Current Affairs March 21, 2018

Transcription

1 Current Affairs March 21, 2018 S.No Topic Page Number 1 Important Days 2 2 World News 3 3 National News State News 6 5 Banking & Economy 7 6 Sports 8 7 Awards & Honours 9 8 Appointments & Resignations 10 9 Books & Authors 11 1

2 Important Days International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid pass laws. Proclaiming the day in 1966, the United Nations General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. The theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2018 is Promoting tolerance, inclusion, unity and respect for diversity in the context of combating racial discrimination. International Day of Forests The International Day of Forests was established on the on 21 March, by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on November 28, Each year, various events celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations. The theme of the International Day of Forests in 2018 is "Forests and Sustainable Cities". World Poetry Day World Poetry Day is a holiday which falls on 21 March. The purpose of this holiday is to promote the writing, reading, teaching and publishing of poetry throughout the world. It s also a day to give recognition to international, national and regional poetry movements. 2

3 World News Vienna named the world s most liveable city for the ninth year running The Austrian capital Vienna has been named the world s best city to live in for the ninth consecutive year. Mercer s 20th annual Quality of Living survey compared 231 major metropolises, examining factors such as crime, healthcare, education, public services, recreation, housing and personal freedom. Also, Baghdad remained the worst city to live according to the same survey. US bans use of Venezuela s Petro cryptocurrency The Trump administration banned all use by Americans of Venezuelan cryptocurrency, saying that its introduction is intended to skirt U.S. sanctions. In a separate move, the administration also slapped sanctions on four current and former senior Venezuelan officials accused of corruption and mismanagement. World's Most Liveable City Report- Vienna Tops, Baghdad Worst Austria's capital city Vienna has been rated the world's most liveable city for the ninth consecutive year by Mercer in its annual Quality of Living survey. It was followed by Switzerland's Zurich, while New Zealand's Auckland and Germany's Munich tied for third place. Hyderabad and Pune have been rated India's most liveable cities as they have tied for the 142nd place in Mercer's global Quality of Living survey. Iraq's capital city Baghdad has been rated the least liveable city for the tenth consecutive year. 3

4 National News Govt can't charge over 50 for RTI application, rules SC The Supreme Court ruled that government authorities cannot charge more than 50 as application fee for those seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The apex court also said authorities cannot charge more than 5 per page for photocopy and the applicants do not have to mention the "motive" in the RTI application. Govt extends fixed-term employment facility The government has extended the facility of hiring workers on fixed-term employment to all sectors for improving the ease of doing business for companies. This facility was available only to the apparel manufacturing sector as per the Industrial Establishment (Standing Order) The fixed term employment was defined as a workman who is employed on a contract basis for a fixed period. India Post releases special cover on Stephen Hawking India Post today paid tribute to theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking by issuing a special cover on him. Chief Post Master General (CPMG) of Maharashtra and Goa Circle H C Agrawal and Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Dr Sandip Trivedi jointly issued the special cover at an event held in the GPO here today. Agrawal said that the postal department was paying tribute to the legendary scientist by releasing the special cover in all its 22 Circles. Hawking died at the age of 76 on March 14 in his home in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Skill Development ink MoU on skill development at KVK Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Skill Development ink MoU on skill development at KVK 21 March 2018 Current Affairs: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship have signed MoU to conduct skill development training programmes for agriculture and allied sector. 4

5 These skill development training programmes will be conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs). The MoU will help to increase cooperation between both ministries and help in fulfilling Government s dream of Kaushal Bharat-Kushal Bharat. KVK is a project of ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) for testing and transfer of Agricultural technologies at the grassroots level. Robertsganj station renamed as Sonbhadra The Union Home Ministry has given its approval to rename Robertsganj railway station in UP as Sonbhadra. This is the second railway station in the state to be renamed within a year, with the first one being the Mughalsarai railway station that was renamed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay station in August Station falls under the North-Central zone of the Indian Railways Allahabad division. 5

