29th March 2016

A.Sergey Karjakin wins 2016 FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament

1.Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has won the prestigious FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament held in Moscow. 

2.In the final Round 14, he defeated American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana scoring 8.5 points. 

3.With this victory, he will now play with the incumbent world champion, Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, in a match for the world chess crown in November 2016. About Sergey Karjakin Sergey Karjakin is a Ukrainian-born Russian chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy. 

4.He holds the record for the world’s youngest Grandmaster ever after he had qualified for this title at the age of 12 years and 7 months. 

5.He had won the 2012 World Rapid Chess Championship and the 2015 Chess World Cup.

B.ADB and USAID ink MoU to develop solar parks in India

1.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for development of solar parks in India. 

2.The MoU will facilitate 848 million US dollars in funding to develop solar parks across India. 

3.The collaboration of ADB and USAID will initially focus on the state of Rajasthan. 

Key facts 
1.The funding will assist India in developing the clean energy infrastructure by collaborating on design and development of PPP investment models for solar parks. 

2.It will help finance the development of solar parks in support of the Government of India’s renewable energy targets. 

3.The cooperation between two agencies will help to design and develop public-private partnership (PPP) models as well as study options for managing grid reliability. 

4.Under this agreement, USAID will align the technical resources of its existing Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D) Program. USAID will support ADB’s investments in the development of solar parks and renewable energy transmission infrastructure in states.

C.Telecom Commission approves 112 as the single emergency number

1.The Telecom Commission has approved the number 112 as the single emergency number for India, similar to 911 of United States (US) and 999 of United Kingdom (UK). 

2.Henceforth Indian citizens in distress will be able to get all emergency services such as police, fire department and ambulance by just dialling this single-number. 

3.It will direct the call to concerned departments immediately for help. 

Key facts 
1.The service will also be accessible even through those landlines and mobile connections whose outgoing call facility has been temporarily suspended or stopped. 

2.Person in distress will be also able to make emergency communication even through SMS. 

3.This emergency system has facility to directly learn about the location of the caller or message sender that will be shared with the nearest help centre. 

4.The service will be operated and functioned by a call centre like facility. 

5.It will have representatives speaking in English, Hindi and the local language. At present, different Indian states have notified various emergency helpline numbers for assistance to special categories of citizens.

D.ISRO set to launch record 22 satellites in single mission

1.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to script history by launching a record number of 22 satellites in a single mission in May 2016. 

2.These satellites (micro and nano) will be launched using ISRO’s workhorse Polar rocket PSLV C34. 

3.It will be carrying India’s Cartosat 2C along with 21 other satellites from other countries, including US, Canada, Indonesia and Germany as co-passengers. 

4.This launch would be made from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. Earlier in 2008, ISRO had sent ten satellites into orbit in a single mission. 

5.The US space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) holds current world record for sending highest number of satellites in single launch. 

6.It had sent 29 satellites to the orbit in a single launch in 2013.

E.BHEL commissions 40 MW hydropower plant in West Bengal

1.0Public Sector Power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned the second 40 MW hydropower generating unit at the Teesta low dam hydroelectric project (HEP) stage IV in West Bengal. 

2.The hydropower generating unit was successfully installed at the Teesta low dam HEP, a run-of-the-river greenfield project, located in Darjeeling district of the West Bengal. 

Key facts 
1.Teesta low dam HEP is being set up by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). BHEL’s Bhopal, Jhansi, Rudrapur, Mumbai and Bengaluru facilities had supplied equipment for the project and execution of work was undertaken on site is being. 

2.The estimated annual energy (power) generation from the project is around 720 million units. 

3.It is expected to reduce green-house gas (GHGs) emissions and will help in achieving a low carbon development path for the state as well as the nation. 

4.So far, BHEL has commissioned nearly 400 hydro generating sets of various ratings with a cumulative capacity of around 20,000 MW in the country.