1.Cabinet hikes dearness allowance for Central govt employees by 4 percent

• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a four per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees.
• The Cabinet approved an increase of four per cent DA to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from January 1, 2020.
• This rate is hiked from  existing rate of 17 percent to 21 percent of  the Basic Pay/Pension.

2. Facebook launches ‘Pragati’ scheme to boost women entrepreneurship in India

• Facebook India called for applications for its CSR initiative, Facebook Pragati.
• The initiative will incubate and accelerate early-stage women-led non-profits that are working to drive women entrepreneurship and to spread awareness and adoption of technology among women in India.
• Facebook Pragati will award four grants of up to ₹50 lakh for each non-profit to scale their work. Non-profits that are less than three years old and have at least one woman founder can apply. The programme will work on building second-tier capacity within the non-profits, with a series of functional mentors across marketing, HR and technology.
• Apart from creating sustainability, this will also allow founders to spend time on strategic growth, resulting in scaling up faster.

3.World's first Digital Solutions Exchange  Cloud  “GOKADDAL” launched in India

• GOKADDAL, world's first Digital Solutions Exchange in the cloud has been launched in India .It is a one of its kind solutions aggregator, marketplace and cloud delivery platform.
• GOKADDAL is going to revolutionize the way digital solutions are sourced, delivered and managed. GOKADDAL Technologies is a Dubai based emerging technology company. For solution seekers, GOKADDAL provides features like solution search, compare, use EOI/Bidding process to select the right solution in the right budget.

4. Assam govt to construct 33 stadiums in state under Uttran scheme

• The Assam government will construct 33 stadiums in the state under the ‘Uttaran’ scheme. The 300 crore rupees will be spent to build the stadiums across the state.
• 500 playgrounds are being developed in the state to encourage rural talents.
• Also, 50 thousand rupees will be given to one thousand players and 2500 clubs to get a grant of Rs. 75 thousand to promote sports in the state.

5. IPL 2020 postponed till April 15 due to the coronavirus outbreak

• The rise in the number of coronavirus cases has prompted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to postpone IPL 2020.
• As a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 infection, the BCCI postponed the tournament till April 15.
• The Twenty20 cricket tournament was scheduled to commence on March 29.
• The news came after Delhi government suspended all the matches of this year's IPL in the national capital. The 2020 Indian Premier League will be the thirteenth season of the IPL.

6.Mumbai Central station to be renamed as “Nana Shankarsheth” Mumbai Central railway station

• Maharashtra government has approved to rename the Mumbai Central Station as Nana Shankarsheth Mumbai Central Railway Station.
• Station  has been renamed to Nana Shankarsheth Central Railway Station because of his involvement in the formation of Indian Railway association and to bring railways in India.
• The Bombay Central is designed by British architect Claude Batley.  The first railway in India ran over 21 miles from Bombay to Thane.

Foot Notes:

About Nana Shankarsheth

Jagannath (Nana) Shankarsheth is a Maharashtrian philanthropist and educationist (1803-1865), he contributed a lot for the development of Mumbai. He is the First Indian to be nominated in the Legislative Council of Bombay.

7. Newly Discovered insect species “Kaikaia gaga” named after famous singer Lady Gaga

• Newly discovered species of treehopper has been named “Kaikaia Gaga” after American singer Lady Gaga. The species was named by Brendan Morris, PhD candidate in entomology from University of Illinois, United States (US).
• The species were found near the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and the species looks beautiful, vibrant as pop diva, have crazy horns with wacky fashion sense.
• The information about the new insect species was published in the journal Zootaxa (which focuses on animal taxonomy).
• The treehopper is not the first species to be named after a famous musician. A deep-sea crustacean was named from American heavy metal band Metallica and is now known as Macrostylis metallicola in february 2020 and the Synalpheus pinkfloydi shrimp was named after the English rock band Pink Floyd.

8. Pi (π=3.14) Day was celebrated around the world on March 14 

•  Pi Day was celebrated on March 14, 2020 because the date stands as 3/14 in the month/day format. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant and its value up to five decimal places 3.14159. Coincidentally, March 14 is also Physicist Albert Einstein’s birthday.
• Pi (π) is the ratio of a  circle’s circumference to its diameter. The diameter of a circle is the distance from edge to edge (measuring through the center) & the circumference is the distance around the circle.
• In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi day.
• Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (22/7 in the day/month format), since the fraction (22/7) is the common approximation of Pi.

9.Sunil Mehta appointed  as the  Non-Executive Chairman  of YES Bank

• Government appointed former Chief Financial Officer & deputy Managing Director(MD) of SBI Prashant Kumar as MD & Chief Financial Officer(CEO), the former Punjab National Bank(PNB) MD Sunil Mehta as Non-Executive Chairman, Mahesh Krishnamurthy & Atul Bheda as non-executive directors of the reconstructed board of Yes Bank.
• State Bank of India (SBI), which has a 49% stake in Yes Bank, will nominate 2 directors & Reserve Bank could appoint one or more additional directors.
• The moratorium on Yes Bank to be lifted by March 18 which means depositors will be able to withdraw an amount without a cap. 

Foot notes:

10. Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft’s board to focus on philanthropy.

• Microsoft founder Bill Gates stepping down from Microsoft’s board of directors. He wants to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities including global health, development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change. He also stepped down from the board of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, where he had served since 2004.