- 3rd Tortoise Festival organised in Assam
- Dima Hasao Environment and Forest Department organised the 3rd Tortoise Festival on the banks of Hajong lake in Assam.
- The initiative is aimed at creating an awareness among the people of the neighbouring villages about the safety of the endangered tortoise species available in the area.
- Hajong lake, a unique tortoise habitat, is situated 80 kilometres north of Haflong in the remote Dima Hasao district. It is the only natural tortoise habitat in Assam.
- At present, around 400 to 500 tortoises are reportedly dwelling in the Hajong lake.
- Oscar Awards: 87th Academy Awards announced
- The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
- The Academy Awards (commonly referred as Oscars) were presented in twenty four categories.
- Best Picture– Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
- Best Actor– Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything).
- Best Actress– Julianne Moore (Still Alice).
- Best Director– Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
- Ram Niwas Goel elected Speaker of Delhi Assembly
- AAP MLA Ram Niwas Goel on Monday was unanimously elected Speaker of the Delhi Assembly.
- Bandana Kumari, was elected Deputy Speaker of the House.
- 67-year-old Goel was elected from Shahdara constituency in north Delhi.
- AAP won a whopping 67 seats in the Assembly polls while BJP got a paultry three and Congress drew a blank.
- Anirban Lahiri lifts Indian Open title
- Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri’s clinched the Hero Indian Open.
- World no 39 Lahiri thus won his second European Tour title in three weeks. He had won the Maybank Malaysian Open earlier this month.
- Delhi Open: Somdev Devvarman retains title
- PSU bank employee unions withdraw strike call, settle wages
- Employee unions of public sector banks today withdrew their strike call following an agreement with the management on 15 per cent wage hike.
- The bank employees will now also get holidays on two Saturdays in a month.
- “Long pending demand of holiday on second and fourth Saturdays for the bank employees have also been reached,” AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said.
- The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since November 2012.
- There are 27 public sector banks in the country with a combined employee strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.
- Himachal Pradesh to present India’s first paperless budget
- Himachal Pradesh is set to become the country’s first state to present a ‘paperless’ budget on March 11.
- All documents related to budget estimates would be made available online and only around 10 budget copies would be printed for record.
- Running the proceedings on e-Vidhan would save the state exchequer Rs 15 crore annually.
- Environmental Loss in Sundarbans Worth Rs. 1290 Crore: World Bank
- Environmental damage in the climate change-hit islands of Sundarbans is costing India Rs. 1,290 crore each year, estimates a latest World Bank report.
- The cost of environmental damage associated with ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss is about Rs. 6.7 billion (Rs. 670 crore) annually, while the cost of health effects due to poor environment is estimated at Rs. 6.2 billion (Rs. 620 crore).
- The report ‘Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans’ is prepared by the World Bank in collaboration with the West Bengal government.
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