Current Affairs - March 12, 2018 Current Affairs

India and France inked 14 key pacts in the strategic areas of security, nuclear energy after extensive talks between PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. Agreements in the field of education, environment, urban development and railways were also signed. The two countries also decided to step up cooperation in space technology and use it in the maritime domain.

India comprises of rich culture and tradition time and again exhibited the rich talent and ethnicity. Owing to display the richness, a three festival has been organized to celebrate Odisha's culture, tradition, heritage, and cuisine have been commenced from today in the lawns of the India Gate. Filling up the streets, the programmes lined up for the festival include those on fashion, culture, dance, handicrafts. The Visitors are also being treated to the coastal state's mouth-watering delicacies. One of the highlights is an innovative fort-shaped food-court, reflecting the ambiance of 'Baarah Maasi Tera Parba', which reflects Odisha's passion for festivals in one calendar year. Denizens from every nook and corner of the National Capital will witness the unique culture, heritage, traditions, dance, melody, culinary delights, along with illustrious history and freedom struggle of Odisha under one spectrum. As per sources from the organizing committee, the entrance gate will be in the shape of 'Dola Bimana', which is a common sight in Odisha, during the festival of Holi. Intricate pattachitra designs will add colors to this decorum. To commemorate the life of brave-hearts who fought daringly against the oppression of British forces in Odisha, this edition of Odisha Parba shall highlight individuals and incidents which marked the remarkable struggle from 1804-1947. A Grand Stage will be set up with a backdrop of Barabati Fort to evoke the glorious past of Odisha. An exhibition, a coffee table book and a multi-projection film shall throw light on the rebellions which spread across Odisha in the 19th and 20th centuries. Apart from this, a sculpture gallery by internationally renowned sculptor Padma Shree Sudarshan Sahoo shall showcase the intricate stonework.

Twitter has appointed Parag Agrawal as its chief technology officer. Agrawal, an alumnus of IIT-Bombay and a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, succeeds Adam Messinger. His contributions at Twitter include leading efforts to increase the relevance of tweets in Twitter users' timelines using Artificial Intelligence.

Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao inaugurated the biennial event on Civil Aviation and Aerospace titled 'Wings India 2018' at the Begumpet Airport. The four-day event was Jointly organized by the Civil Aviation Ministry, Airports Authority of India and the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) has introduced 'Vikas She Plus', a loan scheme for women to help them with new ventures and for expanding or modifying their existing businesses. The Vikas She Plus scheme offers loan up to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh. Repayment period for the loan is 60 months under this scheme. KVGB aims to reach out to 5,000 women entrepreneurs under the 'Vikas She Plus' scheme by the end of this financial year. KVGB has stated that, it has offered loans amounting to Rs 22 crore to nearly 2,500 women on the day the scheme was launched itself.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the 'Mukhyamantri Mahila Kosh' scheme that will offer pension to unmarried women above 50 years of age. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced this scheme on the occasion of International Women's Day.

India won Best Exhibitor Award at ITB-Berlin World Tourist Meet convened at Berlin, Germany. More than 100 countries had participated in the mega meet with their respective Tourism Ministers. India was represented by Minister of State (Independent charge) for Tourism Mr K. J. Alphons along with Tourism Ministry officials. India's Incredible India (Ministry of Tourism) presented short film named "Yogi of the Racetrack" in the meet. The short film had received 3.2 million hits in 60 hours. The ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin) is world's largest tourism trade fair. It is represented by companies from tourism sector including hotels, tourist boards, tour operators, system providers, airlines and car rental companies. The fair takes place annually in March at Messe Berlin and always has official partner country.

India's first national coastal policing academy, National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP) to train police forces in effectively safeguarding country's shoreline will start functioning from April 2018. It will be launched from campus of Gujarat's Fisheries Research Centre located in coastal Okha town in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat. The first-of-its-kind national coastal policing academy will be created and run by multi-agency team of paramilitary and defence forces to sharpen response and skills of marine forces of multiple states which have sea lines. It will train police personnel and other security agencies staff in maritime laws, seamanship, boat work, navigation, weapons handling, usage of sea guidance and surveillance gadgets and survival skills for long haul operations on sea or during distress times when they may get stranded in these territorial waters running up to 12 nautical miles from shore.

On 9th March 2018, a bill approving death penalty to those convicted of raping or gang-raping a girl who is aged 12 years or below, was passed by Rajasthan assembly. Rajasthan has become the second state in India after Madhya Pradesh to approve death sentence for those convicted of raping girls aged 12 years and below. Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajasthan home minister, introduced the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018 in the assembly. It was passed by a voice vote. Sections 376-AA and 376-DD have been added in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, in regard with rape and gang-rape of young girls. It provides that, whoever rapes or gang-rapes a girl up to 12 years of age shall be punished to death or a rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 14 years and 20 years respectively for the sections. This can be extended for imprisonment of the offender's whole life along with fine.

Noted actor Amol Palekar has been honoured with the 'Godavari Gaurav' award. Palekar known for his performance in films like Gol Maal, Choti Si Baat, Chitchor among others, was presented with the award, which has been instituted by 'Kusumagraj Prathishthan'. The award was given by noted Marathi writer Madhu Mangesh Karnik, who is the chairperson of the Prathishthan.

Financial services platform Paytm announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Paytm Money received approval of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to become a registered investment advisor. The nod from Sebi will allow the company to roll out investment and wealth management products to consumers across the country.

The biennial event on Civil Aviation and Aerospace 'Wings India 2018' has started with theme "India-Global Aviation Hub" in Hyderabad on March 8. It is jointly organized by Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airport Authority of India and FICCI. The WINGS INDIA 2018 is a platform for interactions, forging alliances, investments and air connectivity between the States and the global aviation players & stakeholders. The four-day event has witnessed the presence of 125 exhibitors and 35 CEOs. It also saw representation from 10 countries. The focus of the conference is to foster partnership to transform Indian aviation and the role of conducive regulatory framework to facilitate growth of civil aviation market.

Banaswadi railway station of Bengaluru became the first all-woman railway station in South Western Railway zone.On the International Women's Day, Banaswadi railway station was declared as a facility run by an all-woman crew.

The government has made providing passport details mandatory for taking loans of 50 crore rupees and above to ensure a swift action in case of fraud and prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country. Financial Services Secretary, Rajiv Kumar in a tweet for all existing loans of over 50 crore rupees, banks have been asked to collect passport details of borrowers within 45 days. The Passport details will help banks to take timely action and inform the relevant authorities to prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country. Last week, the Cabinet has approved the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill to impound and sell assets of escapees with a view to quickly recover dues. The proposed law will also apply to defaulters who have an outstanding of Rs 100 crore or more and have escaped from the country. Several big defaulters like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta have fled the country putting the recovery mechanism in quandary.

Delhi youngster Tejaswin Shankar smashed his own national record to claim the high jump gold as three athletes booked their Commonwealth Games berths on the third and penultimate day of the 22nd Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships. The 19-year-old Shankar sailed over the bar at 2.28m to marginally improve his own national mark of 2.26m which he achieved in Coimbatore in 2016 during the Junior National Championships.