Archery Grand Prix
i. In the Asian Archery
Grand Prix, the men’s compound team of India won a gold medal
while men’s recurve trio won a bronze in Bangkok on 12 March
2013.
ii. The men’s compound team comprised
of Jignas Chittibomma, Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma. It defeated Vietnam team
226-218 to clinch gold.
iii. The recurve trio
men’s team comprised of Binod Swansi, Rahul Banerjee and Atanu Das. It
defeated Russia 217-201 to win the bronze medal. India won
55-51, 53-47, 55-53, 54-50.
9. India & Aus. to play third test tomorrow
i. The third cricket
test of the 4-match series between India and Australia will be played at the
Punjab Cricket Stadium in Mohalifrom tomorrow.
ii. Hosts India are
currently leading the series, 2-0. After defeating the Aussies by 8
wickets in the first test at Chennai, Team India had registered a superb, an
innings and 135 runs victory in the second test at Hyderabad.
iii. The final test
between the two teams will be played at Delhi from 22nd March.
10. Legendary Painter Ganesh Pyne Passed Away in Kolkata
i. 76 years old legendary
painter Ganesh Pyne on 12 March 2013 died after a heart attack at a city
hospital in Kolkata.
About Ganesh
Pyne
i. In his long career of
five decades his paintings were exhibited round the world - Paris, London,
Washington and Germany.
ii. He was described as
an artist's artist, a philosopher's philosopher and master fantasist of them
all.
iii. In the year 2012
Ganesh Pyne was conferred the lifetime achievement award by
Indian Chamber of Commerce.
