Important Current Affairs 3rd March 2018 If you are appearing for any Government Recruitment Exam, it is important that you are familiar with the happenings around the world. Current Affairs is an important part of your syllabus apart from English, Quantitative Aptitude or Logical Reasoning! Thus, we bring you the Important General Awareness in PDF. Now, Banking, SSC and Insurance aspirants can read the update containing all the Important Current Affairs 3rd March 2018. You can also attempt yesterday's current affairs quiz: Current Affairs Quiz - 2nd March 2018 Important Current Affairs 3rd March 2018 • RBI lifts per-borrower loan cap for MSMEs o RBI has decided to do away with the per borrower loan limits to Micro/ Small and Medium Enterprises for classification under priority sector lending. o In view of the increasing importance of the services sector and to encourage banks to lend more to this sector, the o So far, loans to Micro/ Small and Medium Enterprises up to ₹5 crore and ₹10 crore, respectively, were classified as PSL. • Paschim Lehar exercise concluded o Paschim Lehar, a three-week tri-service maritime exercise off India's western coast, in which several ships, submarines and fighter aircraft participated, has concluded. o The objective of the exercise, which commenced on February 12, was to build interoperability. 1 | Page o Over 40 naval assets including the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, participated in it. • Venkatesh quits as BCCI selection chairman o Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad submitted his resignation from the post of chairman of the junior national selection committee. o Prasad, who cited personal reasons for stepping down, has worked as the head of the committee for 30 months. o Acting president CK Khanna said that he tried convincing Prasad to stay but he had made up his mind. • Colonies of penguins discovered in Antarctica o "Mega-colonies" of over 15 lakh Adélie penguins have been discovered on Danger Islands near the Antarctic peninsula. o Prompted by satellite images, scientists mounted on an expedition and used on- the-ground counts and drones to reveal 7,51,527 pairs of penguins. o Researchers have called for protecting the area, five times larger than Germany, as it was seemingly unaffected by climate change. • Paytm contributed 40% of total UPI trans. o Out of total 171.4 mn UPI transactions in February, Paytm contributed 68 million, or 40% of the total transactions, a report by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has revealed. o Paytm had recorded 37 million UPI transactions in December 2017, and 51.2 million in January 2018. o Further, total UPI (Unified Payment Interface) transactions in Feb went up by 13.5% as compared to Jan. • Race to save 3,000-year-old treasures in A.P. o A small village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh is yielding clues to life in the region some 3,000 years ago. o The State Archaeology department has dug up artefacts from burial sites here dating back to 1000 B.C. and the megalithic era. o However, it faces a challenge to complete the excavations early because the area will be flooded by the Polavaram project. 2 | Page • NASA launches advanced weather satellite o NASA launched another of the world’s most advanced weather satellites, this time to safeguard the western U.S. o The GOES-S satellite thundered toward orbit aboard an Atlas V rocket. o GOES-S is the second satellite in an approx. $11 bn effort that’s already revolutionising forecasting with astonishingly fast, crisp images of hurricanes, wildfires, floods, mudslides and other natural calamities. • PNB And ICICI Bank Increases MCLR Rates o The Punjab National Bank (PNB) and ICICI Bank hiked the MCLR rates for loan borrowers. o Taking a cue from SBI, country's second-largest private sector lender ICICI Bank also raised the one-year MCLR from 8.2% to 8.3%. o The PNB, which is at the centre of Nirav Modi fraud also increased one-year MCLR to 8.3% from 8.15%. • Vietnam President On 3-Day Visit to India o The Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang has arrived in India on the 3-day visit. o He is scheduled to hold delegation level talks with PM Modi in New Delhi. This is Tran's first visit to India as president o Strengthening cooperation in the key areas of defence and trade will be high on the agenda. The two sides will sign MoUs in the areas of nuclear energy, agriculture and trade and investment. • Armen Sarkisian elected as Armenian President o Armenian lawmakers elected Armen Sarkisian as the new president of Armenia. o He will succeed Serzh Sarkisian. Armen Sarkisian was the ambassador to the United Kingdom. o He will assume presidential duties after his predecessor steps down in April 2018. • Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament Begins o The 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament begins in the Malaysian city of Ipoh. 3 | Page o Six nations – India, hosts Malaysia, defending champions England, Australia, Argentina and Ireland – are taking part in the tournament. o India, currently the world number six side, will take on world number two Argentina in their opening round-robin match. • India to help build plant in Bangladesh o India, Bangladesh and Russia have signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. o The MoU was signed in Moscow by the Department of Atomic Energy of India, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh and Rosatom. o Russia is building the nuclear power plant in Bangladesh on a turnkey basis. • 1st phase of world's largest solar park o Karnataka inaugurated 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. o The first phase of the park has 600 MW while another 1,400 MW will be added by December 2018. o It is located in Thirumani of Tumakuru district and has been christened ‘Shakti Sthala’. o It will be the world's largest solar park. • INSV Tarini reaches Cape Town o An all-women crew leading the INSV Tarini docked at a port in Cape Town in South Africa, in the last phase of its maiden voyage to circumnavigate the globe. o This is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew. o The vessel is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi. o Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagged-off the expedition from Goa on September 10. • Bronze for Sakshi o Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik had to settle for a bronze medal in Asian championship. o She lost by 6-6 to eventual silver medallist Xiaojuan Luo of China in a 62kg first round bout. 4 | Page o In the repechage rounds, Sakshi defeated Jiae Choi of Korea 11-0 and Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan 10-7 to bag the bronze. • Navjot Kaur wins 65kg Asian gold o Navjot Kaur became the first Indian woman to claim a gold medal in the Asian wrestling championships. o She defeated Imai Miyu of Japan in the final to win the 65kg title in the Kyrgyzstan capital. o Navjot, bagged Asian bronze (2011) and silver (2013) medals and a Commonwealth Games bronze medal (2014). • No trans fees on rail tickets with debit card o The Indian Railways has announced that Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges won't be levied on passengers for booking railway tickets through debit cards. o These transactions include those made at the railway ticketing counters as well as through IRCTC ticketing website. o However, the exemption has been granted only on the bookings made for an amount of up to ₹1 lakh. • 99-year-old swims 50m in 56.12 sec o A 99-year-old Australian swimmer broke the world record for the 100-104 age category in the 50m freestyle. o George Corones, who turns 100 in April, completed the 50m freestyle in 56.12 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 1:16.92 set by the late Canadian swimmer Jaring Timmerman in 2009. o Corones took up swimming "seriously" when he turned 80. • Public banks' staff involved in 2450cr frauds o Over 1,200 Public Sector Bank frauds cumulatively worth ₹2,450 crore were carried out across India with the help of bank staff between April 2013 to June 2016, RBI data has revealed. o Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra witnessed the most number of cases. 5 | Page o The highest amount of money was swindled in Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Delhi and West Bengal. • Vinesh bags silver in Wrestling Championships o Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat won a silver medal at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. o Phogat lost to Chinese wrestler Chun Lei by a margin of 2-3 in the women's 50kg freestyle final. o This is Phogat's second consecutive silver at the annual event, following her podium finish at the tournament in New Delhi in 2017. Attempt Daily Current Affairs Quiz 6 | Page .