Daily Current Affairs: 24 March 2015

1) Navy commissioned three UAE-supplied naval vessels:

--> The Indian Navy on 24 March 2015 has commissioned three Immediate Support Vessels (ISVs) supplied by the UAE's Abu Dhabi Ship Builders (ADSB).

--> The three ships were given pennant numbers T-38, T-39 and T-40.

--> These three ISVs are in addition to the first batch of ISVs commissioned on 04 June 2014 and will constitute the 84th ImmediateSupport Vessel Squadron based at Visakhapatnam. 

2) Dolly Shivani Cherukuri became the youngest Archer to enter India Book of Records:

--> Three-year-old archer Dolly Shivani Cherukuri of Andhra Pradesh on 24 March 2015 entered the India Book of Records.

--> She entered the list of records by scoring 388 points in the recurve segment in two distances, seven and five meters, at the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada.

--> At the time of entering the India Book of Records, she was nine days less than three years.

--> Shivani is the sister of late Indian coach and international archer Cherukuli Lenin, who passed in a road accident soon after the Commonwealth Games 2010.

3) Supreme Court scraped Section 66A of IT Act:

--> Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is unconstitutional in its entirety, the Supreme Court ruled on 24 March 2015 striking down a “draconian” provision that had led to the arrests of many people for posting content deemed to be “allegedly objectionable” on the Internet.

--> Terming liberty of thought and expression as "cardinal", a bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman said, "The public's right to know is directly affected by section 66A of the Information Technology Act."

--> The first public interest litigation against section 66(A) was filed in 2012, by a then 21-year-old student, Shreya Singhal.

4) 62nd National Awards announced:

--> Kangana Ranaut won the best actress award for her powerful performance in " Queen" at the 62nd National Film Awards where Bollywood movies "Haider" and "Mary Kom" bagged key honours while Chaitanya Tamhane's "Court" was named the best feature film.

--> Kangana Ranaut won her first National award, as best supporting actress, for "Fashion" in 2010.

--> Vijay was declared the best actor for his poignant portrayal of a woman trapped in a man's body in Kannada film "Nanu Avanalla Avalu" (I am not a he, but she).

Click Here to check the complete list of winners.

5) World TB Day observed:

--> World Tuberculosis Day (WTD) 2015 was globally observed on 24 March 2015.

--> The theme for the year 2015 is continuation of the 2014 theme Reach the 3 Million.

--> The main sub-theme and message for the year 2015 is Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone.

--> This day is annually celebrated on 24 March to commemorate the day on which Dr. Robert Koch discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus in 1882.

6) New Zealand beat South Africa by 4 wickets to reach World Cup final:

--> New Zealand scripted history by making their maiden cricket World Cup final appearance with a stunning four-wicket win in a nerve-wrecking last-four clash against the formidable South Africa.

--> Chasing a stiff target of 298 runs in 43 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis rule in the rain-curtailed game, New Zealand crossed the line when Grant Elliot (84) smashed Dale Steyn over long-on for a six with just one ball to spare in a thrilling showdown.

--> Since the inaugural edition in 1975, New Zealand have reached the semifinals of the showpiece event six times, but failed to clear the penultimate hurdle on all the occasions.

7) German airline crashed in French Alps with 150 aboard:

--> Flight 4U 9525 of Germanwings Airbus A320 plane carrying 150 people crashed on 24 March 2015 in a remote area of the French Alps as it flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.

--> All 144 passengers and six crew members on board were killed in the worst air disaster in the mainland France in 40 years.

--> The cause of the crash was yet not ascertained though the Black box of the plane has been recovered.

8) Bharti Kher conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France:

--> Artist Bharti Kher of India has been awarded the esteemed 'Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres' (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters), which is the highest cultural award of France.

--> French ambassador to India Francois Richier conferred the award to Kher on March 23, 2015, for her contribution in contemporary art landscape.

9) Bengaluru Airport declared as South India's busiest airport:

--> The Kempegowda International Airport (KIAB), Bengaluru, has been named as South India's busiest airport and third largest in the country.

--> The airport, which was opened just seven years ago, overtook Chennai and Hyderabad to become the busiest airport in South India by handling 15 million passengers in one year.

10) Government launched new initiative to interact with citizens via Tweets and SMS:

--> The government of India, in the fourth week of March, 2015, launched the Digital India initiative called Twitter Samvad, which will enable the citizens of the country to have a direct communication with the governmental bodies via Tweets and SMSes.

--> The initiative is aimed at reaching out to masses through the social networking media, facilitating direct communication between the leaders and the citizens and at boosting various nation's e-governance plans.

11) Nine sporting disciplines upgraded to 'high priority' by the Sports Ministry:

--> The Sports Ministry on 23 March, 2015 has categorised nine sporting discipline as the 'high priority sports'.

--> The category comprises of athletics, tennis, wrestling, weightlifting, badminton, archery, hockey, shooting and boxing.

--> The category undertaken by the ministry will be funded for their national and zonal events.