Daily Current affairs - March 17 and 18, 2018 for all competitive exams
President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday released commemorative
coins in denominations of Rs.10 and Rs.1000 on Lord Jagannath’s
Nabakalebar festival.
- The
President, who is visiting Odisha, released the coins during the centenary
celebration of Rastriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Puri.
- Puri
is also called the ‘Kashi’ of eastern region in India. Adi Shankaracharya
chose Puri to establish his ‘peeth’.
- This
is the place where Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya and Nimbarkacharya had
visited. It is told that Guru Nanak, Santh Kabir and Chaityanya Mahaprabhu
also made their visits to Puri.
Nabakalebara is a symbolic recreation of the wooden forms
of the four deities at Jagannath Temple, Puri. In the cult of Jagannath, this
is a periodical renewal of the wooden forms of Jagannath, Balabhadra,
Subhadra and Sudarshana.
The term Nabakalebara is a combination of two Odia words
"Naba" (new) and "kalebara" (body) which translates as
"the change of one's physical form".
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Lok Sabha Passes Gratuity Amendment Bill
Lok Sabha has passed gratuity amendment
bill. The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 aims at
increasing the upper ceiling of the gratuity from the present 10 lakh
rupees to 20 lakh rupees for employees in the private sector and in Public
Sector Undertakings at par with Central Government employees.
- The
House also passed the Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which seeks
to grant a party the right to seek damages from the other side in case of
a breach of a business contract and to reduce the discretion of courts in
such matters.
Lok Sabha passes Bill to exempt political
parties from scrutiny on foreign funds, without debate
The Lok
Sabha, earlier this week, passed without a
debate a bill that will exempt political parties from scrutiny of funds they
have received from abroad since 1976.
- The
Lok Sabha adopted the annual Budget for 2018-19 by passing the
Appropriation Bill, which authorises government departments to spend money
from the Consolidated Fund of India, and Finance Bill, which contains
taxation proposals.
- This
is only the third time since 2000 that Parliament has approved the budget
without debate.
Amid
chaotic protests by the opposition parties, March 14, the Lok Sabha passed 21
amendments to the Finance Bill 2018. One of them was an amendment to the
Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 that bans overseas corporations
from funding political parties. The Representation of People’s Act, which
lays down the rules for elections, bars political parties from accepting
foreign funds.
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NITI Aayog released SATH-E roadmaps
NITI Aayog released comprehensive roadmaps
and detailed timelines for its initiative ‘Sustainable Action for
Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E)’ project.
- Amitabh
Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog released the forward-looking blueprints.
- These
roadmaps, which operate between 2018 to 2020, lay out detailed
interventions which will be taken by the three participating States-
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha – aiming to become ‘Role Model
States’ in school education.
Corporate Affairs Ministry mulls proposal to
collect passports details of directors
Ministry of Corporate Affairs is considering a proposal to
seek passport details of all individuals, who have been permitted to serve as
directors on the board of companies in a bid to prevent loan defaulters like
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi leaving the country.
- In
case, a person with Director Identification Number (DIN) does not have a
passport, the Ministry plans to obtain a certificate in the form of
declaration that the person does not have the passport, sources said.
- It
is also proposed that the prospective DIN seekers will have to submit
passport details for obtaining the 8-digit unique id provided by the
Ministry.
- The
DIN application form will be suitably modified to include the passport
detail column, sources said, adding that it is contingent upon the proposal
being approved by the Ministry.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018 aims to impound
and sell assets of fugitives such as Nirav Modi, who is alleged to be behind
the nearly Rs.13,000 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank.
The law will apply to defaulters who have an outstanding
of Rs.100 crore or more and have escaped from the country.
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YSRCP proposed No confidence motion on Union government
The YSR
Congress has proposed a no-confidence motion against the NDA government on the
issue of granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
- The
motion will be the first such move during the tenure of this NDA
government.
A
no-confidence motion is a parliamentary motion which is moved in the Lok
Sabha against the entire council of ministers, stating that they are no
longer deemed fit to hold positions of responsibility due to their inadequacy
in some respect or their failure to carry out their obligations. No prior
reason needs to be stated for its adoption in the Lok Sabha.
