News:

1. Bharti AirtelBSE 0.47 % Thursday said that it has raised Rs1,925 crore (about $310 million) by selling 55
million shares in its subsidiary Bharti Infratel in an equity market transaction, which will be used to pare
debt.

2. Former IPCC chairman RK Pachauri, accused of sexually harassing a

colleague, was granted interim protection from arrest till March 27 by a Delhi
Court. He quit as chairman of UNs prestigious Inter governmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). Pachauri, shared Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with
former US Vice President Al Gore for work on climate issues.
3. South Korea's Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down a 62-year-old law that made
adultery an offense .

4. Delhi has the largest forest cover out of three metropolitan cities while the country's
green cover is over 23 per cent.
As per the masterplan of the city provided by Urban Development Ministry, Delhi has
180 sq kms of green cover.
The country's financial capital Mumbai has the second largest forest cover while
Chennai has the lowest green cover as per the government data. The data for Kolkata
was not available.
5. The slaughter of cows, bulls, bullocks and calves, is now completely banned in Maharashtra
under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (amendment) Act (MAPA), 1995, which received
President Pranab Mukherjees nod . Under the amended act, the crime of slaughtering the
animals covered under the ban will be non-bailable and the punishment will be five years in
prison, upped from the earlier six months. The fine, too, has been hiked to Rs 10,000 from
the current Rs 1,000.
The slaughter of cows is banned under schedule 5 of the Act passed in 1976. Schedule 6 of
the Act, however, allowed the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, female buffaloes and buffalo
calves with permission. The amendment now puts bulls, bullocks and calves under schedule
5 of the Act, which means a blanket ban on their slaughter.
Presidents assent given on February 26 as per provisions in Article 201 of the Constitution
of India.Maharashtras Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who was instrumental in the
passage of the bill, had been pursuing the issue with the Centre for the last two months.
6.

Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was murdered.

7.

The 2015 Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saw the introduction of
new schemes across multiple sectors.
The list is topped by Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank with an
initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore. MUDRA
bank will act as a re-finance agency providing lending priority to SC/ST businesses through
the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (Prime Ministers Micro Units Development
Programme).

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) will be provided Rs 20,000 crore for
boosting infrastructure investments.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Prime Ministers Irrigation Programme) has been
allocated Rs. 1,800 crore. The programme will provide support to micro-irrigation and
watershed development. This will also cover the per drop more crop programme under the
department of agriculture and co-operation.
Another important scheme for agriculture is the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas
Yojana (Traditional Farming Improvement Programme) that has been allocated Rs 300
crore.
The newly formed Ministry for Skill development has been allocated Rs. 1,500 crore.
8. A statue of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled on 14/03/2015 in

London's prestigious Parliament Square.