Current Affairs – March 14, 2018

S.No Topic Page Number

1 Important Days 2

2 World News 3 - 4

3 National News 5

4 State News 6

5 Banking & Economy 7

6 Awards & Honours 8

7 Appointments & Resignations 9

8 Science & Technology 10

9 Obituaries 11

Important Days

Happy Pi Day!

 Pi Day is Celebrated each year on March 14th (3.14), Pi Day is dedicated to the mathematical constant, Pi.  First recognized 30 years ago in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw, Pi Day observers often celebrate with a slice of their favorite pie in honor of the number’s delicious sounding name.  Pi represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point.  As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern.  While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

World News

President of India inaugurates world Hindi secretariat in Mauritius

 The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the World Hindi Secretariat building on March 13, 2018 on the third day of his visit to Mauritius.  He also launched the World Hindi Secretariat’s logo and a large ENT hospital being built with Indian assistance.  The President noted that the 11th World Hindi Conference is going to be held in Mauritius in August 2018.  Apart from India, Mauritius is the only country where this conference is being hosted for a third time.

Sierra Leone frontrunners to contest runoff after first-round stalemate

 Sierra Leone's election to pick outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma's successor will head to a runoff later this month after neither of the two front-runners secured an outright majority in the first round.  According to results announced by the Electoral Commission in the capital Freetown, opposition leader Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party led the field of 16 candidates with 43.3 percent in the first round of the vote, held last Wednesday.  Maada Bio, who briefly ruled the West African country as head of a military junta in 1996, will square off against first-round runner-up Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress, who took 42.7 percent.  The commission the runoff will take place on March 27.

Saudi Arabia Cabinet Approves Nuclear Power Program National Policy

 Saudi Arabia's Cabinet has approved the national policy of its atomic energy programme, as the kingdom prepares to award contracts for its first nuclear power plants.  The policy insists on limiting nuclear activities to peaceful purposes and calls for enhanced safety measures as well as the use of best practices for radioactive waste management.  Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, is seeking nuclear power to diversify its energy supply mix in order to free up oil to boost exports.

US tops global arms exporter list, India leads importers

 The United States was the world’s biggest arms exporter in the past five years, while India imported the most weapons, according to a new Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report.  The SIPRI report revealed that the U.S. accounted for 34 percent of global major arms exports in 2013-2017.  India topped the list of arms importers, followed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and China.

National News

Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of IACP

 Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the two-day Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in New Delhi.  The theme of the conference is “Challenges to Policing in 2020 – How is Cyber Space shaping our approach to Cybercrime and Terrorism, how do we perform within it and take advantage of it”.

Ministry of Power awarded for successful implementation of e-Office

 Ministry of Power has been awarded with the Certificate of Appreciation for the commendable work done towards successful implementation of e-Office in the Ministry.  As part of Government of India’s National e-Governance Programme, the Government of India launched the e-Office System for bringing in effective Governance and quality in public service delivery in Ministries/Departments.  e-Office System aims at significantly improving the operational efficiency of the Government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address farmers on March 17 at annual Krishi Unnati Mela

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address farmers on Saturday at the annual Krishi Unnati Mela in New Delhi.  The objective of the 3-day mela is to create awareness to farmers about the latest agriculture-related technological developments.  He will also inaugurate the Jaivik Kheti Portal and confer Krishi Karman Award and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Krishi Vigyan protsahan awards.  During the latest agriculture and allied sector technologies will be displayed at more than 600 stalls.  The main theme pavilion will be based on Doubling of farmers income by 2022.  The theme area will display different kinds of organic farming techniques like natural farming and eco-farming.

State News

Himachal CM launches handbook on women safety

 To empower womenfolk, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur released a handbook titled ‘Mahila Suraksha’ on women safety.  The booklet talks about measures required for personal safety and safeguards regarding crimes, including sexual harassment at workplace. It also contains important telephone and helpline numbers.

Pune tops in improved quality governance: Survey

 According to a survey conducted by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Pune has emerged as the top city to show improvement in quality of governance.  The other cities that came in the top five include Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar and Surat while Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Patna and Chennai constituted the bottom five cities.  Janaagraha released its 5th edition of its Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS), which evaluated the quality of governance in 23 major cities across 20 states based on 89 questions.