A Motion of
No Confidence can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the
Parliament of India). The motion is admitted for discussion when a minimum of
50 members of the house support the motion.[2] If the motion carries, the
House debates and votes on the motion. If a majority of the members of the
house vote in favour of the motion, the motion is passed and the Government
is bound to vacate the office. Acharya Kripalani moved the first-ever No
confidence motion on the floor of the Lok Sabha in August 1963, immediately
after the disastrous India-China War
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Vijayawada cop all set to swim across Palk
Strait
City’s head constable Tulasi Chaitanya is all set to swim the
Palk Strait (from Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar to India’s Dhanushkodi), covering a
distance of 32 kilometres on March 25.
- He
is leaving for Rameswaram on March 17 to train for six days at Dhanushkodi
under the watchful eyes of his coach Balaga Ganesh before taking the
plunge.
- Mr.
Chaitanya, who had already won 14 international medals, will be taking all
precautions such as applying of grease on his body to stay away from the
jellyfish and sharks.
Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) will
collaborate with OSDMA
The Regional
Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), an UN-registered agency
will collaborate with Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) to
strengthen its quality, prediction ability and response capacity.
- RIMES
will provide technical support to OSDMA regarding analysis of data to be
generated through automatic weather stations being installed in all the
gram panchayats, validation of the forecast, early warning and
preparedness for lightening, heat wave, flood, draught and Tsunami.
- It
would enhance the warning response capacities of the OSDMA by imparting
specialized expert training. It will also help to develop a one-stop risk
management system for all OSDMA needs- integration of multiple data
database/servers.
RIMES, an inter-governmental body registered under the United Nations. It is being owned and managed by 45 collaborating countries in
Asia Pacific and Africa Region. The programme unit of the agency is located
in Thailand.
RIMES
evolved from the efforts of countries in Africa and Asia, in the aftermath of
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to establish a regional early warning system
within a multi-hazard framework for the generation and communication of early
warning information, and capacity building for preparedness and response to
trans-boundary hazards.
At present, India is chairing RIMES.
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India, U.S. two-plus-two dialogue postponed
The first two-plus-two dialogue between India and the U.S.
has been postponed for now due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Mike
Pompeo as President Donald Trump’s new Secretary of State
- The
two-day dialogue, announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi
had a successful meeting with President Trump at the White House, was
tentatively scheduled for April 18-19.
- The
dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship
between the two countries.
- After
June 2017, the two countries have tried at several other dates for the
dialogue to take place, including sometime in November and December.
India and ADB Signed $120 Million loan to
improve Rail infrastructure
India and the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) signed a $120 million loan agreement for completion of
works for double-tracking and electrification of railways tracks along
high-density corridors to improve the operational efficiency of Indian
railways.
- ADB
loan has a 20-year term, including a grace period of 5 years, an annual
interest rate determined in accordance with ADB’s London interbank
offered rate (LIBOR)-based lending facility.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank
established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Manila,
Philippines. ADB now has 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia and the
Pacific and 19 outside.
President: Takehiko Nakao
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Monster India signs MoU with Indian Naval
placement agency
Online recruitment solutions
provider Monster India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
with the Indian Naval Placement Agency.
- Monster
India aims at listing more than 1,000 opportunities in the next 12 months
with a target of increasing this number to 2,000 opportunities by 2020.
- The
partnership will focus on identifying opportunities in sectors such as
capital goods industries, IT, security space.
Sri Lankan president lifts state of emergency
imposed after violent communal clashes
Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena lifted a nationwide
emergency after returning from his official visit to India and Japan. The
emergency was imposed for the first time after the civil war.
- The
emergency was imposed on March 6 following days of communal violence
between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims in the country.
- Social
media sites like Facebook, WhatsApp among others were blocked during the
emergency declared after anti-Muslim violence in the island's central
hills Kandy and Ampara districts in which three people were killed and
properties belonging to Muslims were damaged.
Xi Jinping Re-Elected China President, Wang
Vice President
Xi Jinping was re-elected
as President for second five-year tenure by China's rubber-stamp
parliament. The Parliament has recently allowed Xi to have a life-long tenure.
- Xi
was also elected as the head of the powerful Central Military Commission,
the overall high command of the Chinese military. He became
president in 2013. Wang Qishan has been elected as the new Vice
President of China.
