Election commissioner Arun Goel resigns ahead of Lok Sabha elections
· Days before announcement of schedule of Lok Sabha Chief Election Commission Arun Goel resigned on Saturday. His resignation was accepted by the President with effect from March 9.
· With resignation the Election Commission strength has reduced to just one , that is CEC Rajiv Kumar .
· Association of Democratic Reforms ( ADR ) , an NGO, had filed a Public Interest Litigation ( PIL ) in Supreme Court stating that due Process of Law was not followed in his appointment .
· The top court had refused to interfere stating that a constitution bench had already examined the orders and had refrained from passing any adverse orders .
BJP, TDP , JSP seal seal to contest polls together
· The Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) , Telgu Desam Party ( TDP ) and Pawan Kalyan led Jan Sena Party ( JSP ) have formed a coalition have officially announced that they will join hands to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections and the Concurrently held Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh .
· The Joint statement however does not talk about seat sharing . Sources however has confirmed that of the total 25 seats in Lok Sabha BJP will fight on 6 , JSP will fight on 2 while TDP will fight on remaining 17 Lok Sabha seats .
· In Assembly Elections BJP and JSP will fight on 30 out of 175 Lok Sabha seats .
DMK allots nine seats to Congress
· The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( DMK ) on Saturday shared a seat sharing pact with the Tamilnadu unit of the Congress , which was allotted 10 seats .
· Nine seats in TamilNadu and a lone seat in Puducherry .
Congress compromised border security , says PM
· The Prime Minister on Saturday inaugurated Sela Tunnel .
· He also inaugurated statue of Ahom leader Lachit Borphukan in Jorhat , Assam .
· PM also visited Kaziranga National Park .
· PM laid the foundation stone of various project worht ₹55,600 crore in Arunachal Pradesh , Manipur and Meghalaya , Nagaland , Sikkim and Tripura .
· Sela Tunnel –
Ø It is 13,000 ft above sea level .
Ø It will connect Tawang , which is strategically very important from other parts of the North East . It provides all weather connectivity to Tawang from the rest of Arunachal Pradesh .
Ø It is 400 m below Sela Pass .
Ø The tunnel has two parts : Tunnel 1 – A single tube Tunnel of length 980 meter , Tunnel 2 : 1,5,55 meter long twin tube .
Ø It was built by the Border Road Organization at the cost of Rs. 825 crore .
· Lachit Balphukan – PM. Inaugurated 125 ft ‘ statue of valor ‘ of Lachit Balphukan in Jorhat .
Ø Lachit Balphukan was a Ahom commander who fought against the Mughals .
‘Bharat Shakti’ to showcase prowess of indigenous defense equipment
· ‘Exercise Bharat Shakti’ will be held on March 12 at the Pokhran Fire Range in Rajsthan .
· It will showcase the “ prowess “ of indigenously manufactured defence equipment for the three services of Indian Army , Navy and Air Force .With primary focus on “ Jonness “ and Synergy , PM Modi is going to inaugurate that .
Kozhikode to get first cooperative museum
· Karassery Service co-operative Bank limited has recently inaugurated a 14 storey International Cooperative Museum ( ICM ) in Kozhikode , Kerala .
· The museum will showcase the success of the cooperative movement in India , especially in Kerala .
· The museum will be the second of its kind in the world , the first is in Toad lane ,UK .
· There are more than 8 lakh cooperatives in India today , with a collective membership of 29 crore .
Center issues directive to prevent tailgating at airport e-gates
· The Beareu of Civil Aviation ( BCAS ) has asked aircrafts to use better technology , and assign more manpower resources to prevent passengers from tailgating through various automatic gate .
· This is to ensure smooth implementation of Digi Yatra .
· Digi Yatra aims to give paperless and seamless air connectivity to travellers . It uses biometric ,facial recognition to verify passengers without need of any physical documents .
· In recent months two incident occurred in which passengers without valid I’d proofs were able to reach near the airline boarding at Mumbai airport .
NCB arrests Tamil film producer in drug racket case
· The Narcotics Control Bureau ( NCB ) on Saturday arrested Jaffers Sadiq , accused of being the Kingpin in a Rs. 2000 crore international drug trafficking racket . Sadiq is Tamil Film producer and DMK NRI wing chief from Chennai west .
· The network has trafficked drugs worth of approximately 3500 kg in the guise of food item .
World
Asif Ali Zardari becomes Pakistan’s 14 th President
· Asif Ali Zardari was elected as the 14 th President of Pakistan on Saturday .
· Mr Zardari is the chairperson of Pakistan’s People’s Party .
· Mr Zardari defeated his rival Mahmoud Khan Achkazai. He got 225 votes while his rival got 119 votes .
· Mr. Zardari is husband of slain Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto .
Red Cross chief decries ‘ lack of humanity’
· The war of Gaza has “ ruptured any sense of a shared humanity “ , the head of international Committee of red cross said on Saturday .
· ICRC chief Mirjana Spoljaric called for urgent ceasefire and aid to the Palestinian territory .
· The UN has said that more than 90 % of the population is on the brink of famine.
· The Red Cross is an NGO .The Red Cross is generally involved in providing necessary food , shelter , and medicine in crisis hit areas.
‘Presence of NATO troops in Ukraine is not unthinkable’
· Poland’s Foreign Minister says that the presence of NATO forces “ is not unthinkable “ and that he appreciates the French President for not ruling out the idea .
· Last month French President Emanual Macron had said that the possibility of NATO troops at Ukraine can not be ruled out .
· Poland’s foreign minister Donald Risk was among the first leaders to rule out any such possibility.
Residents seek shelter as gunfire and gang violence bring Haiti to ‘standstill‘
· Haiti is moving towards a civil war . The armed grkups are demanding Prime Minister to step down . Prime Minister Ariel Henry was to leave the office in fabruary but after an agreement with opposition opposition he will retain power till election.
· Armed gangs have captured key beukdings .
· The PM has declared an emergency for one month.
· The violence between different aremd groups has made residents to get shelter in homes .
· A humanitarian crisis is emerging in capital Port Au Prince and other areas .
· UN has warned of food and medical crisis emerging after the shortage of these essentials .
Sports
· James Anderson became the third bowler to take 700 wickets in Test Cricket .
· He became the first fast bowler to do that .
· Muthaiyah Murlidharan ( 800 wickets ) and Shane Warne ( 708 ) are the only two others to complete 700 wickets .
· Kuldeep Yadav was the 700 th wicket of Anderson in the fifth Test in Dharamshala .
