Brazilian physicist and astronomer Marcelo Gleiser has been awarded the 2019 Templeton Prize, worth $1.4 million, for his work blending science and spirituality. Gleiser, 60, is the first Latin American to win the award. Previous winners of the award, started in 1972 by late global investor Sir John Templeton, include the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.
Indian Railways Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has surpassed the top Chinese manufacturers after creating a 40% record increase in its production. With this, Indian Railway’s oldest and premier coach manufacturing unit becomes the single largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. ICF has manufactured 2,919 coaches from April 2018 to February 2019 as compared to 2,600 coaches by Chinese manufacturers.
Kazakhstan has renamed its capital Astana to Nursultan to honor outgoing leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. Mr. Nazarbayev, 78, served nearly 30 years as president of the nation. The change was announced after Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was sworn in as president, promising to seek his predecessor’s opinion on key decisions.
The Government of Indonesia has hosted the first ever High-Level Dialogue on Indo-Pacific Cooperation (HLD-IPC) in its capital city Jakarta. The theme of the HLD was ‘Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous, and Inclusive Region’. It was inaugurated by Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
The objective behind this meet was to urge all participating governments to talk openly about their plans for increasing cooperation and for building trust in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean region.
New Zealand has imposed an immediate ban on assault weapons following the Christchurch massacre that claimed the lives of 50 mosque-goers.
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern announced assault rifles and military-style semi-automatic weapons would be banned with immediate effect, making a pledge to ensure that nothing like Christchurch massacre ever occurs in the Pacific nation again.
The Election Commission of India has appointed transgender social activist Gauri Sawant, as one of the 12 election ambassadors from Maharashtra. She is the first transgender election ambassadors.
According to the Election Commission, Gauri Sawant’s appointment would help in more people from this category getting registered during the final phase of voters enrollment. It stated that in the next few days, Gauri Sawant would visit every transgender and inspire them about the need for voting.
India returned with 368 medals (85 gold, 154 Silver, and 129 Bronze) at the Special Olympics World Summer Games, held at Abu Dhabi, UAE. Indian powerlifters bagged the maximum number of medals 20 gold, 33 silver and 43 bronze.
Roller Skating earned India 49 medals 13 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze. In cycling, the Indians won 11 gold, 14 silver and 20 bronze to total 45 medals, while the country’s track and field athletes returned with 39 medals 5 gold, 24 silver and 10 bronze.
Fitch Ratings cut India’s economic growth forecast for the next financial year starting April 1, to 6.8% from its previous estimate of 7%, on weaker than expected momentum in the economy.
The rating agency has also cut growth forecasts for FY20 and FY21 to 7% from 7.3% and 7.1% from 7.3%, respectively. According to Fitch, the RBI has adopted a more dovish monetary policy stance and cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage at its February 2019 meeting, a move supported by steadily decelerating headline inflation.
The World Happiness Report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations on March 20, the International Day of Happiness. India is ranked 140th out of 156 nations. India shows a 7 spot decline.
For the second consecutive year, Finland topped the list. Denmark ranked second followed by Norway. Pakistan ranked 67th, Bhutan 95th, China 93rd, Bangladesh 125th, and Sri Lanka 130th while South Sudan ranked last in the World Happiness Report.
The International Day of Forests is held annually on 21 March to raise awareness of the importance of forests to people and their vital role in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security. The theme for 2019 is Forests and Education.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on 21 December 2012, which declared that 21 March of each year is to be observed as the International Day of Forests.
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