Current Affairs - March 2, 2018 Current Affairs

Union Defence Ministry has started the process to set up India's first defence industrial 'Quad' (quadrilateral corridor) linking Chennai with four other cities of Tamil Nadu to promote industries manufacturing weapons and military equipments. 'Quad' project in Tamil Nadu will connect Chennai with Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli. Union Defence Ministry is finalising the broad contours of the project and will soon hire a top consultancy firm to prepare a detailed report. Officials from Defence Ministry along with representatives from defence PSUs Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Bharat Earth Movers ? will soon start interactions with defence manufacturers in Coimbatore, Salem, Chennai and Tiruchirappalli to take their views on the proposed Quad in Tamil Nadu.

The State Bank of India raised its lending rates by 20 basis points to 8(point)15 percent, with immediate effect, setting the tone for the industry to follow suit. This is likely to make home and car loans costlier. This is the first lending revision by the bank since April 2016 and comes a day after it massively raised the retail and bulk deposit rates.

A K Pradhan has been appointed as the Group Chief Risk Officer of Punjab National Bank (PNB). Mr. Pradhan was earlier holding the post of a General Manager. Although the functions and responsibilities of the Group Chief Risk Officer have not been disclosed by PNB, the decision for this appointment seems to be in wake of Rs 12700 crore fraud unearthed at one its branches. In response to the PNB fraud, Union Finance Ministry has asked all the state-owned banks to scrutinise all their non-performing accounts (NPAs) of over Rs 50 crore for possible fraud and report it Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

'SRIJAN' (Station Rejuvenation through Joint Action), an idea competition, in a move to redevelop nearly 600 major railway stations in India, was announced at MyGov portal. All classes of people from railway passengers to architects, urban planners, engineers can submit their ideas. Last date for submission is 26 March 2018. Railway Ministry has announced that, the winners will be awarded certificates and good ideas will be considered for implementation in the redevelopment plans for stations. IRSDC has also launched competitions for logo and tagline at the MyGov portal. Winners of logo and tagline competitions will be awarded Rs 75,000 each. Last date of submission for logo and tagline competitions is also March 26, 2018.

Additional Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi has been made the new chief secretary of Jharkhand. Sudhir Tripathy replaces Rajbala Verma as Jharkhand Chief Secretary. Rajbala Verma retired from his position on 28th February 2018. Sudhir Tripathy is a 1985 batch IAS (Indian Administrative Service) Officer. He was the Additional Chief Secretary in the state health department.

The Zero Discrimination Day (ZDD) is observed every year on March 1 to promote the idea that everyone has a right to live with dignity. The day is also meant to highlight how everyone can be part of the transformation and take a stand towards a fair and just society. It recognizes that no one should ever be discriminated against because of their age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, race, ethnicity, language, health (including HIV) status, geographical location, economic status or migrant status, or for any other reason. This year (2018), the Zero Discrimination Day campaign invites people to ask themselves "What if ..." and to reflect upon their own actions.

India's star wrestler Vinesh Phogat has settled for Silver Medal in the 50kg Freestyle competition at the Asian Wrestling Championship in Kyrgyzstan. In the final of the event at Bishkek, yesterday, the Indian lost to China's Chun Lei. Another Indian, Sangeeta claimed Bronze in the 59kg division. Along with these two medals, India's medal tally has reached four in the ongoing championships.

J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, launched the "Viral Load testing for all People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV)," initiative. This initiative will offer free of cost viral load testing for 12 lakh people living with HIV/AIDS on treatment in India at least once a year. J P Nadda said that, regular viral load testing will improve utilization of 1st line regimens. This in turn will prevent drug resistance and increase the life time of people living with HIV. He also launched the National Guidelines for HIV-1 Viral Load Laboratory Testing, National Operational Guidelines for Viral Load Testing, Standard Operating Procedure for HIV-1 Quant Assay with CBNAAT and Guidelines on Quality Monitoring System for Outsourced Viral Load Tests.

Union Civil Aviation Minister, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated a one-of-its-kind aviation multi skill development centre in Chandigarh. This aviation multi skill development centre in Chandigarh is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and has been set up by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council of India. It is equipped with modern training infrastructure to supplement an industry-relevant course curriculum.

A high level committee chaired by Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh approved a central assistance of around Rs 6000 crore for nine states which suffered from natural calamities during 2017-18. Central assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) amounting to Rs 1055.05 crore for Gujarat, Rs 420.69 crore for Uttar Pradesh, Rs 420.57 crore for Rajasthan and Rs 838.85 crore for West Bengal has been approved by the committee. All these states were affected by floods during 2017-18. The committee has approved assistance of Rs 1711.66 crore for Bihar, which too was affected by floods during 2017-18. Assistance of Rs 169.63 crore has been approved for Kerala, which was affected by cyclone Ockhi while Rs 133.05 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu which too was affected by cyclone Ockhi and North East Monsoon. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which were affected by kharif drought, will receive central assistance of Rs 395.91 crore and Rs 836.09 crore respectively.

The 27th Technological Conference of Indian Jute Industries' Research Association (IJIRA) on Shaping the Future of Jute was held in Kolkata, West Bengal. The function was focused on the promotion of geotextiles in the northeast region. Geotextiles are absorbent fabrics which, when used in association with soil, have the ability to separate, filter, reinforce, protect or drain.

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has developed a multivendor e-commerce website and mobile app named 'marinefishsales' to help fishermen sell their products and marine catch directly to the customers. The website and mobile app were developed under the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project of CMFRI. This has been done in a move to increase the income of coastal community. CMFRI acts as an administrator for the multi-vendors and consumers interacting through the portal. Fishermen and fish farmers who are willing to sell their products online can form Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and register on the platform.

The Tamil Nadu Government has set up a 24-hour helpline that would provide information on education and offer guidance to students on March 1, 2018. Chief Minister K Palaniswami has 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.

Women and Child Development Ministry 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, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. The decision was taken after a meeting of Empowered Committee, which is headed by Women and Child Development Secretary.

The Western Naval Command has carried out three-week long tri-Services maritime exercise termed 'Paschim Leher (XPL - 2018)' in the Arabian Sea from February 12 with an aim of building inter- operability. In addition, units from Eastern Naval Command, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard also participated in the exercise. The exercise involves 40 warships and submarines, helicopters, reconnaissance aircraft and UAVs. The exercise includes a number of weapon firings, including missile, gun and torpedo firings during the initial phase. The second phase is structured to validate and refine the operational plans of the Western Naval Command. The XPL 2018 enabled testing and revalidation of operational plans and manoeuvres in a hostile maritime scenario on India's Western Seaboard. The maritime exercise, which came after the Eastern Naval Command Operational Readiness Exercise (ENCORE), is ostensibly being conducted to show China India's military prowess.