Daily general awareness 21 March 2015

Daily general awareness 21 March 2015

New Zealand’s Martin Guptill created a Cricket World Cup record by scoring highest score of 237 runs not out.
He achieved this feat in match against West Indies in the 2015 ICC World Cup quarter-final played at WestpacTrust Stadium, Wellington. He scored 237 runs from 163 balls that included 11 sixes and 24 fours.

Martin Guptill also became the first New Zealand cricketer to score double century in One Day Internationals (ODIs).
His double ton also broke the previous record of West Indies Chris Gayle who had scored first double century in Cricket World Cup 2015. Chris Gayle had scored 215 runs from 147-balls in a match against Zimbabwe on 24 February 2015.
It should be noted that Guptill is 5th cricketer to score double century in ODI’s. Others are Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma (scored two double centuries) and West Indies Chris Gayle.
Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) to provide skills training to youth across the country.
Decision in this regard was taken in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

About Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

• The PMKVY Scheme will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
• It will provide skills training to youth, including class 10 and 12 drop outs and aims to cover about 24 lakh people.
• The target for skilling under the scheme will be associated with Union Government’s flagship programmes such as Make in India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and National Solar Mission.
• The skill training will involve soft skills, good work ethics, personal grooming, behavioural change for cleanliness etc.
• Inspection of training under PMKVY will be done by Sector Skill Councils and the repective State Governments.
• The skill training will be undertaken on the basis of demand assessed on the basis of skill gap studies conducted by the NSDC for the period 2013-17.
• Fund Allocation- The scheme will be implemented with an outlay of 1, 500 crore rupees.
• Of the total 1,500 crore rupees, about 1,120 crore rupees will be spent on skill training of 14 lakh youth.
• 150 crore rupees allocated for training of youth from the North-East region.

Fourth National Photography Awards were conferred on 13 eminent photojournalists in New Delhi
The fourth National Photography Awards were conferred on 13 eminent photojournalists in New Delhi on 20 March 2015. The award were conferred by Secretary (Information & Broadcasting) Bimal Julka.
The awards were given in 5 categories including Life-Time Achievement Award, Amateur Photographer of the Year, Special Mention Category for both Amateur and Professional segments.
The theme for 4th edition Professional Photographer category was “Hamara Bharat Swachh Bharat” and for the Amateur Category was “Mother and Child”. The jury for this edition of awards was headed by well-known photographer Anil Risal Singh.
Following are the recipients of awards in various categories

• Life-Time Achievement Award- Surendra R. Patel.
• Professional Photographer of the Year- Swarup Duta.
• Amateur Photographer of the Year- Sasikumar.
• Special Mention Award in Professional Category- Jayesh Navinchandra Shah, Atul Vasant Ghag, Pravin Rawat, Arvind Kumar Jain, Umesh Nikam.
• Special Mention Award in Amateur Category- Joydeep Mukherjee, Akhil Hardia, Nimai Chandra Ghosh, Mukesh J. Thakkar, Tabeenah Anjum Qureshi.

About National Photography Awards

• Given by- Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to eminent photojournalists in different categories.
• Conferred to- Persons for their attempt to capture the growth of professionalism and creativity within the growing dimensions of photojournalism.
• Awards carry- Monetary cash prize along with medals or Plaques and citations.

Satwant Atwal  is BSF’s first woman officer; Himachal IPS opens doors to gender sensitivity

• Satwant Atwal Trivedi , Himachal Pradesh’s first woman IPS officer, is all set to open Border Security Force (BSF) ‘s door to the gender seniority in India .
• Inspector General of Police ( Crime and cyber security) Satwant  ,1996-batch police officer, today got her orders for central deputation to the BSF– country’s leading para-military organisation.She will be first IPS officer to join the BSF .
• She is daughter of retired IAS officer H S Atwal and hails from Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh . Satwant had done her education  in Shimla before being selected to the  IPS .
• Trivedi earlier  had served Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy,Hyderabad from 2004 to 2009 and also in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at New Delhi before her return to the state in January 2012 .
• Earlier ,beside her posting in the state’s CID and Crime branch –where she effectively handled cases of crime against women ,and cyber security ,Trivedi  had also served Una district,bordering Punjab, as Superintendent of Police.

Union Cabinet approved 33% reservation for women

Union Cabinet on 20 March 2015 approved 33 percent reservation for women in police forces of all seven Union Territories (UTs) including Delhi Police.

This decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The reservation in this regard will be

• Applicable in each category of SC, ST, OBC and others in direct recruitment in non-gazetted posts from constables to sub-inspector.
• Available to women against all prior vacancies that existed on the date of issue of this order after Cabinet approval and vacancies arising henceforth.

Union Government has taken this decision to augment the representation of the women in the police forces in order to make police more gender sensitive.

This decision will also instill confidence among women to enable them to approach the police without hesitation for seeking protection and assistance as and when required.

Background

• At present Chandigarh has 6.18 per cent women police force highest among all 7 UTs. While, Puducherry with 5.89 per cent has lowest representation.
• Delhi has 7.61 per cent and Lakshwadeep has 10.52 per cent women among its police force.
• The average women representation in police forces across pan India is only 5.33 per cent i.e. 84,479 police women. The actual needed total strength is of 15.85 lakh women police force in the country.