Daily Current Affairs: 1 March 2015

1) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed sworn-in as J&K chief minister:

--> Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on 1 March 2015 took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in a ceremony that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, Amit Shah.

--> BJP leader Nirmal Singh  took over as state’s Deputy Chief Minister.

--> While the PDP has eleven Cabinet Ministers, including Mr. Sayeed himself, the BJP has six, including separatist-turned mainstream politician Sajjad Lone.

--> With this BJP became part of the government in the State for the first time.

--> Sayeed became J&K Chief Minister for the second time. In 2002, he led a PDP-Congress alliance and was Chief Minister for three years.

2) Martin Crowe inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame:

--> Martin Crowe, former New Zealand captain and player of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992, was on 28 February 2015 inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

--> Crowe became the third New Zealander, after Sir Richard Hadlee and Debbie Hockley, and the 79th overall to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame when he received his commemorative cap from Mr Wally Edwards, ICC Director and Chairman of Cricket Australia.

--> The induction ceremony was held during the innings break of the New Zealand-Australia match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Eden Park, and was also attended by Mr Stephen Boock, New Zealand Cricket President.

3) Federer won seventh Dubai Crown:

--> Roger Federer of Switzerland won the ATP Tennis Championship Men’s single title held in Dubai.

--> In the final match, he defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia by score of 6–3, 7–5.

--> It was Roger Federer’s seventh win in Dubai ATP Tennis men’s single’s title.

--> Earlier, he had won in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2012 and 2014.

--> Romanian professional tennis player Simona Halep won the ATP Tennis Championship women’s single title

4) Foreign Secretary visited Bhutan on 1st leg of SAARC Yatra:

--> Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar began his 4-nation SAARC Yatra with a visit to Bhutan on 1 March 2015.

--> The Foreign Secretary called on Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay as he began his Yatra to firm up India's ties with members of the grouping while reviewing regional and bilateral cooperation.

--> Jaishankar also called on King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

-->  S. Jaishankar will be visiting Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan under this visit, which has been given the name “SAARC Yatra”

5) Jitan Ram Manjhi launched Hindustani Awam Morcha:

--> Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and his supporters on 28 February 2015 floated 'Hindustani Awam Morcha' (HAM), a political front to work for the public.

--> The Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) is being seen as the first step to counter Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal-United ahead of state elections to be held this year.

--> Manjhi, who was made chief minister in May 2014, resigned 20 Feb 2015  after a leadership row involving Nitish Kumar.

6) Durban to host 2022 Commonwealth Games:

--> South African city Durban is set to be the host city of the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) as the lone contender for the quadrennial, 71-member multisport event.

--> South Africa has proposed a 12-day Games starting from July 18, birthday of late president Nelson Mandela.

--> Canadian city Edmonton also wanted to play host to the 2022 Games, but withdrew due to financial constraints.

--> Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 edition is scheduled for the Australian Gold Coast.

7) PM Narendra Modi addressed Nasscom’s foundation day:

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 March 2015 emphasized the need for finding innovative solution to tackle cyber threat.

--> Speaking at the silver jubilee celebration of NASSCOM, he said, cyber security is the current challenge faced by the world and asked Indian IT giants to develop technology to deal with the challenge.

--> Highlighting importance of IT, the Prime Minister said, IT changed the way the world looked at India.

--> NASSCOM full form: National Association of Software and Services Companies.

8) Zero Discrimination Day observed:

--> March 1 is observed as Zero Discrimination Day to create awareness to people from all corners of the world, about the evil consequences of discrimination, to celebrate diversity, and to reject discrimination.

--> The theme for 2015 Zero Discrimination Day is Open Up, Reach Out.