1. Copies of six Ordinances laid in Lok Sabha
i. Copies of six Ordinances promulgated recently on issues such as land acquisition and coal were laid in the Lok Sabha .
ii. The government intends to get bills passed on these Ordinances which will expire before the end of the first part of the Budget session on March 20.
iii. The six Ordinances include those on land acquisition, FDI in insurance, auction of coal blocks, e-rickshaws, mines and minerals and amendment to Citizenship Act by merging the status of OCI and PIO Cards.
iv. The Ordinance on coal has been re-promulgated. While Ordinances on land and e-rickshaws are new, bills are pending on other issues in Parliament.
v. The Ordinance on land acquisition, which entails changes in the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, is being steadfastly opposed by various parties.
2. Union Government launched portal MADAD to redress consular grievances
i. Indian citizens living abroad will now be able to file consular grievances online as the government today launched an e-portal to address such complaints promptly with a high degree of "accountability".
ii. The portal 'Madad'(Help) was launched at the Ministry of External Affairs or MEA headquarters in Delhi by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
iii. The speedy handling of complaints, improve tracking and redressal and escalation of unresolved cases are among the chief characteristics of 'Madad'.
iv. The pilot project for the system was started with seven countries, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, among others, and Malaysia.
3. India-Nepal joint military exercise begins today
i. A combined military training exercise between India and Nepal begins on Monday.
ii. The exercise called "Surya Kiran 8th " is being conducted in the foothills of Salaj-handi in Nepal and is a part of ongoing defence cooperation India and Nepal.
iii. It will simulate a scenario, where both nations will work together in a counter insurgency and counter terrorism environment in mountainous and jungle terrain.
iv. The exercise will make both sides familiar with each other's organisational structure, weapons, equipment, confidence training and tactical drills.
4. Himachal Pradesh to present India’s first paperless budget
i. Himachal Pradesh is set to become the country's first state to present a 'paperless' budget on March 11.
ii. Since the state already has the country's first green assembly, all documents related to budget estimates would be made available online and only around 10 budget copies would be printed for record.
iii. Running the proceedings on e-Vidhan would save the state exchequer Rs 15 crore annually.
5. Nitish Kumar sworn in as CM of Bihar
i. Nitish Kumar has sworn in as the Chief Minister (CM) of Bihar for the 4th time.
ii. Governor of Bihar Keshri Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office and secrecy to him at the oath taking ceremony held at Raj Bhawan in Patna.
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iii. Along with Nitish Kumar, 22 Janta Dal United (JDU) Party legislators, including three women were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.
iv. Earlier on 20 February 2015, Jitan Ram Manjhi had resigned as CM ending a month long political turmoil in Bihar.
6. Academy Awards announced
