Current Affairs - March 8, 2018 Current Affairs

SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd announced that, P K Gupta has been named the nominee director on SBI Life Board by SBI. P K Gupta is currently MD (Retail and Digital Banking) in SBI (State Bank of India). SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd is promoted by SBI. SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd said that, his nomination is subjected to ratification by the Nomination and Remuneration committee of the board of directors of the company.

Telangana government has declared a special casual leave to all the women employees in the state on March 8, 2018, on the occasion of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8. It is also known as the United Nations (UN) Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. The first national women's day was held in New York in 1909 on February 28 and was organized by the Socialist Party of America.

India is all set to become the 69th member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) after shareholders of the international financial institution gave their nod to the country's candidature. The formal membership process will now get underway, which includes the purchase of shares by India at an estimated cost of around 1 million euros. The EBRD's Board of Governors, which represents all the existing shareholders of the UK-based bank, voted in favor of India's membership application.

Indian architect, urban planner, and educator Balkrishna Vithaldas (BV) Doshi has won the 2018 Pritzker Prize for 'deeply personal, responsive, and meaningful' architecture. Born in Pune in 1927, Doshi is the oldest ever recipient of the prize, which is regarded as the highest accolade in international architecture and is worth $100,000 (£72,000). He is also the first winner from India.

The Reserve Bank has slapped a penalty of Rs 40 lakh on SBI (State Bank of India) for not complying with its directions on detection and impounding of counterfeit notes. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed, on March 01, 2018, a monetary penalty of Rs 4 million on State Bank of India for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Notes.

Forbes India has released its "W-Power Trailblazers" issue, listing 25 women achievers in business. This list is not a ranking. It is a qualitative selection. It consists of ground breakers, game-changers and innovators from various sectors like technology, law, banking, insurance, media, biotech and startup. This list of 25 women achievers was finalised based on votes from the jury.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a fine of over Rs. 54 crore on Jet Airways, IndiGo, and SpiceJet over alleged cartelisation, unfair business practices with respect to fixing fuel surcharge on cargo transport. Jet Airways was fined Rs.39.81 crore while the penalties on IndiGo and SpiceJet are Rs.9.45 crore and Rs.5.1 crore, respectively.

40 students from nine countries met Railways Minister Piyush Goyal as part of Know India Programme (KIP). KIP is Indian Government 's initiative to engage with the Indian diaspora in the age group of 18 to 30 years. It is a 25-day orientation programme, organised by Union Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with one or two Indian states. Participants for KIP are selected on the basis of nominations received and recommendations of Indian ambassadors in foreign countries. For 46th KIP, Madhya Pradesh was the partner state. Thus the participants visited Madhya Pradesh and also visited Parliament House and President's House in New Delhi.

The 9th edition of the Women's Film Festival (WFF-2018) will be organized by the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) from 9 to 11 March at NFAI Pune. The theme of the fest is 'Travelling Women'. It will open with Sidney Pollack's Out Of Africa, featuring Meryl Streep. The festival will feature other acclaimed films including Away We Go, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Wild. The closing film is Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts. On March 8, NFAI will also host a special event "Parikathe til Rajkumari", and screen audiovisual clips paying tribute to women in Indian cinema, from the birth of Indian cinema till the 1960s. The festival to mark the 2018 International Women's Day will screen Balu Mahendra's Tamil film Moondram Pirai, in remembrance of actress Sridevi.

Nagaland Governor PB Acharya appointed Neiphiu Rio as the new Chief Minister of the state. Mr. Rio will replace TR Zeliang. The Governor has received letters of support in favor of Rio from MLAs of BJP, JD (U) and an Independent besides NDPP legislators. Mr. Rio will take the oath of his duties shortly. The Governor also requested Mr. Rio to prove his majority on the floor of the House on or before 16th of March.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a USD 170 million projects aimed at advancing women's economic empowerment in India, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Projects in these countries are focused on four key priorities - advancing gender equality, increasing job opportunities, spreading digital financial inclusion, and supporting the agricultural sector and women's support groups. Earlier, in 2016, the foundation had committed USD 80 million for gender data, advocacy and accountability. USD 20 million out of USD 80 million was allocated for supporting women's movements. Based on data, the foundation believes that when a woman has the option of working outside the home and access to financial services to participate in the formal economy, families start emerging above the poverty line, which consequentially leads to a rise in national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

BlackBerry sued Facebook, alleging that WhatsApp and Instagram have infringed upon its intellectual property by copying features from its patent-protected BBM service. It accused Facebook of stealing functionalities such as innovative security and user interface were stolen from its Messenger service. BlackBerry had sold its rights over the brand phones to a Chinese firm in 2016. It alleges that Facebook, created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry's innovations, using a number of the innovative security, user interface, and functionality enhancing features that made BlackBerry's products such a critical and commercial success in the first place. "BlackBerry's suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business. Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, BlackBerry is now looking to tax the innovation of others.

The Government shifted headquarters of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to Ballabhgarh in Faridabad District of Haryana from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was shifted after consultation with AWBI for better coordination between the Environment Ministry and AWBI for carrying out the animal welfare act. The Rule 3 of the Animal Welfare Board (Administrative) Rules, 1962 mentions that the headquarter of AWBI shall be at New Delhi or at such other places. AWBI is a statutory advisory body established in 1962 under Section 4 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. It frames a range of rules on how animals ought to be humanely treated everywhere. It has also frequently litigated to have stricter laws.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the pan-India expansion of flagship programme-Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (BBBP)-from Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan on March 8 to mark the International Women's Day (IWD-2018). The BBBP is an initiative to save and educate the girl child. The programme will be expanded from the present 161 districts to 640 all over the country. In another landmark initiative, the Prime Minister will also launch the National Nutrition Mission (NNM). He will also launch NNM- ICDS Common Application Software.

With a fortune worth $110 billion, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the world's richest man and tops a 2018 Forbes Magazine list of billionaires. According to the Forbes, Bezos is the first person to top $100 billion as number one on the Forbes list of the World's Billionaires. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is second ($90 billion), investment guru Warren Buffet third ($84 billion), Bernard Arnault and family fourth ($72 billion), and Facebook founder-CEO Mark Zuckerberg fifth ($71 billion). Indian industry titan Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, is 19th on the list. He's valued at $40.1 billion.