Daily Current affairs - March 2, 2018 for all competitive exams
Women and Child Development Ministry has approved projects
worth over Rs 2,900 crore under the Nirbhaya fund for eight major cities to
make them safer for women.
- These
cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,
Ahmadabad and Lucknow.
- The
decision was taken after a meeting of Empowered Committee, which is headed
by Women and Child Development Secretary.
NHAI to deploy all women toll collecting staff on
international Women’s Day
The National Highways Authority of India has decided to
deploy all women toll collecting staff in day shift on at least one toll plaza
close to the city area, in every state and UT of the country on 8th March 2018,
International Women’s Day.
- If this
initiative is successful, then it will be implemented across all toll
plazas under operation by NHAI within the next 3 months.
- The
Regional Officers have been instructed in this regard.
Finance
Minister inaugurates GPF and EPPO modules on 42nd Civil accounts day
The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun
Jaitley said that there is a certain amount of sanctity which must remain
attached to the Government Accounting System.
- Delivering the Inaugural Address at the 42nd Civil Accounts
Day function in national capital, the Finance Minister said that while
there are Government Departments that can function with a fairly high
amount of accuracy, the Civil Accounts Department is one that cannot
afford to err because a small error can lay a huge foot prints.
The Union Government
initiated a major reform in Public Financial Management in 1976. The Audit
and Accounts functions were separated by relieving the Comptroller and
Auditor General of his responsibility of preparation of Union Government
accounts. The accounting function was brought directly under the control of
the Executive. Consequently, the Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) was
established.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah inaugurates world’s ‘largest’
solar plant
Karnataka
achieved one more milestone in the solar sector with Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah inaugurating the first phase of the Pavagada solar park, which is
set to become the world’s largest when it attains its full potential of 2,000
MW.
- The 2,000MW capacity plant is spread across an area of 13,000
acres, which was leased to the government by 2,300 local farmers at Rs
21,000 per acre per annum.
- Currently, 600 MW of the total planned capacity is under
operation.
- The remaining capacity is expected to be ready by the end of
this year.
Maharashtra govt. ties up with Wikipedia to promote Marathi
In a first, the Maharashtra government has announced
collaboration with online encyclopedia Wikipedia to promote Marathi globally
and increase its online usage.
- The move is aimed at providing Marathi-speaking people a
single platform to interact and help reach Maharashtra people who have
settled abroad.
- They will be encouraged to write about their profession in
their native language.
Phirangipuram
to be AP State’s first all-women rail station
- The railway station on the Guntur-Narsaraopet line would be
handed over to an all-women crew – from the station master to the
signalling staff to the ticket-checking employees.
- Only the third-of-its-kind railway station in the country
after Jaipur’s Gandhi Nagar and Mumbai’s Matunga, the all-women station is
set to create history.
Tamil Nadu launches 24 hour helpline for students
Chief Minister K Palaniswami formally launched the toll-free
number 14417 through the 24-hour Education Guidance Centre set up at the
Secretariat that would offer information relating to school education and offer
guidance to students.
- Palaniswami launched the facility at a function, following
the announcement in the Assembly that a toll-free helpline would be set up
at Rs 2 crore.
- This would serve as a platform where students and parents can
get their grievances addressed, career guidance will also be provided for
higher secondary students.
UN spotlight
on Kerala’s energy-positive campus
·
Energy Management Centre is the only Indian
project to get recognition for energy efficiency
·
The ‘Global Status Report 2017: Towards a
zero-emission, efficient, and resilient buildings and construction sector,’
published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has listed the
EMC campus as one of the recent achievements in the deployment of key
technologies for energy-efficiency in buildings.
·
The 40,000-square foot building is the only one
from India to figure in the list, along with five other projects worldwide.
India, Jordan ink 12 pacts to boost defence ties
Jordan and India signed a framework defence agreement which
envisages a whole range of possibilities from the defence.
- India and Jordan signed 12 agreements after the high-level
talks, covering areas as diverse as mass media, health, culture and
tourism.
