· The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a report tabled in Parliament on March 5, 2013 finds many shortcomings in the centre’s farm loan waiver scheme. The report says that several ineligible farmers were favoured and a large number of deserving small and marginal farmers were left out in the implementation of the UPA’s (United Progressive Alliance) much-touted Rs.52,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme. The Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme(ADWDRS) was launched in Vidharbha by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May 2008.
· Indian President Pranab Mukherjee paid a 3-day State visit to Indian Ocean island Mauritius in the second week of March, 2013. During his visit he was the chief guest at the 45th Mauritius Independence day and the 21st Republic day celebrations on March 12, his second day of visit. Mauritious Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, soon after India and Mauritious signed a Memoranda of Understanding in the area of Health and Medicine, Tourism and Cooperation and in the field of Senior Citizen and Persons with Disabilities.
· Ministry of Defence revamps Purchase procedure. New purchase procedure on Anvil. First opportunity in all defence contracts to go to Indian companies, foreign suppliers last option. Currently,70% of purchases come from foreign firms. Move comes after Augusta Westland was found to have routed bribe money by sourcing phony software from IDS Infotech in the name of software outsourcing.
· India’s first indigenously developed surface to surface sub-sonic missile Nirbhay on March 12 , 2013 failed to hit the target in its maiden flight as it has to be terminated midway after its deviating from the flight course.
· The Government has decided that National Counter Terrorism Centre(NCTC) will function under the Intelligence Bureau (IB) without search, seizure and arrest powers as demanded by State Governments.
· Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi visited India on March 19, 2013 and signed MoU on Coperation in Information and Communication Technology, MoU on Coperation on the area of Cyber Security, MoU for the Establishment of a Centre for Excellence in IT (CEIT) in Egypt, MoU on Cooperation in the field of Micro and Small Enterprises. Seeks help to launch Egyptian Nano Satellite EGYCUBESAT-1 on board PSLV.
· The Indian Government on March 19, 2013 approved the revised Food Security Bill to provide for uniform 5 kg of foodgrains per month per person at a highly subsidized price of Rs.1 to Rs.3 per kg to two-thirds of the country’s population. The extra burden on the food subsidy would be about Rs. 20,000 crore from the current level, while the foodgrain requirement is expected to be 61.23 million tones.
· India on March 20, 2013 carried out the maiden test-firing of the over 290 km range of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Bay of Bengal becoming the first country in the world to have the capability.
· India and Liechtenstein signed the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) on March 28, 2013 at Bern, Switzerland. TIEA is based on International standard of transparency and exchange of information. A specific provision was incorporated in the agreement wherein it was decided that ownership and banking information shall be provided. It also facilitates exchange of documents of information created in or derived from a date preceding April 1, 2013.
· Moskva , 354 MW Mojava desert California Xi Jinping China president Jacob Zuma South Africa Nicolas maduro Bus driver United Socialist Party Bangladesh President Abdul hamid Abel prize King of Norway to mathematicians Niels Henrik Abel Ranji One day trophy
· Welspun Energy, the country’s biggest developer of solar projects on March 12, 2013 commissioned Asia’s largest solar power project of 50 MW at Jodhpur district in Rajasthan.
· The fifth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of government of the five member states Brazil, Russia , India , China and South Africa was held in Durban , South Africa, 2013.An agreement on the Radio Astron space satellite was signed between the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Ros-cosmos).
· Vatican city: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected as the New Pope. He belongs to Argentina. He is the first South American to lead the Church. He will now be called as Pope Francis I .He is the 226th Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is also the first non-European leader of the Church since the 8th century.
· Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died on March 5 , 2013. He was 58.
· The UN security Council on March 7 , 2013 voted unanimously for tough new sanctions against North Korea for its latest nuclear test, ignoring threats by the nutty nation to nuke the US.
· China on March 5, 2013 said that it would increase its annual defence budget by 10.7 percent to 720.168 billion Yuan ($ 115.7 billion) .
· Uhuru Kenyatta elected as Kenyan President
· Nicolas Maduro took over as Venezuelan President on March 8, 2013 after the death of Hugo Chavez.