Law makers also unanimously elected Li Zhanshu, Mr. Xi’s
former chief of staff, as the next chairman of the NPC. The post becomes
especially relevant as the burden of passing new legislation, is expected to
mount, in tune with President Xi’s focus on “rule of law” as the template for
China’s governance in the “new era”.
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UN launches $1 billion Rohingya refugee appeal
The United Nations launched an appeal for
nearly $1 billion to care for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
- UN
agencies asked for $951 million (774 million euros) through the rest of
the year to provide basic needs for the nearly one million Rohingya.
- Bangladesh
and Myanmar agreed in November to begin repatriating Rohingya who
volunteered to return to Rakhine state.
New species of water strider found in Nagaland
Scientists
from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered a new species of
water strider from Nagaland. The species is named Ptilomera nagalanda Jehamalar
and Chandra.
- Water
striders are a group of insects adapted to life on the surface of water,
using surface tension to their advantage. Their presence serves as an
indicator water of water quality and they are found on water surface.
Other than being a good indicator of water quality, water striders also
play an important role in the food chain by feeding on mosquito larvae.
- So
far, only five species of water striders under the subgenus Ptilomera were
known in India. With the discovery of Ptilomera nagalanda the number of
species of water striders belonging to the subgenus has increased to six.
Scientists cloned Hisar Gourav
Scientists at
the ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) have produced
cloned calf ‘HISAR GOURAV’.
- This
cloned buffalo calf is distinct from the earlier clones produced in India,
as this is produced from cells of ventral side of tail of superior buffalo
bull, this part is least exposed to sunlight and may have less mutation
rate, and can be good choice for isolation of donor cells to produce
healthy clones.
- With
this achievement CIRB becomes world’s third and India’s second institute
to produce cloned buffalo. This
achievement has been made under the project entitled, Cloning for
conservation and multiplication of superior buffalo germplasm.
The first successful cloning was achieved by the National Dairy
Research Institute, Karnal in 2010. Samrupa is the
world’s first Murrah buffalo calf cloned using a simple “Hand
guided cloning technique”.
India has
58% the world’s buffaloes and 35% of India’s cattle are buffaloes. Buffalo
milk is 70% of the total milk yield in India, with its national Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) share being larger than wheat and rice combined.
Buffalo meat makes up 86% of India’s total meat exports.
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Central
Institute for Research on Buffaloes is a publicly funded institute for water
buffalo research. It is located at Hisar in the north Indian state of
Haryana. It has a mandate to conserve superior animals of all buffalo breeds.
It is the world’s largest buffalo research institute with the widest range of breeds under study. It
has created the world’s first online Buffalopedia in several languages.
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A knowledge hub for medicinal plants
The use of Indian medicinal plants for drug
discovery and therapeutics just received a boost.
- A
database of such plants has been built by a Chennai-based team led by
Areejit Samal of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
- By
documenting 1,742 Indian medicinal plants and 9,596 chemicals that plants
use to thrive and ward off threats (phytochemicals), this database has the
distinction of being the largest so far. This is a first step towards
validating and developing traditional systems of medicine that use plant
extracts.
- The
new database, named IMPPAT (Indian Medicinal Plants, Phytochemistry And Therapeutics)
brings together not just the Indian medicinal plants and their associated
phytochemicals, but also the latter’s 2D and 3D chemical structures, the
therapeutic use of the plants and the medicinal formulations.
SEBI raises currency derivative trade limit to
$100million
Capital markets regulator SEBI raised the
exposure limit under exchange-traded currency derivatives trading for
residents and FPIs to USD100 million across all currency pairs involving
the Indian rupee.
- The move
will help entities engaged in forex transactions to maintain their
currency risks in a better manner.
SEBI fines NDTV, others for disclosure lapses
Capital markets watchdog SEBI has imposed a
penalty of Rs. 10 lakh on NDTV and of Rs. 3 lakh each on four individuals,
including promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, for certain disclosure lapses.
- The
order follows a probe by SEBI into alleged delay in disclosure of about
Rs. 450 crore income tax demand and the sale of shares by an executive
four years ago.
Muthoot Finance ties up with Global IME Bank
Muthoot Finance, the flagship company of
Muthoot Group has tied up with Global IME Bank to expand its money
remittance services between Indo Nepal Corridor.
- Muthoot
Finance is the only NBFC to extend the money transfer services from India
to Nepal.
