Current Affairs Daily Updates: 21st March 2017
APPOINTMENTS
Justice Navanithi Prasad
Singh sworn in as Kerala HC Chief Justice
- Justice
Navanithi Prasad Singh was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of Kerala
High Court.
- The
Governor of Kerala Justice (retd) P Sathasivam administered the oath of
office to Justice Singh at a function held at the Raj Bhavan in
Thiruvananthapuram.
Kumar Mangalam Birla to be Chairman of Vodafone-Idea merged
entity
- British
telecom major Vodafone and Aditya Birla group-run Idea Cellular today
announced the merger of their operations, creating the largest mobile
operator by customer and revenue market share.
- The
merged entity, which will come into force over the next two years, will be
headed by Kumar Mangalam Birla as Chairman.
- Vodafone
will have its nominee as the chief financial officer, its CEO Vittorio
Colao said here at a press meet, which was also attended by Birla.
Snapdeal appoints Jason Kothari as CEO of FreeCharge
- E-commerce
firm Snapdeal has announced the appointment of Jason Kothari as the Chief
Executive Officer of its digital payment platform FreeCharge and a
commitment to invest an additional $20 million in the company.
- In
addition to taking on the role of CEO, Jason will continue his key
leadership role as Chief Strategy and Investment Officer at Snapdeal.
- Most
recently, Kothari was CEO of Softbank-backed online real estate company
Housing.Com, where he led the successful turnaround of the company from a
position of distress to a market leader in one-and-a half years using
organic and inorganic growth.
- Prior
to joining Housing.Com, Kothari was CEO and Vice Chairman of
character-based entertainment company Valiant Entertainment.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Canadian teacher wins
global teacher prize
- Maggie
MacDonnell, a Canadian teacher was named the winner of the annual Global
Teacher Prize at a ceremony conducted on 19 March 2017 at the Global
Education and Skills Forum in Dubai.
- Maggie
who teaches at the Ikusik School in Salluit, an Inuit village deep in the
Canadian Arctic, was awarded for her achievements within the local
community that survives amidst harsh conditions and her effort in helping
to reduce teenage suicide rates.
- She
was awarded a cash prize of US $1m. She received the honour from Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of
the United Arab Emirates and the Emir of Dubai.
BANKING AFFAIRS
ICICI Bank launches 'Mera
iMobile' for rural customers
- Private
sector bank ICICI Bank Ltd on Monday announced the launch of a unique
mobile banking app 'Mera iMobile' for rural customers that will allow them
to access banking services as well as information on agri services.
- The
app allows users in rural areas to avail as many as 135 services, some of
which are unprecedented in the industry.
- It
will enable the users to save the time and cost of visiting a branch to
avail these services. The list of services include Kisan Credit Card, Gold
Loan, Farm Equipment Loan and loans to Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
- The
app also enables them to undertake an array of frequently used banking
services from their smartphone, without using mobile internet services.
Finance Minister finalized capital infusion for 10 PSU banks
- Coming
in support of weak and non-performing public sector banks (PSBs), the
Finance Ministry has chalked out a turnaround-linked Rs 8,586-crore
capital infusion plan for 10 PSBs.
- The
Top five capital gaining banks are IDBI Bank (Rs 1,900 crore), Bank of
India (Rs 1,500 crore), UCO bank (Rs 1,150 crore) and Andhra Bank and
Indian Overseas Bank with Rs 1,100 crore each.
Branches of SBBJ, SBH, SBM, SBP and SBT to operate as branches
of SBI from April 1, 2017
- The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its release on 20 March 2017 said, “All
branches of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of
Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP)
and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) will function as branches of State Bank
of India from 1 April 2017.
- The
release said that customers including depositors of all these associate
banks will be treated as customers of the State Bank of the India from 1
April 2017.
- Its
asset base after the merger with its associate banks will be about Rs 37
lakh crore (about Rs 37 trillion or USD 555 billion).It will have 22500
branches and 58000 ATMs across India and the world.
- This
number of branches and ATMs will help the bank in handling its customer
base which will be more than 50 crores in numbers.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Hazira's first private
sector township to go cashless
- Essar's
Nand Niketanat Hazira has become India's first private sector township to
go cashless, using the mobile wallet for performing digital transactions.
