Current Affairs Daily Updates: 11th March 2017

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Current Affairs Daily Updates: 11th March 2017
APPOINTMENTS
ICC appoint Sachin Tendulkar as official ambassador of womens World Cup 2017
  • Former Indian cricketer and captain Sachin Tendulkar has roped as an ambassador of Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017 which will begin from 24th June, 2017 in England and Wales said by International Cricket Council (ICC).
  • 8 cricket teams from different countries will play 21-day tournament having 28 matches to win the coveted trophy.
Manjeev Singh Puri is new envoy to Nepal
  • Senior diplomat Manjeev Singh Puri was appointed as India’s new ambassador to Nepal. Mr. Puri, a 1982-batch IFS officer. Currently he is India’s Ambassador to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg. 
  • He will be succeeding Ranjit Rae who completed his three-and-a-half-year term as the Indian ambassador to Nepal.
BP Kanungo appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI
  • The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed BP Kanungo as Deputy Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years.
  • He has been appointed in place of R. Gandhi. In March 2016, Mr. Kanungo was appointed as Executive Director in the central bank.
Narendra Kumar takes over as Chairman Central Water Commission
  • Shri Narendra Kumar, an officer of Central Water Engineering Service (1979 batch) has assumed the charge of Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC).
  • He has served in various capacities in CWC as Assistant Director in Design Organisation, Deputy Director in Project Appraisal Directorate and Director in Dam Safety Organisation and Project Monitoring Directorate.
  • He has also served as Senior Joint Commissioner in Command Area Development wing of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation from 2002 to 2005. 
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Viola Davis awarded Harvard’s Artist of the Year Award 2017
  • Popular actress Viola Davis was awarded the 2017 Artist of the Year Award by Harvard Foundation. She was presented the award during foundation’s 32nd annual Cultural Rhythms Festival. 
  • Besides, this award she also has won Oscar for the best supporting actress, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Critics’ Choice, and British Academy of Films and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for her role of Rose Maxson in Fences.
  • Harvard’s Artist of the Year Award is given annually to honor America’s most acclaimed artists and scientists.
  • Viola Davis is the only black woman to be nominated for three Academy Awards and the only black actress to win the Triple Crown of Acting. In 2012, Time had listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
BANKING AFFAIRS
NBFC cash loan against gold restricted to Rs. 20,000
  • The Reserve Bank of India has sharply brought down the threshold above which non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) can disburse loans against gold only by cheque.
  • The central bank said with immediate effect such loans amounting to Rs. 25,000 and above can be disbursed only by cheque as against the earlier threshold of Rs. 1 lakh and above.
  • This move is in line with the rules issued under the Income Tax Act.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Paytm to levy 2% fee on recharge via credit cards
  • Digital wallet player Paytm will now levy a 2% fee for adding money to Paytm wallet using credit cards.
  • This is a result of multiple users using Paytm to get free credit by using credit cards to top up their digital wallets and transferring the money back to their bank accounts at zero transaction cost.
  • The digital payment wallet will, however, provide an equivalent amount of cashback for using credit card to add money to the wallet. The cost of adding money to the wallet through other modes such as net banking and debit cards remains non-chargeable.
Google acquires Kaggle for undisclosed amount to boost data play
  • Technology giant Google has announced the acquisition of Kaggle, a start-up that hosts a number of data scientists, for an undisclosed amount at the Cloud Next 2017 conference.
  • Kaggle and Google Cloud will continue to support machine learning training and deployment services while offering the community the ability to store and query large datasets.
DEATHS
Gravitational waves Pioneer Ronald Drever passes away
  • Scottish physicist and gravitational waves pioneer Ronald Drever passed away. He was 85.
  • He was one of the co-founders of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors that had detected the gravitational waves emitted by merger of a binary black hole pair.
Motorsport Legend John Surtees Passes Away
  • John Surtees, the only person to win World Championship in two- and four-wheeler racing, died.
  • The 83-year-old Brit won seven motorcycle championships (350cc and 500cc categories) before going on to clinch the 1964 Formula One World Championship with Ferrari.
Chemistry Nobel Winner George Olah Dies At 89
  • George A. Olah, whose work won a Nobel Prize in chemistry and paved the way for more effective oil refining and ways of producing less polluting forms of gasoline, has died at age 89.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Paddleboarder makes world-first Atlantic crossing
  • A South African man Chris Bertish has become the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a stand-up paddleboard after completing an epic 4,050-mile voyage alone at sea.
  • Chris Bertish pulled into Antigua, in the Leeward islands of the Caribbean after departing from Agadir, Morocco, 93 days ago.
