Current Affair - 24/March/2019

ICG Vijit visits Sabang –

Ø    Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Vijit’ became the first ever Coast Guard Ship to visit Sabang, Indonesia on 17 March 2019.

Ø    This visit of the coast guard ship follows from the first ever visit of Naval Ship INS Sumitra to Sabang in July 2018.

Ø    Vijit’s visit also highlights strengthening cooperation in the area of maritime security and safety between India and Indonesia.

ICICI Lombard partners with Mobikwik –

Ø    ICICI Lombard General Insurance entered into a partnership with Mobikwik to provide cyber insurance cover for the mobile wallet users.

Ø    It aims to provide protection against unauthorized and fraudulent transactions online, across bank accounts, and mobile wallets.

Ø    The insurance can be availed digitally through the app at only Rs. 99 per month and with a sum insured of Rs. 50,000.

Sports –

Ø    Formula Once Racer Valtteri Bottas won the Australian Grand Prix on 17 March 2019.

Ø    Bengaluru FC won the maiden Indian Super League Football title.

Ø    Lasith Malinga will retire from International Cricket after 2020 T20 World Cup.

Ø    FIFA banned former Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) President Luis Chiriboga for life.

MoUs and Agreement –

Ø    The IIT Roorkee in Uttrakhand tied up with the ISRO to set up a Space Technology Cell in its campus.

Ø    The Ministry of Human Resource Development signed and MoU with the Afghanistan government to work on digital education initiatives.

Indexes and Reports –

Ø    Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani topped the Forbe’s list of richest sports team owners with a net worth of around $50 billion.

Ø    According to World Airport Traffic rankings for 2018 released by the Airports council International (ACI), Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has now become the world’s 12^th busiest airport.

Raghu Karnad won the Windham-Campbell Prize –

Ø    Journalist and writer Raghu Karnad won the $165,000 Windham-Campbell Prize in the non-fiction category for his debut book, The Farthest Field: An Indian Story of The Second World War.

Ø    Karnad is the second Indian to receive the prestigious prize, since Jerry Pinto won it for his novel, Em And The Big Hoom, in 2016.

Ø    The Windham-Campbell Prize was established in 2013.

India extends financial aid to Nepal –

Ø    India has extended Nepalese Rs. 35.5 million as financial assistance for the construction of an educational campus in Nepal.

Ø    The assistance was provided for the construction for the three-storied building for the Siddheswar Education Public Campus at Ramechhap district of Nepal.

Ø    The new building comprises of 12 classrooms that also concludes a meeting hall, a laboratory room, and a library.

Forest-certification scheme gets recognition –

Ø    A Geneva-based non-profit organization recognized the Certification Standard for Sustainable Forest Management developed by Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF), and Indian NGO.

Ø    India now has globally recognized forest-certification scheme developed for Indian forests.

Ø    The NCCF was set up by the forests-based industries, non-profits, and government forests departments.

Appointments & Resignations –

Ø    Rear Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh took charge of the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy in Mumbai on 22 March 2019.

Ø    Amateur boxing governing body AIBA’s President Gafur Rahimov announced his resignation on 22 March 2019.

Ø    Sudin Dhavalikar and Vijai Sardesai were appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers of Goa.

Ø    K M Mammen was elected as the Chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturer’s Association (ATMA).

ESPN CricInfo ties up with IIT Madras –

Ø    Sports news website ESPNcicinfo in a partnership with the IIT madras launched a tool called ‘Superstats’ for analyzing cricket statistics on 20 March 2019.

Ø    Superstats used data science to give a context to every event in a game, for forecasting and to explore the idea of assessing luck.

Ø    It will analysis data to reveal trends and patterns during different periods of play.

Annual TSJA awards announced –

Ø    Saina Nehwal was named ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ at the annual Telangana Sports Journalists Association (TSJA) Awards on 19 March 2019.

Ø    P.V Sindhu was given the ‘Outstanding Performer’ Award.

Ø    P. Gopichand was presented the ‘Coach of the Year’ Award.

Ø    The Indian Badminton team was adjudged the ‘Team of the Year’.

Ø    The Badminton Association of Telangana was named ‘Association of the Year’.

Government clears proposal for grenade purchase –

Ø    Defence Ministry cleared a major project for the Indian Army for the acquisition of 10 lakh ‘Made in India’ multi-mode hand grenades on 20 March 2019.