- A
Mumbai-based tech company was roped into provide smartphone based
application for mastercard-enabled mobile wallets.
- Till
now around 8,000 prepaid cards have been issued in the Nand Niketan
township to the employees, merchants and shop owners operating within its
precincts.
- An
average of Rs 2 lakh worth of digital transactions are being executed
every day.
RCOM gets CCI approval for Aircel merger
- Reliance
Communications has received approval of the Competition Commission of
India (CCI) for the demerger of its wireless division into Aircel Ltd and
Dishnet Wireless Ltd.
- Reliance
Communications Ltd has received an approval of the Competition Commission
of India (CCI) for the proposed Scheme of Arrangement for demerger of the
Wireless division of the company into Aircel Ltd and Dishnet Wireless Ltd
- Reliance
Communications and Aircel in September last year announced the merger of
their wireless operations to create a combined entity with assets worth Rs
65,000 crore.
IMPORTANT DAYS OBSERVED
International Day of Happiness celebrated on 20 March 2017
- The
International Day of Happiness was celebrated on 20 March 2017 across the
world. To mark the occasion, the United Nations released the World
Happiness Report 2017, which ranked 155 countries by their happiness
levels.
- In
the report, while Norway was adjudged as the happiest country in the
world, India was ranked 122, much behind most of the SAARC nations
including Pakistan and Nepal.
International Day for the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2017 observed globally
- The
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was
observed globally on 21 March 2017 with the theme 'Racial profiling and
incitement to hatred, including in the context of migration'.
- Racial
and ethnic profiling is defined as a reliance by security and border
control personnel on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin as
a basis for subjecting persons to detailed searches, identity checks and
investigations.
World Poetry Day 2017 celebrated globally
- The
World Poetry Day was celebrated on
21 March 2017 across the globe.
- The
objective behind the day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic
expression as well as to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be
heard within their societies.
- The
day also provides an occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of
poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry.
- The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General
Conference in Paris in 1999.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
India, Mauritius signed
MoU to execute USD 20 million social housing project
- India
and Mauritius on 20 March 2017 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
to execute a USD 20 million social housing project in Mauritius.
- The
MoU was signed in the presence of the Union Minister of Urban Development
M Venkaiah Naidu and the visiting Mauritius’s Vice-Prime Minister and
Minister of Housing and Lands Showkutally Soodhun.
- As
per the MoU, the NBCC (India) Limited of the Union Government will
undertake construction of 700 duplex type houses with 50 square meters net
floor area.
- Each
house consists of two bedrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchen,
bathrooms and toilets.
India ranks 122 in 2017 World Happiness Report
- India
ranked at 122 out of 155 countries in the World Happiness Report 2017 published
by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network on the eve of
International Day of Happiness (20 March).
- The
rankings are based factors such as
inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita, public trust (i.e. a
lack of corruption in government and business), and social support.
- Together
they are used to generate a happiness score of country on a scale from 1
to 10.This year it is fifth such report since the first was published in
2012.
- 10
Happiest Countries: Norway (1), Denmark (2), Iceland (3), Switzerland (4),
Finland (5), Netherlands (6), Canada (7), New Zealand (8), Australia (9)
and Sweden (10).
Five Indian's Named in WEF's 100 toung Global Leaders list
2017
- Five
Indians, have made it to the World Economic Forum's 100 Young Global
Leaders list.
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma - Founder and CEO Paytm
- Shruti Shibulal - The Tamara Hospitality,
- Ambarish Mitra Founder - CEO Blippar, a mobile phone
app business valued at USD 1.5 billion;
- Hindol Sengupta Editor- at large Fortune India
- Rwitwika Bhattacharya - Agarwal Founder and CEO Swaniti
Initiative.
- There
were nine global leaders from South Asia, out of which five are from
India. Besides, there are some persons of Indian origin in the US and
Europe were also named in the list.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Uttarakhand HC recognise
Ganga and Yamuna Rivers as living entity
- The
Uttarakhand High Court has recognized the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers as
so-called living entities. It is for the first time any court in India has
recognized a non-human as a living entity.
