1. Kohli steady at no. 4, Dhawan rises to no. 6 in ICC rankings
(i) A lacklustre World Cup performance notwithstanding, Virat Kohli remained the highest-
(ii) Apart from Kohli and Dhawan, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the other Indian batsman to be inside the top-10, hanging on to the eighth spot.
(iii) Australia retained the ODI Shield and won USD 175,000 after finishing as the number—one ranked side on the April 1 cut—off date. India collected USD 75,000 for finishing second in the team rankings.
(iv) Among the bowlers, Australia’s Mitchell Starc has surged to the top for the first time in his career following a stellar performance in the World Cup that also fetched him the player of the tournament award.
2. Daniel Vettori retired from all forms of International Cricket
(i) Daniel Vettori, the cricketer of New Zealand on 30 March 2015 retired from all forms of International Cricket.
(ii) The veteran spinner officially announced his retirement after the final match of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
(iii) In his final match against Australia, he scored nine runs and took 0-25 from five overs.
(iv) But his 13 wickets and his economy rate throughout the tournament helped New Zealand in qualifying for the World Cup final for the first time.
3. Big B inaugurates ‘India by the Nile festival’ in Egypt
(i) India’s megastar Amitabh Bachchan inaugurated the third edition of the India by the Nile festival during a ceremony attended by the top crux of Egypt’s diplomatic, social and business circle here.
(ii) The 72-year-old actor was excited about his three-day visit to the Egypt’s capital and commended the Embassy of India and Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Egypt for their efforts to organise the festival.
(iii) Mr. Bachchan is set to visit the Pyramids on Tuesday and also be a part of a special session with noted film journalist and author Sidharth Bhatia at the Cairo Opera House.
4. God’s Bankers authored by Gerald Posner released
(i) God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican: Gerald Posner
Book titled God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican authored by Gerald Posner was released on 3 February 2015.
(ii) Posner is an American investigative journalist and an author, through this book he has tried to present the secret side of the 200-year history of Vatican finances and the Vatican Bank, the Catholic Church's completely independent financial institution.
4. A look at Bharat Ratna 2015
(ii) The Padma awards, which include Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, were also given to many noted persons by the President at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Monday.
5. Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba took over as Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Naval Command
(i) Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba on 30 March 2015 took over charge as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Naval Command.
(ii) He took the charge from Vice Admiral SPS Cheema at a ceremonial parade held at the Naval base in Kochi.
(iii) Prior to assuming command, Vice Admiral Lanba laid a wreath at the War Memorial.
(iv) Vice Admiral Cheema will now assume the charge of the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command on 31 March 2015 on the retirement of the present incumbent, Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chopra.
6. SEBI proposes new fund-raising platform for start-ups
(ii) However, retail investors would be restricted from investing in such companies, given the risks involved therein, SEBI said, while adding that the adequate disclosures would be required to be made without hampering the capital-raising potential of such firms in new-age sectors like technology.
(iii) The move is aimed at helping such companies raise funds from within India and stop their flight to overseas markets.
7. Union Cabinet gave its approval for the Approach and Key Components of e-Kranti
(i) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 March 2015 gave its approval for the Approach and Key Components of e-Kranti: National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) 2.0.
(ii) e-Kranti is an important pillar of the Digital India programme and the programme has been envisaged by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
8. Himachal Pradesh Government launched India’s first e-Vidhan Mobile apps
(i) Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on 30 March 2015 launched part one of e-Vidhan Mobile apps.
(ii) The app could be accessed by all the members 45 minutes before the question hours on android and tablets having information about the day business.
(iii) With this launch, Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha became the first state assembly in the country to launch e-Vidhan Mobile apps.
(iv) This e-Vidhan system will help the state to save about 8 crore rupees per annum that is spent on the paper.
9. Tamannaah launches her online jewellery design store
(ii) The actress, with a penchant for designing, has launched an online jewellery store ‘www.witengold.com’ promising unique and exquisite designs for every occasion.
(iii) She will also wear the personally designed jewellery in her future films.
(iv) “My next Tamil film – Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga will showcase my designs. It means people can actually see me wearing the kind of products I am designing,” she said.
10. SBI to divest up at 10% stake in its life insurance venture
(i) State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday said it plans to divest up to 10 per cent stake in its life insurance arm SBI Life.
(ii) “The executive committee of the central board has today authorised divestment of SBI’s stake in SBI Life Insurance by up to 10 per cent,” SBI said in a statement.
(iii) SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture between SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif of France.
(iv) At present, SBI owns 74 per cent of the total capital and BNP Paribas Cardif has the remaining 26 per cent in the joint venture.
(v) SBI Life Insurance has an authorised capital of Rs. 2,000 crore and a paid-up capital of Rs. 1,000 crore, according to its website.
(vi) Earlier this month, the Parliament had passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which seeks to increase foreign investment in private sector companies to 49 per cent from the existing 26 per cent, among other things.
11. IBM to invest $3 billion in 'Internet of Things' unit
(i) IBM is investing $3 billion to build an “Internet of Things” division aimed at harnessing the massive trove of data collected by smartphones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances and using it to help companies better manage their businesses.
(ii) IBM estimates that 90 per cent of all data generated by mobile and “smart” devices is never analysed.
(iii) The company hopes to change this by teaming up with companies such as Twitter and the Weather Co., the owner of the Weather Channel, and developing cloud-based data services and tools for app developers.
(iv) IBM plans to launch an online service that helps insurance companies extract insight from connected vehicles, to create new pricing and services customised to individual drivers.
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