(General Awareness For Bank's Exams) In the news March - 2014

ArjunBahadurThapa

Nepal’s former Foreign Secretary ArjunBahadurThapa has assumed charge as the Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Thapa, who succeeds Ahmed Saleem of Maldives, is the 12th Secretary General of the regional grouping.
This is the second time Nepal assumed the top post of the regional body since its establishment in 1985.
Former Foreign Secretary YadavKantaSilwal held the post from January 1994 to December 1995.
The members of the SAARC are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Thapa, 58, was appointed to the position by the 30th Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers held in the Maldives on February 20.
Kathmandu will host the 18th SAARC Summit in November this year.

Sheila Dikshit, the Congress leader who served three terms as Chief Minister of Delhi, has been appointed the Governor of Kerala.

India’s ViratKohli has reclaimed the No. 1 position in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen,
Kohli had entered the Asia Cup, trailing No. 1 ranked South African batsman AB de Villiers by two ratings points.
Kohli’s tournament aggregate of 189 runs in three innings with 136 against Bangladesh as his series best earned him 12 ratings points, which has put him ahead of South Africa’s ODI captain by nine ratings points.
Kohli was last ranked No. 1 just before the ODI series against New Zealand in January.

The Supreme Court asked the Centre to take a decision on Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar’s fresh mercy plea by March 27 or else it will decide on the issue of commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of his mental condition.

left-handed batsman Suresh Raina is the lone Indian in the short list of four players from all countries to have scored a century in the ICC World T20 Championship's brief history whose fifth edition is set to commence in Bangladesh.
The other three century makers in the shortest form of the game are Chris Gayle (West Indies, 117 v South Africa at Johannesburg in September, 2007), MahelaJayawardene (Sri Lanka, 100 v Zimbabwe at Providence in May, 2010) and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand, 123 v Bangladesh at Pallekele in September, 2012).

Tatyana McFadden collected a first Winter Paralympics medal to join the 10 won across the past three Summer Paralympics.

The Election Commission has signed up leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan as its 'national icon' in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Aamir will be part of the EC's voter awareness initiatives.
His main task would be to encourage more and more people to vote in the General Elections.
Aamir joins the league of four other 'national icons' – Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, boxer MC Mary Kom, badminton ace Saina Nehwal and former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

The BJP has announced the expulsion of senior leader Jaswant Singh and SubhashMahariya for six years. The decision comes in the wake of Mr. Singh’s decision to contest as an Independent from Barmer and
Mr. Mahariya’s announcement to do the same from Sikar in Rajasthan.
This is the second time the party has taken such action Mr. Singh. He was earlier expelled in 2009 for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding father.
According to sources in the BJP, the party’s constitution allows it to expel members if they contest against its official candidates in elections, or if they drag the party to court over an internal issue.

Former India captain Jude Felix replaced his contemporary VasudevanBaskaran as the coach of the national hockey team.
Felix will work under chief coach Terry Walsh and has been appointed initially for a period of three months. Hockey India’s high performance director RoelantOltmans said they’ll assess Felix’s performance after the World Cup in June and decide if his contract will be extended beyond that period.

India, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom joined hands to honour Rabindranath Tagore, one of the greatest poets of the Commonwealth, at the House of Commons.
Tagore was one of the most celebrated sons of India, a towering figure, who wrote India as well as Bangladesh’s national anthem.
The range of his achievements is extraordinary and not only includes literature but music and art as well.
Rabindranath Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf was indicted by a special court hearing the high treason case against him, becoming the first ever military ruler to face criminal prosecution.
Mr. Musharraf, who personally appeared in court, is accused of treason under Article 6 for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.
The 70-year-old former president, who is the first military ruler in Pakistan’s history to be tried in court, has rejected all the charges leveled against him.
The military has ruled Pakistan for about half of its 66-year history and no ruler or top military commander has ever faced criminal prosecution before Mr. Musharraf.
Since Mr. Musharraf returned to Pakistan from self-exile in March last year, he has faced prosecution in four major cases, including for his alleged involvement in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006.