WORLD TB DAY

      The World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2017 was observed globally on 24 March 2017 with the theme Unite to End TB: Leave no one behind.

      This year, WHO places a special focus on uniting efforts to Leave no one behind, including actions to address stigma, discrimination, marginalization and overcome barriers to access care. This year marks the second year of the End TB Strategy of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The strategy aims to help ensure that countries implementing it adhere to sound ethical standards to protect the rights of all those affected.
      In 2016, WHO reported that 10.4 million people fell ill with TB and there were 1.8 million TB deaths in 2015, making it the top infectious killer worldwide.
      The day commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus.
       It is aimed at building the public awareness about the tuberculosis that remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year.
      It is also an opportunity to mobilize political and social commitment for further progress in efforts to end TB.

BENGALURU GETS INDIAS FIRST VERTICAL GARDEN

        First vertical garden of India has setup at the Hosur Road Electronics City Flyover in Bengaluru to control the pollution level of the city.It will also act as a soundproofing barrier.

       The garden is an initiative of SayTrees which is an NGO having ordinary citizens as its members who are determined to protect nature.
        The vertical garden is designed in such a way that a pillar of the flyover is covered with the garden flaunting lovely saplings that are organic and refreshing.

        The garden has an automatic drip irrigation system allowing the plants to get 100 milliliters of water on a daily basis.

        The world’s first vertical gardens were set up in China . 

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY MARCH-8

International Women’s Day: Women Empowerment Schemes of Narendra Modi Government

The International Women’s Day will be celebrated across the world, including India, with pomp and fervour on 8 March 2017. Some of the schemes launched by the Narendra Modi Government to empower Indian women.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme

• The scheme was launched in January 2015 to prevent gender biased sex selective elimination, ensure survival and protection of the girl child.
• This is being implemented through a national campaign and focussed multi sectoral action in 100 selected districts low in CSR, covering all States and UTs.
• The scheme was launched by the government in the backdrop of declining the Child Sex Ratio (CSR). As per the 2011 census, the CSR reduced from 927 in 2001 to 918 in 2011, which is an alarming trend.

One Stop Centre Scheme

• One Stop Centres (OSC) support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and in the workplace.
• Women facing physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture will be supported by these centres.

Women Helpline Scheme

• The Women Helpline Scheme seeks to provide 24 hours immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence.
• This scheme was launched by the by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 1 April 2015.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

• The scheme seeks to provide free LPG connections to women from below poverty line (BPL) households and builds on the objective of achieving universal coverage of cooking gas in the country.
• Under the scheme, a financial support of 1600 rupees will be provided for each LPG connection to the BPL households.
• Incidentally, this is for the first time the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has involved in implementing a welfare scheme benefitting crores of women belonging to the poorest households.

SWADHAR Greh Initiative

• The scheme aims at creating a supportive institutional framework catering to their primary needs in difficult situations.
• The scheme will work upon providing basic amenities, such as shelter, food, clothing and health along with economic and social security to women in distress.
• Also, the scheme will make sure that the special needs of these women are taken care of.

Mahila E-Haat

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched Mahila E-Haat, a bilingual portal on 7 March, 2016.
• It is an initiative for meeting aspirations and needs of women.
• This is a unique direct online marketing platform. It leverages technology for supporting women entrepreneurs, SHGs and NGOs.
• This helps women in  showcasing the products  and services which are made, manufactured and undertaken by them.

HYDERABAD AIRPORT RANKS FIRST

Hyderabad airport ranks 1st in world in airport service quality: Survey

According to a GHIAL statement, the survey shows that Hyderabad Airport has steadily improved its score on a scale of 1 to 5 from 4.4 in 2009 to 4.9 in 2016.

GMR's Hyderabad International Airport has secured first position in the esteemed Airports Council International (ACI)-Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey in the 5-15 million passengers per annum (MPPA) category for the year 2016.

According to a GHIAL statement, the survey shows that Hyderabad Airport has steadily improved its score on a scale of 1 to 5 from 4.4 in 2009 to 4.9 in 2016.

SGK Kishore, CEO, GHAIL, thanked the passengers and its stakeholders including ministry of civil aviation, CISF, airlines, immigration and customs. "The immense efforts put in by our partner airlines, concessionaires, housekeeping and other support staff have played a major role in this achievement", he said.

Running into its 9th year of operations, Hyderabad International Airport is designed to cater to 12MPPA. The airport has witnessed a growth of more than 20 per cent in the last year with passenger operations close to 15MPPA in 2016. Kishore also mentions that "We soon plan to go for expansion of the airport, where it can enhance its capacity to meet 20 MPPA".

Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, was quoted as saying, "We congratulate Hyderabad Airport for dedicating itself to deliver a stellar customer experience".

The ACI ASQ survey is industry's most comprehensive passenger service benchmarking tool and has consistently and dependably captured passengers' immediate appraisal from check-in through departure at the gate at more than 300 airports worldwide.

The ASQ award ceremony will be held at the 27th ACI Africa/World Annual General Assembly, Conference & Exhibition in Port Louis, Mauritius from 16-18 October.

BCCI Annual Awards 2015-2016

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 1 March 2017 announced the BCCI Annual Awards 2015-2016.

The BCCI Annual Awards committee, comprising of Ramachandra Guha, Diana Edulji and N Ram, picked the winners for the prestigious awards.

Ace cricketer Virat Kohli is set to receive the Polly Umrigar Award for the second year in a row. While R Ashwin will receive the Dilip Sardesai Award for the second time.

Complete list of winners

Award	Winner
Col. CK. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award	Rajinder Goel, Padmakar Shivalkar
BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award For Women	Shantha Rangaswamy
BCCI Special Award	VV Kumar, Late Ramakant Desai
Polly Umrigar Award	Virat Kohli
Dilip Sardesai Award (For India’s Best Cricketer in the West Indies Series 2016)	Ravichandran Ashwin
Lala Amarnath Award for the Best All-Rounder in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16	Jalaj Saxena of Madhya Pradesh
Lala Amarnath Award for the Best All-Rounder in Domestic Limited-Overs Competitions, 2015-16	Axar Patel of Gujarat
Madavrao Scindin Award (Highest Scorer in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16)	Shreyas Iyer of Mumbai
Madavrao Scindin Award (Highest Wicket-Taker in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16)	Shahbaz Nadeem of Jharkhand
M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (Highest scorer in (U-23) Col. CK. Nayudu Trophy 2015-16	Jay. G. Bosta of Mumbai
M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (Highest Wicket-Taker in (U-23) Col. CK. Nayudu Trophy 2015-16	Satyajeet Bachhav of Maharashtra
NKP Salve Award (Highest Scorer in (U-19) Cooch Behar Trophy in 2015-16	Arman Jaffer of Mumbai
NKP Salve Award (Highest Wicket-Taker in (U-19) Cooch Behar Trophy in 2015-16	Ninad Rathva of Baroda
Raj Singh Dungarpur Award ( Highest Scorer in (U-16) Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2015-16)	Abhishek Sharma of Punjab
Raj Singh Dungarpur Award ( Highest Wicket-Taker in (U-16) Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2015-16)	Abhishek Sharma of Punjab
Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman Cricketer (Sr.) of 2015-16)	Mithali Raj of Railways
Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman Cricketer (Jr.) of 2015-16)	Deepti Sharma of Uttar Pradesh
Best Umpire in Domestic Cricket in 2015-16	Nitin Menon
Best performance in BCCI Domestic Tournaments of 2015-16	Mumbai Cricket Association