5th March 2015 Important Current Affairs Updates

1) Union Minister Dadarao Danve resigned:

--> Union Minister Raosaheb Dadarao Danve, who was made Maharasthra BJP president a few months back, on 5 March 2015 resigned from the Council of Ministers over the principle of ‘one-man, one-post’.

--> Mr. Danve submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who accepted it and forwarded it to President Pranab Mukherjee.

--> Mr. Danve, who held the portfolio of Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, quit the Council of Ministers over the principle of ‘one-man, one-post’, the sources said.

2) PM Modi inaugurated two units of Shri Singaji Thermal Power Plant:

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two units each of 600 MW of Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant in Khandwa district  of Madhya Pradesh on 5 March 2015.

--> The PM, while inaugurating the power plant, expressed concerns that many villages in the state and across India still lack access to electricity, which badly affects the poorer section of the society.

--> MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other dignitaries are also present on the occasion.

3) Maharashtra government scraped Muslim quota for education:

--> Maharashtra government has now officially scraped the five percent reservation to Muslims in education, a move that has triggered outrage and severe criticism from opposition parties.

--> A Government Resolution (GR) issued by the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Sena government has now cancelled the previous notification issued by the NCP-Congress government in July 2014 granting reservation to Muslims (and Marathas).

--> Just before the elections, the Congress-NCP government announced reservation for Marathas (16 per cent) and Muslims (five per cent). 

4) Virat Kohli warned by BCCI for abusive behaviour:

-->  Star Indian batsman Virat Kohli was on 5 March 2015 reprimanded by the BCCI for his abusive behaviour towards a journalist and asked him to "maintain the dignity of the team" and avoid such incidents in the future.

5) Barack Obama re-nominated Indian-American investor Sunil Sabharwal to key administration post:

--> US President Barack Obama has re-nominated Sunil Sabharwal, an independent Indian-American investor, to a key administration post as Alternate Executive Director at the IMF.

--> First nominated in April 2014 to the position of Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sabharwal has been an independent investor in the payments sector since 2006.

6) “India’s Daughter” documentary film:

--> A documentary film made by British director Leslee Udwin about the fatal gang rape of the 23-year old paramedic woman in New Delhi in 2012 has been banned in the country.

--> Ban was imposed over concerns that derogatory comments made by one of the rapists could create an atmosphere of fear and tension.  

--> Controversial documentary was named “India’s Daughter”.

--> The film was earlier scheduled to be premiered in India and several countries such as Britain and Denmark on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

7) Foreign Secretary Jaishankar concluded SAARC Yatra:

--> Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on 4 March 2015 concluded his four-day SAARC Yatra after meeting Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.

--> The Foreign Secretary began his SAARC yatra with Bhutan, later travelling to Bangladesh. On 3 Mar 2015, Jaishankar met his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry in Islamabad, the first meeting between the two Foreign Secretaries since New Delhi had called off talks in August 2014.