  • Bertish, 42, a big-wave surfer as well as a sailor, who won the renowned Mavericks surf contest in northern California in 2010.
Pakistan Parliament Passed The Hindu Marriage Bill
  • Pakistan’s Parliament has finally passed the much awaited Landmark bill to regulate marriages of minority Hindus in the country.
  • Pakistan’s Hindus are set to get a separate law to regulate marriages after the National Assembly unanimously adopted the Hindu Marriage bill, 2017.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Enemy Property Bill Passed In Rajya Sabha
  • The Rajya Sabha passed the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016.
  • The 49-year-old law was amended to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China.
2017 National Safety Week: March 4-10, 2017
  • 46th National Safety Week Campaign was commenced from 4th March 2017 to 10th March 2017 to renewing the commitment of employees and general public to work safely throughout the year.
  • It is observed by National Safety Council (NSC) since 1972.
  • 2017 theme is “Keep Each Other Safe”.
International Vision Zero Conference’ on Occupational, Safety and Health 
  • The international conference on the VISION ZERO and its relevance to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), is being organized from 15th to 17th, March 2017 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment and German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany in association with International Social Security Association (ISSA).
  • The conference aims to focus on the Occupational Safety and Health issues and challenges in the Manufacturing, Construction and Mining sector.
  • The conference will provide a forum for promoting safety and health at work by exchanging knowledge, practices and experience.
Goa Election 2017: Francis D'Souza (BJP) wins from Mapusa
  • Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza wins from Mapusa constituency by a margin of over 6,000 votes.
  • The total voter turnout was 78.94% and Francis D’souza was the candidate from BJP who had won followed by Ashish Tulshidas Shirodkar of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Government releases draft rules for wallet companies
  • In a bid to make transactions through e-wallets safer and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism for consumers, a government has released a set of guidelines for wallet firms.
  • The draft Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 which have been released for public consultation by the ministry of electronics and IT cover an entire spectrum such as protecting consumer information, especially financial data.
  • The Rules mandate that each Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) company or wallet firm will have a privacy policy posted on its website.
  • It will also have to appoint a chief grievance officer, the contact details of whom will have to be prominently displayed on the website. The grievance officer will have to "act upon" any complaint within 36 hours and "close" it in a month's time.
Himachal Pradesh Government launches mobile App Mera Hunar HP for job-seekers
  • Himachal Pradesh Government launched mobile App and website Mera Hunar HP for job-seekers. It is first of its kind app and website in the country.
  • Mera Hunar is a web based platform where the skilled, semi-skilled persons can apply for various jobs as per their convenience.
  • The platform is available both in English and Hindi. It will directly connect the prospective employers with the job seekers.
  • This will benefit those looking for daily jobs within their area. It will create self-employment as well as huge data-base of all the job seekers skilled in different trades.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS
Iran Successfully Test-Fires Hormuz-2 Ballistic Missile
  • The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the Iranian military successfully test-fired a Hormuz-2 ballistic missile this week.
  • The missile destroyed a floating target at a distance of approximately 155 miles Hormuz-2 is a naval strike ballistic missile intended to hit moving targets at sea with high precision, and has a range of nearly 300 kilometres (186 miles), Press TV reported.
  • The missile is similar in appearance to the anti-ship Khalij-e-Fars (Persian Gulf) ballistic missile.
India's 1st lunar probe Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft still orbiting Moon: NASA
  • India's first lunar probe - the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft - which was considered lost, is still orbiting the Moon. NASA scientists have found the satellite, using a new ground-based radar technique.
  • Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact with Chandrayaan-1 in August 2009, almost a year after it was launched in October, 2008.
  • Now, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California have successfully located the spacecraft still circling some 200 kilometres above the lunar surface.
3,500-Yr-Old Mass Burial Ground From Megalithic Period Found By Tirupati Varsity
  • A 3,500-year-old colossal mass burial ground, believed to be from the Megalithic period, has been unearthed by a research team of Tirupati-based Sri Venkateswara University. The discovery was made in Nellore district’s Pidikitimala village.
  • The mass burial ground is spread over 100 acres with over a dozen cist burials, each measuring 30 feet by 27 feet, in Raakasi Mitta area, around 60 km from Tirupati, professor at the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
AB De Villiers Back On Top Of ODI Rankings
  • South Africa’s AB de Villiers has displaced Australia’s David Warner at the top of the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen.
  • This the tenth time de Villiers has climbed to the top since 2010 – when he first went to No. 1 – and this latest stint comes after he top scored in the recently concluded series in New Zealand.
  • India’s Virat Kohli remains at No. 3 behind de Villiers and Warner, while England’s Joe Root has jumped four places to No. 4.