Current Affairs: 3 March 2017

Jitu Rai and Amanpreet Singh win gold and silver, respectively in men’s 50m free pistol at the ISSF Shooting World Cup. It was India’s first gold in the competition.Jitu’s winning score of 230.1 was a world record, while Amanpreet shot 226.9 to win silver. The bronze went to Vahid Golkhandan of Iran, who shot 208.0.
The 29-year-old marksman, who made an eighthplace finish in the men's 10m air pistol final at the Rio Olympics, was languishing towards the bottom of the table in the initial stages of the final before he made a late surge to come into medal contention.
Jitu posted a final score of 216.7, which include poor shots such as just a score of 8.8 on his second attempt, tomake a third-place finish on podium.

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has again topped the list of top Indian cities equipped to manage urbanisation, according to an evaluation of 21 major cities across 18 states by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.
Thiruvananthapuram, which had ranked number 1 in 2015 as well, has maintained its position,
The national capital dropped two places to rank 9. Similarly, Mumbai’s rank slipped from 4 to 2 and Bengaluru’s came down to 16 from 12.
Irrespective of 2016 ranking, the cities in India have continued to score low over the last four editions of ASICS. This indicates that progress on fixing City-Systems has been slow.
Janaagraha recommends changes in planning laws to address the issues challenging the efficient planning of the cities.
The Indian cities quality of laws, policies and institutions significantly to improve service delivery and thereby, deliver a high quality of life to citizens.

Assam will host its first river festival- Namami Brahmaputra at the riverfront of Brahmaputra in Guwahati from 31 March to 4 April 2017. The decision was announced by Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal himself.
The state’s government has invited India’s President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ambassadors of all the countries and all Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries to participate in the mega event.
The five-day festival aims to promote the state’s economy, culture, art, tourism, skill industry, investment option, trade, commerce and heritage. Namami Brahmaputra, which means “Obeisance to the Brahmaputra”, will showcase the grandeur of the river and the land it flows through.
It will be spread across 21 districts of Assam.

Malaysia will cancel visa-free entry for North Koreans entering the country starting next week as diplomatic ties between the two countries fray further following the murder of Kim Jong-nam at the Kuala Lumpur airport.
North Koreans will be required to obtain a visa as of March 6 before entering Malaysia for national security reasons
Malaysia is one of the few countries that North Koreans could visit without a visa. A reciprocal arrangement made Malaysians the only foreigners given visa-free entry to the secretive, nuclear-armed state.

Former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra Swadheen Kshatriya was sworn-in as the state’s first Right to Services (RTS) Chief Commissioner. Lokayukta Justice (retd) M L Tahiliani administered the oath of office to Kshatriya at Sahyadri state guest house in Mumbai.
State Chief Information Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad, former CIC Suresh Joshi and some of the state’s top bureaucrats were present on the occasion.
Kshatriya’s tenure will be of five years. He retired as Chief Secretary of Maharashtra.
Senior IAS officer Sumit Mullick has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Maharashtra