· China New Premier i.e Prime Minister-Le Keqiang. New President Xi Jinping . New head of state economic planning body- Xu Shooshi. New foreign Minister- Wang Yi. New defence Minister- Chang Wangquan.
· China becomes one of the largest Arms Exporters in the world. Pakistan buys 55% of China’s Arms Exports.
· North Korea confirms end of the nearly 60 year old Armistice that ended the Korean war.
· Residents of the Falkland Islands voted almost unanimously to stay under the British rule in a referendum aimed at winning global sympathy.
· Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari on March 11, 2013 inaugrated the much delayed section of a $7.5 billion gas pipeline despite the US call to abandon the Project.
· Pakistan Government ruled by the Pakistan People’s Party has completed a full term in office on March 16, 2013. Asif ali zardari became the nation’s president on March 2008.
· Bangladesh President Mohammed Zillur Rahman died on March 20, 2013 at a Singapore hospital where he was being treated for kidney and respiratory problems.
· Iran destroys one of its own warship as a move to bolster peace and friendship in the region.
· Myanmar: Aung San Suu kyi reappointed as the leader of the opposition party.
· Anti-Rape bill passed in the Parliament. This ensures severe punishment for the criminals and comes after the infamous Delhi gang rape.
· President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Justice D.H.Waghela, Judge of the Gujarat High Court as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. He succeeds Justice Vikramajit Sen, elevated as a Judge of the Supreme court.
· The US senate approved John Bennan to be CIA director, after contentious debate on the use of armed drones against Terrorism suspects, on March 7, 2013.
· Eminent Indian journalist Bobby Ghosh has been named the new editor of the Time International based in the US. Ghosh was appointed on March 15, 2013 as the first non-American world editor in Time’s History. He replaces Jim Frederick, who now becomes a contributing editor.
· Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Moshe Yaalon as the new defence Minister. Yaalon replaces Ehud Barak.
· Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was sworn in as Nepal’s new Prime Minister in March 2013 to head an interim government that will held elections by June 21, ending months of political and Constitutional crisis in the country.
· Sundar Pichai, an Indian-American is appointed as the head of Google Inc’s Android Business.
· Acclaimed painter Ganesh Pyne passed away on March 11, 2013 in Kolkata following cardiac arrest.He belongs to West Bengal.
· Cambodia’s Ex-foreign Minister Leng Sary who was responsible for the killing of 1.7 million people during the 1970’s died recently.
· Sugathakumari, the Malayalam Poetess in the third week of March 2013 was chosen for the Saraswati Samman 2012 for the poetry collection Manalezhuthu, which means The Writing on the Sand in English.
· Five writers Honoured with SAARC Literature Award during the two day SAARC festival of Literature at Agra. The writers are Abhay k.(India), Farheen Chaudhary(Pakistan), Abdul Khaliq Rashid (Afghanistan), Suman Pokhrel ( Nepal) and novelist Daya Dissanayake(Sri Lanka).
· The Parliamentary Award committee selected BJP leader Arun Jaitley. Congress MP Karan Singh and JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav for Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.
· Rajasthani Author Hariram Meena was selected for the Bihari Puraskar for 2012 for Hindi novel Dhooni Tape Teer. The novel was published in 2008. The Bihari Puraskar was instituted by K.K. Birla Foundation in 1991. It is given on a yearly basis to the Rajasthani writers for their works in Rajasthani or Hindi published in last 10 years.
· Belgian Mathematician Pierre Deligne, who is regarded as the one of the most celebrated mathematicians of the 20th century has been chosen for this year’s prestigious Abel Prize in Mathematics.
