CURRENT AFFAIRS – MARCH WEEK II

AWARDS AND HONOURS

APPOINTMENTS

INDIAN AFFAIRS

• CBSE has come up with a mobile application to help students locate their examination centre the app, named ‘Exam Locator’.
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has launched a housing scheme estimated at Rs 1,580 crore.
• The Sports Ministry has decided to constitute a high-level committee to resolve the grievances and complaints of women sports persons in India.
• Over 900 million people–one in four–across the 16 nations in the Asia Pacific region paid a bribe in the past year when trying to access basic services like education or healthcare. Among them India has the highest bribery rate of 69%.
• Vice President Hamid Ansari was on a two-day visit to Indonesia to attend the 21-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 6-7, 2017.
• Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has launched PratiBimba (meaning reflection)— a website to highlight the achievements and progress of various government projects in the state.
• Kerala government has said it plans to further restrict groundwater use by soft drink major PepsiCo at Palakkad in view of severe drought in the state.
• The government has made having an Aadhaar card must for poor women to avail of free cooking gas (LPG) connection under the PradhanMantriUjjwalaYojana.
• State-run power giant NTPC has announced commissioning of 45 MW solar capacity at Bhadla in Rajasthan taking the total installed capacity of the project to 160 MW.
• Women employees in the organized sector will now get six months of paid maternity leave, more than double the entitlement so far, after the LokSabha amended the law on maternity benefits.
• Chief Mnister Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated a 24X7 toll free helpline number 181 for distressed women on the occasion on International Women’s Day.
• The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 12th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India Africa Project Partnership (March 9, 2017) in New Delhi.
• Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has launched a mobile app to help skilled and semi-skilled workers find jobs.
• The mobile app and website titled ‘MeraHunar HP’ or ‘My Talent’ will directly connect prospective employers with job aspirants as the latter’s resume will contain addresses and contact numbers.
• Central Railway (CR) has unveiled India’s first air conditioned rail ambulance that is designed to rush for the relief of injured passengers during the vital ‘golden hour’ after a rail disaster.
• An exhibition on revolutionary patriots will be held by the National Archives of India to celebrate its 127th Foundation Day on March 11.
• India has launched the second stage of its plan to phase out Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), greenhouse gases that damage the earth’s ozone layer.
• The Centre has issued draft rules to ensure integrity, security and confidentiality of electronic payments made through prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), popularly called e-wallets.
• A new record has been set of highest women MLAs elected in UP assembly election 2017.
• The world heritage site get a remarkable achievement as increased the one horned rhinoceros population by 39 in a single year.
• The recent census report said that, the rhino population in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is now 2329, an increase of 39 in the past one year from 2290.

BANKING, BUSINESS AND FINANCE

• The State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest lender has launched a new facility to enable its employees to work from home.
• To keep pace with technology across the globe, KarurVysya Bank (KVB) has launched three technology services for the benefit of customers.
• 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.
• Intel, the chipmaking giant it would pay $15.3bn to buy Mobileye, the maker of autonomous driving technology, in one of the biggest deals yet in the emerging field of self-driving cars and Israel’s biggest-ever cross-border acquisition.
• US aircraft giant Boeing will set up its first overseas factory in eastern China aiming to deliver 100 Boeing 737 planes a year.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

• India will organise the fifth edition of the mega cultural festival ‘India by the Nile’ in Egypt to showcase the diversity of the country’sculture, arts and cuisine forbuilding enduring partnership between the two ancient civilisations.
• International Women’s Day is observed globally on 8th March every year.
• India and Belgium have signed a Protocol to amend the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two countries.
• 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.
• 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.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Europe launched the fifth of its Sentinel Earth observation satellites as part of its multi-billion-euro Copernicus program to provide speedy images of land, oceans and waterways.
• Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two.

SPORTS

OBITUARY

 OBSERVED DAYS IN FEBRUARY

Click To Read March Week One Here