- In
FY16, Muthoot Finance had collaborated with Nepal based Prabhu Bank for
money transfer business wherein the company completed 2.2 lakh
transactions worth Rs 4.69 billion.
Microsoft offers $250,000 to identify chip bugs
Microsoft is offering up to $250,000 for
identifying bugs that are similar to the “Meltdown” and “Spectre” CPU
flaws.
- The
offering is part of Microsoft’s new limited-time bounty programme for
“speculative execution” side-channel vulnerabilities.
- The
bug bounty programme is open until December 31.
Signature campaign launched
The All India Bank Employees Association
(AIBEA) launched a signature campaign against privatisation of public sector
banks and their amalgamation among other demands.
- The
AIBEA demands included strengthening of the public sector banks, a firm no
to waiver of credit availed by corporates from banks, treating wanton
defaulters under criminal laws, enacting stringent laws to recover bad
debts and publishing every six months the names of all defaulters.
India to host International Competition Network
Annual Conference for the first time
India to host 17th Annual Conference of
International Competition Network 2018 (ICN2018) from 21st to 23rd March 2018
in New Delhi
- While
addressing the press conference, Competition Commission of India’s
Chairperson Shri Devender Singh Sikri said that this is the first time
India is hosting the ICN2018 Annual Conference since it joined
International Competition Network (ICN) in 2009.
- CCI
Chairperson Shri Sikri said that the ICN is an informal network comprising
138 competition authorities from 125 jurisdictions.
Li Keqiang elected China’s Prime Minister for
second term
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has been elected for a
second term in office to steer some of the major structural reforms in
government and the Communist Party of China (CPC) that are being marshaled by President Xi Jinping.
- Mr.
Li was elected as Prime Minister by the carefully handpicked members of
the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament. He received
2,964 votes in favour and two against.
- The
lawmakers also approved the appointment of Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia as
vice chairmen of the apex Central Military Commission (CMC), which imparts
strategic direction to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Novartis India MD Zia resigns
Novartis India said its vice chairman and
managing director Jawed Zia has decided to step down from the post.
- The
board, the filing added, has requested the nomination and remuneration
committee to identify and recommend a suitable successor for the role of
VC and MD.
- The
pharmaceutical business of Novartis India is focused on bone and pain,
calcium portfolio, gynaecology and neuroscience and the generic business
is focused on gynaecology, anti-TB and anti-infectives.
Mujahid
Anwar Khan appointed as Pakistan’s new air chief
Pakistan designated Air Marshal Mujahid Anwar
Khan as the new chief of air staff.
Khan would take charge from March 19 on the
retirement of outgoing air chief Sohail Aman, according to a statement by the
Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
- At
present, he is holding two appointments as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
(Support) and Director General, Air Force Strategic Command at Air
Headquarters, Islamabad.
- During
his service, he has commanded a fighter squadron and a tactical attack
wing.
Bhawana Kanth becomes 2nd Indian woman to fly fighter aircraft solo
Flying officer Bhawana Kanth on Friday became the second
woman pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to fly a fighter aircraft solo
- In
February this year, flying officer Avani Chaturvedi made history by
becoming the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo.
ARTH Ayurveda Wins India’s Most Admired Brand
2017-18 Awards
ARTH Ayurveda was conferred the prestigious “India’s Most
Admired Brand 2017-18” Award by White Page International (WPI) and the UK Asian
Business Council at the Sixth Edition of Asian Brand & Leadership Conclave
in Singapore.
- Prashanth
S Acharya, the Founder Director and Managing Trustee of ARTH Ayurveda
Group, received the award from Mr. Taha Coburn-Kutay, Chairman of the UK
Asian Business Council.
Sri Lanka Pays Tribute to J Dalmiya With Book
'A Tribute to Jagu'
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) paid tribute to
former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya with a book titled, 'A
Tribute to Jagu'.
- The
cricket association felicitated Dalmiya posthumously as the greatest
non-Sri Lankan contributor to Sri Lankan cricket.
Nepal cricket team gains ODI Status
After Afghanistan’s rapid rise to prominence in
limited-overs cricket, Nepal took a massive step forward
after achieving One-day International status, after their victory
over Papua New Guinea.
- Nepal
defeated the Pacific nation by six wickets in a playoff game in the ICC
World Cup Qualifier being held in Zimbabwe, achieving the distinction for
the first time.