· 60th National film awards
· Best Feature Film- Paan singh Tomar (Hindi)
· Indira Gandhi award for Best Debut Film of a Director- Chittagong (Hindi) and 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam)
· Best Popular Film- Vicky Donor (Hindi) and Ustaad Hotel ( Malayalam)
· Nargis Dutta Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration- ThanichallaNjan(Malayalam)
· Best Film on Social Issues- Spirit (Malayalam)
· Best Film on Environmental Conservation- Black Forest(Malayalam)
· Best Children’s Film-Dekh Indian Circus (Hindi)
· Best Animation Film-Delhi Safari( Hindi)
· Best Direction- Shivaji Lotan Patil (Dhag)
· Best Actor- Irrfaan khan( Paan Singh Tomar ) and Vikram Gokhale ( Anumati)
· Best Actress- Usha Jadhav(Dhag)
· Best Supporting Actor- Annu Kapoor ( Vicky Donor)
· Best Supporting Actress- Dolly Alhuwalia ( Vicky Donor) and Kalpana (ThanichallaNjan)
· Best Child Artist- Virendra Pratap( Dekh Indian Circus) and Minon ( 101 Chodiyangal)
· Best Male Playback Singer- Shankar Mahadevan ( Chittagong)
· Best Female Playback Singer- Aarti Anklekar Tikekar (Samhita)
· Best Cinematography – Sudheer Palsane.
· Best Screenplay- Original – Sujoy Ghosh(Kahaani) , Adapted – Bhavesh Mandalia and Umesh Shukla (Oh My God!)
· Best Editing- Namrata Rao( Kahaani)
· Best Production Design- Boontawee ‘Thor’ Taweepasas and Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja(Viswaroopam)
· Best Costume Designer- Poornima Ramaswamy(Paradesi)
· Best Make-up Artist- Raja (Vazakku enn 18/9)
· Best Music Direction- Shailendar Barve (Songs) and BijiBal (Back ground Score)
· Best Lyrics- Prasoon Jhoshi (Chittagong)
· Best Special Effects- Mukta VFX 9 (Eega)
· Best Choreography- Pt. Birju Maharaj (Viswaroopam)
· Best Feature Film Telugu- Eega
· S.Venkata Mohan a scientist of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, on March 19, 2013 won the National Bioscience Award for 2012 in Hyderabad. He is from Bioengineering and environmental centre of the Institute won the prize for his contributions towards developing technologies for production of clean bio-fuels from waste.
· Toyo Ito, the Japanese architect was declared as the winner of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize on March 18,2013. The Pritker Architecture Prize is said to be the most prestigious and richest award of architecture. Often ,this prize us also referred as the Nobel Prize of Architecture.
· Navneet Kaur Dhillon was crowned Pond’s Femina Miss India on March 24, 2013. Sobhita Dhulipala and Zoya Afroz were the first and second runners up respectively.
· The London based Indian origin writer Anil Ananthaswamy won inaugural Physics Journalism Prize for the article Hip Hip array on February 28, 2013 in Cental London. The article lays emphasis on Square Km Array which is an International Project for building and designing radio telescope.
· India leads world’s Child Marriages says UN report. Every second girl in India is married before the legal age says United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA).
· ABP News-IPSOS Best City Survey and Awards 2013- Nagpur won the award for the most liveable Indian city.
· The Largest Space Observatory- ALMA(Atacama Large Millimeter- submillimeter Array) opened in Chile .It is a joint effort of North American, European and Asian agencies.
· Cricket-India wins the Alan Border Test series by beating Australia 4-0.
· Cricket-Delhi lifts Vijay Hazare Trophy by beating Assam
· David Beckham,the English Footballer announces retirement.
· Tennis- Novak Djokovic(Serbia) wind the ATP Dubai open Tennis title 2013 by beating Tomas Berdych(Czech Republic)
· Tennis-Rafael Nadal wins ATP Mexican open 2013 by beating David Ferrer.
· Tennis-Italy’s Sara Irany defeated Carla Suarez- Navarro of Spain to win ATP Mexican Open(Women’s Title).
· Tennis- Serena Williams wins the Miami Masters Open Tournament 2013 by beating Maria Sharapova .
· Hockey-Australia wins Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament by beating Malaysia
· Tan Twang Eng on March 14, 2013 was announced as a winner of the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize, with this he became the first Malaysian author to win the most Prestigious literary prize of Asia.
