Current affairs : March 9th, 2017 for all competitive exams
A
commemorative postage stamp was recently released by the PM on 100 years of Yogoda Satsang Math.
- This
year marks the 100th anniversary of Yogoda Satsanga Society
of India (YSS), founded in 1917 by Paramahansa Yogananda, whose Autobiography of a Yogi has introduced millions of
truth seekers all over the world to yoga and meditation, and whose
universal Kriya Yoga teachings provide methods for achieving spiritually
harmonious lives.
2-day North-East Business Summit begins in New
Delhi
A two-day North-East Business Summit (NEBS)
begins in New Delhi.The summit aims to display the strengths, potentials, and
initiatives of the North-East, promote investment the region and also have
focused deliberations on strategic areas like healthcare, connectivity,
agriculture, food processing and energy.
- The
Summit will also showcase the untapped business potential of North-East to
investors worldwide.
EPFO extends Digital Life Certificate submission
through Jeevan Pramaan Patra by March 31
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)
has extended the last date of submission of digital life certificate through
Jeevan Pramaan Patra by March 31st, 2017 under Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS).
- The
decision was taken as many pensioners failed to submit their life
certificates for continuation of drawal of pension.
Electoral
bonds to flag elections: FM
Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley said that the electoral bonds will be made available
ahead of the elections and would remain valid for a few days.
- The
concept of electoral bonds was introduced by Mr. Jaitley during his Budget
2017 speech in order to bring some transparency to the electoral funding
process.
- These
bonds have to be authorised under a scheme under the Income Tax Act.
- It
will open for a limited period of time during the elections, or maybe a
little before the elections.
- These
bonds can be donated only to a political party. These are redeemable in
only one account of that party, registered with the Election Commission.
Centre
mulls more ‘border haats’
The government
is mulling opening more ‘border haats’ (border markets), encouraged by its
success at the India-Myanmar border. Current border haats are functioning well.
- The
border haats are markets that aim at promoting the wellbeing of the people
dwelling in remote areas across the borders of two countries, by
establishing traditional system of marketing the local produce through
local markets.
India
currently has functional border haats with Bangladesh.
SC
to HCs: Don’t keep review pleas pending
The Supreme
Court has asked High Courts to dispose of review petitions as expeditiously as
possible to prevent any slow-up in the process of justice.
- The
Supreme Court has asked the High Courts not to keep the applications for
review pending as that is likely to delay the matter in every court and
also embolden the likes of the petitioner to take a stand intelligently
depicting the same in the application for condonation of delay.
Centre
plumps for rural FMCG e-sales
The Centre has
initiated talks with FMCG companies to sell their products online in rural
areas through common service centres (CSCs) as it looks to increase the
business for such centres.
- The
government is focused on expansion of CSCs because of their inherent
strength to transform rural India. With the sale of FMCG products, the
door has been opened for popularising e–commerce through CSCs.
India
gold demand to revive in 2017, says World Gold Council
The World Gold
Council (WGC) expects a revival in demand for the yellow metal in India in the
current calendar year after 2016 ended on a dismal note on account of a surge
in gold price coupled with factors like an increase in excise duty and demonetisation.
- The
global body expects Indian gold demand to be about 650-750 tonnes in 2017.
Demand was just a little more than 600 tonnes in the last calendar year.
Kamaladevi
Chattopadhya National Awards
The Government
has announced ‘Kamaladevi Chattopadhya National Awards’, a new category of awards specially for women
handloom weavers and women handicraft artisans.
- The awards are being instituted from this year, so that women weavers and artisans receive due recognition and economic benefits associated with the Awards.
Web
Portal for obtaining CRZ Clearances
The government
has launched the web portal for obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone clearances,
here today.
- The
Portal is a web-based system for obtaining clearances required from the
Environment Ministry under the “Coastal Regulation Zone” (CRZ) by the
Project proponents.
- The
system will enable the Project proponents and the concerned State/Union
Territory bodies like the State Coastal Zone Management Authorities
(SCZMAs) and Municipal/Town Planning agencies in tracking the status of
their proposals.
Downloading
apps may cost money with ‘Google tax’: Report
After the
application of equalisation levy on online advertisements, the government is
mulling over the option of widening its scope.
- The
government might impose a six per cent tax levy on all online
multinational companies that earn revenue from India, this could include
even the downloading of apps on smartphones.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah launches 'Pratibimba' to
project achievements
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a
comprehensive web-based platform Pratibimba to showcase the government’s
performance and achievements to the citizens.
- This
dash board will serve as a tool to improve efficiency in governance and
allow citizens to track government’s progress.
- It is available both in English and Kannada.
First time Mobile World Congress to be held in
India
India to host its first mobile congress on 27
September 2017 with a special focus on reaching out to the South East Asian
markets at Pragati Maidan, Delhi.This was announced by Rajan S Mathews,
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General.
- The
three-day event will be organized by GSM Association. All Indian mobile
operators, Facebook, Huawei, Ericsson, Cisco etc are likely to participate
in the mobile congress. This is the first time held in India after
Barcelona(Spain) and Shanghai(China).
Vice President Hamid Ansari Attends IORA Summit in
Jakarta
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.
- The theme of
Summit is ‘Strengthening Maritime
Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean’.
IDFC Aadhaar Pay launched
IDFC Bank has launched India’s first
biometric-based payment system 'Aadhaar Pay' in New Delhi.
- The
Aadhaar Pay app has been developed by IDFC Bank under the guidance of the
Ministry of IT, NITI Aayog, Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI), and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
D. Bala Venkatesh Varma concurrently accredited as
the Ambassador of India to Andorra
IFS officer, D. Bala Venkatesh Varma has been
concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of lndia to the Principality of
Andorra, with residence in Madrid (Spain).
- Venkatesh
was presently working as the ambassador of lndia to the Kingdom of Spain.
Ashwin, Jadeja jointly ranked number one in ICC
Test rankings
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja
have become the first pair of spinners to be jointly top-ranked in the MRF
Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers as Jadeja has caught up
with his spin-partner in the rankings after the second Test against Australia
in Bengaluru.
