1-2 march 2015
Jagmohan Dalmiya unanimously elected as President of BCCI
Jagmohan Dalmiya on 2 March 2015 was unanimously elected as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at Annual General meeting held in Chennai.
Besides, five Vice Presidents were also elected. They are Andhra's Gokaraju Gangaraju (south zone), Assam's Goutam Roy (east), ML Nehru of Jammu and Kashmir (north zone), CK Khanna (Delhi, central zone) and TC Matthews (Kerala, west zone).
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Chief Anurag Thakur was elected as Secretary of BCCI while Jharkhand State Cricket Association Chief Amitabha Choudhary was elected as Joint Secretary and Haryana's Anirudh Choudhary was named as its Treasurer.
Dalmiya had served BCCI as its President between 2001 and 2004. He also served as the President of International Cricket Council (ICC) between 1997 and 2000.
Defence Acquisition Council approved buying of 38 Pilatus trainer aircraft for Indian Air Force
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 28 February 2015 approved buying of 38 more Pilatus trainer aircraft from Switzerland at a cost of 1500 crore rupees. These trainer aircraft will train Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilots.
Besides, DAC appointed Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) as the lead agency to build 12 Mine Counter Measure Vessel (MCMV) for the Navy. The decision was taken by DAC meeting chaired by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
MCMV project is aimed at building specialized vessels for the Indian Navy as per Make in India Initiative. GSL will build the ships under transfer of technology with the foreign vendor in a deal worth about 32000 crore rupees.
DAC also gave approval for buying one C-130J medium transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at a cost of 530 crore rupees. This aircraft will replace a C-130 J which crashed in 2014 near Gwalior.
Other deals cleared include 21 low level light weight radars for the Air Force and a repeat order of rockets for the Indian Army.
DAC is the apex body for clearing defence procurement proposals forwarded by the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Air Force.
Avalanches hit Panjshir Valley of northern Afghanistan
Panjshir Valley of northern Afghanistan on 1 March 2015 was hit by avalanches. The avalanches 40m (130ft) high hit the region, cutting off access to remote villages.
At present the air force of Afghanistan is carrying out rescue operation in the region and is dropping food parcels to seven badly-affected villages.
Earlier in second and third week of February 2015, the area was devastated by avalanches and flooding in which at least 286 people have died. These recent environmental devastation is believed to be worst in past 30 years.
In light of the incident, Afghanistan government had declared three day mourning for the victims.
China launched Silk Road Infrastructure project in Northwest Province of Gansu
China on 28 February 2015 launched a massive Silk Road Infrastructure project worth 79.8 billion US dollars in the northwest province of Gansu. The project was launched as a part of China’s ambitious Silk Route plan.
This project will facilitate exchange of trade and tourism between China and central Asian Countries. Gansu province does not share its borders with any central Asian countries but it will be an important part of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
On its completion, the project will add more than 60000 kilometres of road network including 4070 km expressways. It will be a six-year Silk Road development project.
Rafael Nadal of Spain won the Argentina Tennis Open
Spanish tennis ace, Rafael Nadal on 2 March 2015 won the Argentina Open title of Tennis. In the summit clash, Nadal defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 in Buenos Aires.
This was the 65th career title for Nadal. As a result, Nadal moved onto fifth place in the Open era all-time list led by Jimmy Connors of the US who had won 109 titles.
Also, this was Nadal’s 46th career clay-court title, thus, he equalled the record of Guillermo Vilas of Monaco who played during 1970s and 1980s.
This win enabled Nadal to move up to third position in the world rankings overtaking Britain's Andy Murray, who is now placed fifth, with Japan's Kei Nishikori on fourth position.