- The
two rivers are sacred for the Hindus, sustain millions of people in the
country but have seen years of damage at the hands of humans.
- The
HC Division Bench comprising Justice Alok Singh and Justice Rajiv Sharma
gave a landmark judgment while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL)
petition filed by one Mohammad Salim in 2014.
Union Cabinet approves four GST Bills
- The
Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the
four Goods and Services Tax (GST) related bills.
- These
Bills were earlier approved by the GST Council after clause by clause,
discussion over 12 meetings in past 6 months.
- The
passage of these four GST related bills will pave the way for the biggest
reform in the area of Indirect Taxes in the history of the country.
- These
four bills are:
- The Central Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 (CGST
Bill)
- The Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 (IGST
Bill)
- The Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017
(UTGST Bill)
- The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States)
Bill 2017 (The Compensation Bill)
India’s first sign language dictionary to come up soon:
Government
- The
Union Government will soon launch country’s first-of-its-kind Indian Sign
Language (ISL) dictionary which aims to bring uniformity in sign languages
used by hearing and speech impaired people.
- It
is being developed in both print and video format by the Indian Sign
Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC).
- It will give an uniform language to 50
lakh hearing and 20 lakh speech impaired people in the country.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
Surya Kiran XI Joint
Military Exercise concludes in Pithorgarh
- It
was the 11th edition of the Surya Kiran exercise. The 14-day long exercise
began on 7 March 2017.
- The
EKTA SHAKTI Battalion of the Punjab Regiment of Indian Army and the DURGA
BAHSH Battalion of Nepalese Army participated in the joint military
exercise.
- The
aim of the exercise was to train troops in counter insurgency operations
and enhance defence cooperation and military relations between the two
countries.
- The
Surya Kiran XI provided an ideal platform for the personnel of the two
armies to share their experiences.
- The
training was conducted in the hills adjoining Pithoragarh to give a
realistic environ to the contingents to practice and rehearse drills.
- The
exercise formally incorporated issues related to Humanitarian Assistance
and Disaster Management (HADR).
SPORTS AFFAIRS
Union Government
designated 14 Olympians as National Observers
- The
Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Vijay Goel on 20 March 2017
designated the following 14 Olympians as ‘National Observers’ for 12
sports disciplines.
- Sports
Discipline-Name of National Observer(s)
- Athletics-PT Usha, Anju Bobby George
- Archery-Dr Sanjeev Kumar Singh,
- Badminton - Aparna Popat
- Boxing- Mary Kom, Akhil Kumar
- Hockey-Jagbir Singh
- Shooting-Abhinav Bindra
- Tennis-Somdev Devvarman
- Weightlifting-Karnam Malleshwari
- Wrestling-Sushil Kumar
- Football-I M Vijayan
- Swimming-Khajan Singh
- Table Tennis- Kamlesh Mehta
Roger Federer claims fifth
Indian Wells Masters title
- Roger
Federer (Switzerland) claimed his fifth BNP PARIBAS OPEN, ATP Indian Wells
Masters title after defeating Stan Wawrinka in California, USA.
- Federer
joined Novak Djokovic as the only men to win five Indian Wells titles,
adding to those he won in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012. At 35, Federer is
also the oldest ATP player to win one of the elite Masters titles,
surpassing Andre Agassi who was 34 when he won in Cincinnati in 2004.
Tamil Nadu lifts Vijay
Hazare Trophy
- Tamil
Nadu on 20 March 2017 won the Vijay Hazare Trophy of Cricket, for the
fifth time. In the Final played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi,
they defeated Bengal by 37 runs.
- It
was Tamil Nadu's third victory over Bengal in the final of this
competition. Opting to bat, Tamil Nadu posted 217, riding on a century by
Dinesh Karthik. He made 112. In reply, they bundled out Bengal for 180 in
45.5 overs. Aswin Crist, Rahil Shah and M. Mohammad bagged 2 wickets each,
while for Bengal, Sudip Chatterjee top scored with 58.
- Man
of the match: Dinesh Karthik