- But the area of interest for both countries is clearly
defence and security.
Jordan
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Capital
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Amman
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Currency
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Jordanian dinar
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King
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Abdullah II of Jordan
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India, Russia and Bangladesh sign MoU on building the nuke
plant
India, Russia and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of
understanding for cooperation in building the Rooppur nuclear power project in
Bangladesh.
- Indian companies can be involved in construction and
installation works and supply of materials and equipment.
- The MoU was signed in Moscow by Rosatom’s deputy director
general for international relations.
Rooppur Nuclear Power
Plant is an underconstruction 2.4 GWe nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. It
will be the country's first nuclear power plant, and the first of two units
is expected to go into operation in 2023.
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South American country Guyana issued Holi stamps
Guyana, a South American country, issued four postage stamps
with the theme of Phagwah (Holi) in the year 1969. Interestingly, the stamps
were printed in the denominations of 6, 25, 30 and 40 cents.
- They depicted Lord Krishna celebrating the festival of
colours with Radha and the gopis.
Guyana
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Capital
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Georgetown
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Currency
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Guyanese dollar
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Prime Minister
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Moses Nagamootoo
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Sri Lankan
govt. launches Office of Missing Persons
- The country’s Parliament agreed two years ago to the first
steps toward reconciling its war-era past — tracing about 20,000 people
who went missing during 37 years of fighting.
- The panel has the power to recommend compensation and clear
the way for next of kin to take legal action against those responsible for
the disappearance of their loved ones. The government appointed seven
commissioners to the panel, which will be headed by senior lawyer Saliya
Peiris.
Viber to launch the biggest group chats with up to 1 billion
members
Cross-platform instant messaging and voice over IP (VoIP)
application Viber announced the biggest group chat Viber Community.
- With group “limits” of up to one billion members, in a bid to
drive more usage and bring in more users to the app
- Viber’s launch of Communities comes at an interesting time
for the app.
SanDisk unveils world’s fastest 400 GB MicroSD card
SanDisk has unveiled the world’s fastest MicroSD card called
Extreme UHS-I MicroSDXC with 400 GB of storage.
- The company claims the card can achieve read speeds of up to
160 Mbps and write speeds of up to 90 Mbps.
- As per the internal tests, the card is shock-proof,
temperature-proof, waterproof, x-ray-proof, and compatible with most
devices.
SBI, ICICI
Bank hike lending rates
- While the SBI has increased the one-year marginal cost of
fund based lending rate (MCLR) by 20 bps to 8.15%, the ICICI Bank hiked it
by 10 bps to 8.3%.
MCLR
is the benchmark rate to which all the loan rates are linked. Rates in all
other tenures of MCLR have also been increased.
Most
loans are linked to one-year MCLR. This is the first time banks have
increased MCLR since it was introduced in April 2016 as the benchmark rate.
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French President Emmanuel Macron to visit India on
March 9
French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive in India on
March 9 on a four-day maiden visit.
- The Ministry of External Affairs said during which he will
discuss bilateral economic, political and strategic ties.
- A framework agreement on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project
(JNPP) is expected to be signed between the two sides during the visit.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold
delegation-level talks with the French president on March 20.
Vinay Kumar appointed India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan
Senior diplomat Vinay Kumar has been appointed as
India’s ambassador to strategically key Afghanistan.
- Kumar, a 1992 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is
currently serving as Joint Secretary (South) in the headquarters of the
external affairs ministry.
- Vohra has been serving as an ambassador of India to
Afghanistan since January 2016.
Odia bhajan
singer Muduli passes away
- A musician, singer and lyricist, Muduli enthralled the
audience with devotional songs and had won the hearts of millions of
people in Odisha and elsewhere.
Indian cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur joins Punjab Police as DSP
Indian woman cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur from her first day as
Deputy Superintendent of Police
- Kaur was awarded the post for her performance in Women’s
World Cup.
