Feburary 29: Did you notice that it was 29th of February? 2016 is a leap year & right on this day, the Indian Budget 2016-17 was presented.Just like any other years, the expectations were quite high but it did not carry anything very substantial for the common man apart from new taxes.What were the other measures taken in Budget can be had from this latest current affairs update for February 29, 2016
National News:
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for the financial year 2016-17 in the Parliament.Checkout our detailed article on Budget 2016 highlights & Free PDF
President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated India’s 1st Gender Park at Kozhikode district of Kerala.
Vedanta Ltd has won India’s 1st gold mine auction.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Saudi Arabia as part of his 3 nation trip from March 30 during which he will also visit Washington to attend Nuclear Security Summit.
A ban on the sale of army uniforms been imposed by Punjab government.Any person who wants to buy the uniform will have to submit a self-attested copy of his identity card and phone number with the shopkeeper.
New Appointments:
Dinesh Sharma has been elected as the Chairperson of the Governing Council of International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).
Vinod Rai became the 1st Chairman of the Banks Board Bureau.The BBB (Banks Board Bureau) will advise the government on top-level appointments at public sector lenders & ways to address the bad loans problem among other issues.
Gianni Infantino of Switzerland has been elected as new President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
Rozle Prezelj has been elected the Chairman of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Athletes’ Commission in Monaco.
Science & Technology:
Twitter had launched #Positionofstrength campaign in India to empower women to raise voices against any form of discrimination.
Suzuki Kango, a 22 year old student at Japan’s Tohoku University of Art & Design has made a Wooden Clock that writes the time on a panel every minute.
Flexible solar panels have been developed by Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.They claim it to be the thinnest & lightest.
Sports News:
Stan Wawrinka won the Dubai ATP Tennis title playing against Marcos Baghdatis
Sachin Tendulkar has joined ICC & UNICEF’s ‘Team Swachh’ initiative to build a social movement for sanitation and toilet use, aiming for an open defecation-free India.
Basanta Bahadur Singh Rana won the gold medal in men’s 50km race walk event in the National Championships.
Manchester City won their Fourth Capital One Cup after defeating Liverpool 3-1 on Penalties.
Obituary:
India’s oldest living first-class cricketer K Garudachar, died in Bangalore at the age of 99.He represented Mysore (as Karnataka was called till 1974), United Province & Bombay,
Socialist leader Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman died in Nashik. He was popularly known as Nihalbhai & was the first mayor of the Malegaon Municipal Corporation.
Awards & Honours:
Actor Ranveer Singh will be honoured with Dinanath Mangeshkar Award in April.
Tom Jenkins was named as the Sports Photographer of the Year at the 2015 Picture Editor’s Guild awards.He is part of the british newspaper, The Guardian.
Sound designer Resul Pookutty became the first Asian to win the award for Best Sound for documentary India’s Daughter at the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ (MPSE) 63rd annual Golden Reel Awards.
88th Academy Awards (Oscar Awards) was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
Best Actress: Brie Larson for Room
Best Picture: Spotlight
Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Banking & Economy:
Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in home rental startup NestAway.
Morgan Stanley has lowered its stake in Indian E-Commerce giant Flipkart by 27% to $103.97 per share from $142.24 per share bringing down the valuation to $11 billion.
UltraTech Cement, part of the Aditya Birla Group is to buy Jai Prakash Associates Cement plants for $2.4 billion.