6 State News Nitin Gadkari inaugurates Inland Ferry Services in Goa Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated the Inland ferry services in the port city of Vasco in Goa. The Minister said that while addressing the needs of the poor, environment and ecosystem must be given its due priority. To achieve this, all the stakeholders need to make a concerted decision and action. Telangana to make Telugu mandatory in schools till Class 10 The Telangana government has decided to make Telugu a mandatory subject till Class 10 in all public and private schools. We decided to make Telugu a compulsory subject as it is our responsibility to respect our mother tongue and our culture, CM K Chandrashekar Rao said. The course should have content that inculcates ethical values among the children, he added. 106th Indian Science Congress to be Held in Bhopal General President-elect of Indian Science Congress Manoj Kumar Chakrabarti announced that the 106th edition of the Indian Science Congress will be held in January 2019 at Barkatullah University Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The theme for 2019 ISC will be Future India: Science & Technology. World s longest sandstone cave found in Meghalaya A 24,583-metre-long cave that was discovered in 2016 in Meghalaya has been found to be the world s longest sandstone cave by the Meghalaya Adventurers Association. Called Krem Puri, it is also the second largest cave in India. It is over 6,000 metres longer than the current world record-holder for the longest sandstone cave, the Cueva Del Saman in Zulia, Venezuela. 6

7 Banking & Economy ABFL s merger with Allahabad Bank gets nod State-run Allahabad Bank announced that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has allowed the amalgamation of its wholly own subsidiary All Bank Finance Ltd (ABFL)-with the lender. Earlier in September last year, the bank had announced merging AllBank Finance with itself. Amazon is now second most valuable US-listed Company Amazon became the second most valuable publicly listed U.S. Company, surpassing Google parent Alphabet Inc for the first time. Amazon shares finished up 2.69 percent at $1,586.51, for a market capitalization of $768 billion. Apple is the world s most valuable publicly listed company market capitalization currently stands at US$889 billion. General Insurance Corporation (GIC) Re to Operate from Lloyd s In London General Insurance Corporation is going to start operations at the Lloyd s London office in April 2018 thereby increasing its share of international business. This will also facilitate Indian becoming a regional reinsurance center. This will help GIC Re increase its share of international reinsurance business. The company had received approval to set up a syndicate at Lloyd s of London in December GIC Syndicate 1947 will be the first Lloyd s syndicate to be backed solely by capital from an Indian reinsurance group. 7

8 Sports CCFC s coaching team wants to start from the base up I-League club Chennai City FC (CCFC) on Tuesday made it official that Spaniard Jordi Gris has joined it on a one-year contract as assistant coach. Jordi, who was for a few months with Manchester City as an analyst last season and who has worked as a scout with the second grade Barcelona team, will be assisting CCFC s new head coach Mohammad Akbar Bin Abdul Nawas of Singapore. He s also been made the director of the club s youth football system. According to the duo, they bonded over work with Global Cebu FC in the Philippines last year. 8

9 Awards & Honours Canadian mathematician Langlands wins Abel Prize Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands won the prestigious Abel Prize for developing a programme connecting representation theory to number theory. The so-called Langlands programme dates back to 1967, when the then-associate professor at Princeton University wrote a letter to renowned French mathematician Andre Weil outlining his new theory. President Kovind confers Padma Awards 2018 at Rashtrapati Bhawan Noted music composer Illaiyaraja, Hindustani classical singer Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Hindutva thinker P Parameswaran, Kerala Bishop Philipose Mar Chrysostom, and other prominent personalities were conferred the prestigious Padma awards for 2018 by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Durbar Hall. This year 85 personalities were bestowed with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri titles including former Indian cricket team skipper MS Dhoni. 9

10 Appointments & Resignations Myanmar President, Htin Kyaw Resigns Myanmar's President and Aung San Suu Kyi's right-hand man Htin Kyaw stepped down after two years in the position. As per the official report, a new leader would be selected within seven working days. Nanda Bahadur Pun Elected Nepal's Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun has been re-elected as the Vice-President of Nepal for the second term unopposed. Pun has filed candidacy for the post of the Vice President and his candidacy remained unopposed as no candidate came forward to contest with him for the post. 10

11 Books & Authors Indian Army Releases Book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff released a book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees Paramveer Parwane. The book illustrates the bravery of Paramveer Chakra Awardees from 1947 to The book is written by Dr Prabhakiran Jain and is published by Medha Books. The book has eleven short stories, poems, and songs highlighting the history of the battles in which the brave soldiers sacrificed their lives and have shown the utmost courage & leadership while facing the enemy during War to protect the motherland. 11