Current Affair 23 March 2016 for Competition Exams

8th BRICS Summit to be held in Goa
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 22 March 2016 announced that India will host the 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit from 15 October to 16 October 2016 in Goa.

World Poetry Day 2016
World Poetry Day was observed across the world on 21 March 2016. The main objective of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.

India’s Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve among 20 World Heritage Sites added by UNESCO
Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve is located in the Western Ghats, in the southern part of India. It is home to 2254 species of higher plants including about 400 that are endemic.
The Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve was on 19 March 2016 included in the UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It is one among the 20 new sites adopted by the council to its Network.
It was included at the meeting of the International Co-ordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere programme of UNESCO in Lima.

World Tuberculosis day
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda on 21 March 2016 launched three new initiatives to combat Tuberculosis (TB).
Along with these initiatives the Minister also released the TB India 2016 Annual Report and the Technical and Operational Guidelines for TB Control in India 2016.
A new radio campaign with TB ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and social media campaign were also launched on this occasion.

World Water Day 2016
World Water Day 2016 was globally observed on 22 March 2016 with the theme Water and Jobs. The theme for the World Water Day 2016 talks about how water links to jobs as three out of four of the jobs worldwide are water-dependent.
In fact, water shortages and lack of access may limit economic growth in the years to come.
On the occasion, the report titled 2016 United Nations World Water Development Report, Water and Jobs, was launched in Geneva.