Ø    The new hand grenades will replace the existing inventory, HE-36 grenades manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board.

Ø    The multi-mode grenades have been developed by the DRDO.

Awards and Honours –

Ø    Sociologist and political psychoanalyst Ashis Nandy was named the receipent of 2019 Hans Kilian Award.

Ø    The Hans Kilian Award was instituted by the Kohler Foundation in Germany.

Ø    Hindi writer Leeladhar Jagudi will be honoured with the Vyas Samman 2018 by the KK Birla Foundation for his collection of poems ‘Jitne Log Utne Prem’.

RBI to reform WMA system for states –

Ø    Reserve Bank of India has proposed a rule based approached in fixing new ways and Means Limits for the state governments, replacing the previous expenditure-based system.

Ø    It will set up a panel to recommend parameters of the new system which is aimed at preventing automatic monetization of deficits.

Ø    RBI acts as debt manager for state governments and provides a short term-loan to them.

MCCIL recognized as a Third-Country CCP –

Ø    Metropolitian Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (MCCIL), an arm of Metropolitian Stock Exchange of India, received recognition as a Third-Country Central Counterparty (TC-CCP) by Bank of England.

Ø    It will enable MCIL to offer clearing services to UK-based entities.

Ø    There are currently seven clearinghouses recognize by SEBI including BSE’s Indian Clearing Corporation Ltd and NSE Clearing Ltd.

SIB to raised up to Rs. 250 crore –

Ø    On 20 March 2019, South Indian Bank said it will raise up to Rs. 250 crore by issuing Basel III-complaint bonds.

Ø    The bonds will be rated, unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible, Basel III is complaint and lower tier 2 bonds up to Rs. 150 crore.

Ø    The bonds would bear face value of Rs.1 lakh each.

SAIL launches smart garbage bins –

Ø    Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) has launched smart garbage bins made of SAIL Salem stainless steel.

Ø    These Smart Garbage Bins will be able to send a signal to the garbage collection vehicle’s about the ‘fill-up’ position of the bins, aiding better cleaning and lower human intervention.

Ø    These will installed in underground Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) pits at the Smart Garbage Station.

Dialogue on Indo-Pacific Cooperation held –

Ø    The maiden High-Level Dialogue on Indo-Pacific Cooperation was held in Indonesia on 20 March 2019.

Ø    The theme of the dialogue was ‘Towards a Peaceful’ Prosperous, and Inclusive Region.

Ø    It was inaugurated by Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Ø    Delegates from 18 members of the East Asia Summit including India attended the closed door High-Level Dialogue initiated by Indonesia.

Sardar Singh named in OCA Standing Committee –

Ø    Former India Hockey captain Sardar Singh was named in the standing committee of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) at its 38^th General Assembly in Bangkok.

Ø    He is part of a 10-member panel which has been nominated for a four year term from 2019 to 2023.

Ø    The OCA General Assembly was held in Bangkok on 2 and 3 March 2019.

Device developed to detect the temp drop –

Ø    A bracelet, Bempu, has been developed which gives out alerts whenever newborn’s body temperature drops, a condition called hypothermia seen in new borns with low birth weight.

Ø    Bempu, an acronym for baby temperature, is a made-in-india hypothermia alert device and was innovated in 2016 by Ratul Narain.

Ø    When worn by a newborn, the blue light on the bracelet flashes if the temperature is normal.

World Tuberculosis Day: 24 March –

Ø    World Tuberculosis Day is observed every year in 24 March 2019.

Ø    The aim of the day is to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the Global TB epidemic.

Ø    The theme of the World TB Day 2019- ‘Its time’.

Ø    The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a joint initiative ‘Find. Treat. All. #EndTB’.

Vice Admiral Karambir to be next Navy Chief –

Ø    Vice Admiral Karambir Singh will be the next Chief of Naval Staff.

Ø    He will be appointed after Admiral Sunil Lanba, who retires in May this year.

Ø    Vice Admiral Singh is serving as the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam.

Italy signs new Silk Road protocol with China –

Ø    Italy signed a “non-binding” protocol with China to take part in Beijing’s new “Silk-Road”.

Ø    Italy became the first G7 country to sign up for the massive project.

Ø    The belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or the Silk Road Economic Belt is a development strategy adopted by China involving infrastructure development and investment in 152 countries.

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