Andhra Pradesh stands at 51st position in Poverty Index

 Andhra Pradesh stands at 51st rank globally in Multidimensional Poverty Index according to a household survey conducted in the state.  Andhra Pradesh becomes the first Indian state to conduct a household survey at state and district level to estimate the multidimensional poverty of the state.  The study was conducted by Govt. of Andhra Pradesh in collaboration with University of Oxford, UK.

Banking & Economy

Amazon Launches First Debit Card In Mexico E-Commerce Push

 Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) launched its first-ever debit card in Mexico, part of a push to encourage shoppers without bank accounts to buy online.  Part of the challenge is attracting consumers who are wary of online fraud and do not have access to credit and debit cards.  Less than a third of adults in Mexico have credit cards, according to a 2017 government report.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Secures Order worth Rs 736 Crore from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL)

 The public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has secured significant orders worth Rs.736 crores after competitive bidding, for supplying Steam Generators for the Nuclear Powe Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).  The generators will be manufactured at the Tiruchirappalli plant of BHEL and will be installed at the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR), Gorakhpur, Haryana.

Tata Motors and IOC commence trials of India’s first hydrogen bus

 Tata Motors and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) have begun the country’s first demonstration trials for a hydrogen fuel cell bus.  The demonstration event was held in the presence of Dr R Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser to the government of India and the chairman and board members of Indian Oil.  The project is being executed under partial financial support from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Awards & Honours

Dr Rajan Sankaranarayanan wins 27th GD Birla Award

 The 27th G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for year 2017 has been given to Dr Rajan Sankaranarayanan.  Using X-ray crystallography and biochemical approaches, his laboratory has identified how chiral checkpoints ensure that D-chiral amino acids are excluded from the translation machinery.

Indian film ‘Halkaa’ bags award at Montreal fest

 Indian filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda’s “Halkaa”, which had its world premiere at the 21st edition of Film Pour Enfants de Montreal Film (FIFEM), has bagged the Grand Prix de Montreal.  “Halkaa” was selected among seven international children’s films from different countries in the official competition of the festival.

Jackie Shroff's 'Shunyata' wins international award

 Actor Jackie Shroff’s short film “Shunyata” has won an award at Best of India Short Film Festival in Los Angeles, US.  The 22-minute fiction film directed by Chintan Sarda was selected to be in top six from amongst thousands of entries and was played at a theatre in Los Angeles.

Appointments & Resignations

Gina Haspel to become CIA’s first woman chief

 U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen Gina Haspel for the position of CIA Director. She will replace Mike Pompeo.  Ms. Haspel, the agency’s current Deputy Director, will become its first woman chief.  She is a career spymaster who once ran an agency prison in Thailand.

Science & Technology

NCRB launches Mobile App useful for Citizens on its 33rd Inception Day

 The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) celebrated its 33rd Inception Day on 11th March, 2018 and released “Citizen Services” Mobile App.  The Mobile App template is a bouquet of 9 police related services, has been launched for the citizens. These services will provide smooth interface between Citizens and Police.

Mobile based Application “ASHTRACK” to help Fly Ash Users & Power Plants launched

 For the better management of fly ash waste from thermal power plants across country, Government has reduced the GST rates on fly ash and its products to 5%.  Further, to facilitate 100% ash utilization by all coal based thermal power plants, a web portal for monitoring of fly ash generation and utilization data of Thermal Power Plants and a mobile based application titled “ASHTRACK” has been launched that will help to establish a link between fly ash users and power plants executives for obtaining fly ash for its use in various areas.

Obituaries

Eminent British physicist Stephen Hawking passes away

 Prominent British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has passed away.  The theoretical physicist is known for his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity.  In 1963, Professor Hawking contracted a motor neuron disease that gradually paralysed him over the decades.  He was still able to communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech- generating device.

Noted film and television actor Narendra Jha passes away

 Hindi film actor Narendra Jha, seen in films like Haider and Raees, died due to a heart attack. He was 55.  Born and brought up in Delhi, Narendra also featured in films like Mohenjo Daro and Kaabil.  He worked with iconic filmmakers like Shyam Benegal in the film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero.