INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Ashraf Ghani Takes Oath as President of Afghanistan for Second Term:

• Afghanistan’s incumbent President Ashraf Ghani took oath of the post for a second term on 9 March 2020.

• He was elected for the first term on 21 September 2014.

• Capital of Afghanistan- Kabul, Currency- Afghan afghani

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

V Praveen Rao wins MS Swaminathan Award:

• Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor V Praveen Rao has won the 7th Dr MS Swaminathan Award for the period 2017-2019.

• The Selection Committee has decided to select Praveen Rao for the award recognising his contributions in the fields of agricultural research, teaching, extension and administration.

• The award will be conferred on him in June 2020. Praveen Rao handled 13 research & 6 consultancy projects on micro-irrigation in India, Israel and South Africa.

SCIENCE AMD TECHNOLOGY

NASA named Mars 2020 rover as “Perseverance”:

• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) announced the name of the 5th Mars (red planet) rover as Perseverance. Previously the rover was known by its codename as Mars 2020.

• The name was suggested by Alexander Mather, 7th standard student and was announced by Nasa’s director of science, Thomas Zurbuchen at an event in Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia.

RANKING

Gujarat ranks 1st in domestic solar rooftop installations:

• Gujarat ranks first in the list for domestic solar rooftop installations with 64% of domestic solar installations. Nearly 50,915 systems being fixed on domestic rooftops in the State as on March 2, 2020.

• The State government of Gujarat has adopted a solar rooftop scheme “Surya Gujarat” to cover about eight lakh domestic electricity consumers under the scheme by 2022.

• Maharashtra ranks second in the list with 5,513 installations as on the same date. About 79,950 systems have been installed throughout the country has a capacity of 322 MW.