26th March 2016

A.Arvind Kejriwal named among World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine

1.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been named among the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine. 

2.He is sole leader from India in the list and has been placed at 42nd position. 2016 edition is Fortune magazine’s third annual ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ list and it has been topped by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. 

3.Key facts 

Top 10: Jeff Bezos (1st position), Angela Merkel (2nd), Aung San Suu Kyi (3rd), Pope Francis (4th), Tim Cook (5th), John Legend (6th), Christiana Figueres (7th), Paul Ryan (8th), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (9th) and Sheikh Hasina (10th). 

4.Indian Americans in the list: Indian-American Nikki Haley and Resham Saujani were placed at 17th and 20th position respectively. 

5.Nikki Haley is South Carolina’s Governor and Resham Saujani is founder and CEO of tech organization ‘Girls Who Code’. 

6.Others in the list: US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko (22th), IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (36), Melinda Gates and Susan Desmond-Hellmann (41th), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (48) and Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay (50). 

About World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list 

1.The ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ list of Fortune Magazine features men and women from across the globe from the fields of government, business, arts and the philanthropy who are transforming the world and inspiring others to do the same.

B.Andhra Pradesh Government inaugurates country’s first lift irrigation project

1.Andhra Pradesh government inaugurated India’s first river linking project viz. Pattiseema lift irrigation project connecting Godavari River with Krishna River from the ongoing Polavaram Multi-purpose Irrigation Project. 

2.The project has been completed in a record time of one year by the Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL). 

Key facts 

1.The project has capactiry to lift 80 tmc (trillion metric cubic feet) of flood water from Godavari River in a span of 110 days during the flooding season between July and October. 

2.Water is pumped up to a nearby point and discharged into Polavaram Right Main Canal that flows under gravity to a tributary of River Krishna about 170 km. 

3.The project contains 24 pumps and 24 motors of 5,300 HP and 6,300 HP respectively with a combined capacity to discharge 8,500 cusecs of water. 

4.The project requires 113 mw of power to run all the 24 pumps as each motor require 4.7 mw of power to lift the water. 

5.The first pump of this Godavari-Krishna linking project was installed and switched on in September 2015.

C.Mizoram Government, JICA ink MoU for promoting Sustainable Agriculture

1.Mizoram government and Japanese International Cooperative Agency (JICA) have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on ‘Capacity Enhancement for Sustainable Agriculture and Irrigation Development’. 

2.It was signed by the State government officials of Agriculture, Minor Irrigation, Horticulture and Soil and Water Conservation departments. 

3.The MoU will pave way for experts of the Japanese company to undertake technical cooperation project on the companys expense in four rural development blocks in Aizawl, Serchhip, Kolasib and Champhai districts. 

4.The project will be undertaken based on the development study conducted by JICAduring 2013 and 201. 

5.Based on this study, it had formulated a master plan covering 20 years and the technical cooperation project would commence from October 2016 till September 2021. 

6.Under it training programmes would be conducted in Japan both for farmers and officials from Mizoram for three times and the expenses would be borne by the Japanese government.

D.India, China led investments in Renewable Energy in 2015: UN report

1.India and China have led the developing countries in investments made in renewable energy in 2015. 

2.It was revealed by the ‘Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment’ Report published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 

Key facts 

1.For the first time commitments of emerging economies in solar, wind and other renewables’ capacity have surpassed those by wealthy nations. 

2.The developing world committed a total of 156 billion dollars in new renewables capacity in 2015 year, these figures up 19% on 2014. 

3.Within the developing-economy category, the “Big Three” of India, China and Brazil saw investment rise 16% to USD 120.2 billion. 

4.In contrast, renewable energy investments by developed countries were down by 8 per cent in 2015 to 130 billion dollars. 

5.A large part of the record-breaking investment in developing countries took place in China, with its investment commitment up by 17% to 102.9 billion dollars. 

6.India was also among the top 10 investing countries in renewable energy with its commitments rising 22% to USD 10.2 billion.