Current Affairs - March 22, 2018 Current Affairs

Lockheed Martin has announced the setting up of F-16 jet production unit in India. Lockheed Martin is an American aerospace and defence giant. It said that, the F-16 jet production unit to be set up in India will be an exclusive one and will be in line with the 'Make in India' initiative. Lockheed Martin has assured to relocate its entire production line to India. It said that, the unit will not be a mere assembly line. It will be a better facility that has never been provided by any other fighter aircraft manufacturer earlier.

The World Water Day is observed on 22 March every year, to raise awareness about the importance of water. The theme this year is, 'Nature for Water' - exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges the world faces in the 21st century. An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) has appointed David Wright as a Public Interest Director on its board. David Wright's appointment as Public Interest Director is effective from 16th March 2018. He worked with the European Commission for a long time. He also worked as Secretary General of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) from 2012 to 2016.

Atul M. Gotsurve was appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Atul M. Gotsurve is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer of 2004 batch. At present, he is Director in the Ministry of External Affairs. He has been named the next Ambassador of India to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He will take up this assignment soon.

Satya Pal Malik, the Governor of Bihar, has been given additional charge as the Governor of Odisha after Dr. SC Jamir completed his five-year tenure. A communique issued by the President's Secretariat stated that Malik will remain in-charge of Odisha until regular arrangements are made for the office of Odisha Governor. Odisha Governor SC Jamir completed his tenure. Mr. Jamir has earlier served as chief minister of Nagaland for five times, was a union deputy minister in the cabinet Jawaharlal Nehru and governors of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa.

On 20th March 2018, the 3rd National Conclave on Mines & Minerals will be held at Convention Hall in Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi. The 3rd National Conclave on Mines and Minerals is organized by the Ministry of Mines. Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) partners the event. Public and private mining companies will participate in the conclave. Minister of Mines, Narendra Singh Tomar will present the awards for '5 Star' rating to the 20 best performing mines. Technical sessions will be conducted on the following topics: Auction of Mineral Blocks & Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojna (PMKKKY), Impetus on Exploration, Sustainable Development Framework - Sharing of Best Practices.

Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) Government in Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath completed one year in office and on this occasion, UP CM Yogi Adityanath launched an anti-graft portal. The portal is aimed at taking action against any official who is involved in corruption or is encouraging it at any level. Action will be taken based on a video or any other evidence uploaded through the portal. The portal was launched in presence of Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma. A grand cultural programme was held to mark one year of UP CM Yogi Adityanath's Government in office and a multi-colour booklet titled 'Ek Saal - Nayee Misaal' with the punchline 'Huaa Vikaas - Badha Vishwaas'was unveiled. Besides, Cm Adityanath announced that his government will soon come up with four lakh jobs in as many as 64 departments.

India Post paid a tribute to theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author Stephen Hawking by issuing a special cover on him. Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76 on March 14, 2018 in his home in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The special cover on Stephen Hawking was jointly issued by Chief Post Master General (CPMG) of Maharashtra and Goa Circle, H C Agrawal and Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Dr Sandip Trivedi at an event held in the General Post Office (GPO), Mumbai. Special cover on Stephen Hawking will be released at all 22 Circles of India Post. 'A Brief History of Time', 'The Universe in a Nutshell', 'On the Shoulders of Giants" are some of the popular books written by Stephen Hawking.

Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands won the prestigious Abel Prize for developing a programme connecting representation theory to number theory. The prize was established by the Norwegian government in 2002 to honour outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics. Along with the Fields Medal, it is one of the world's most prestigious maths prizes.

Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has been named the brand ambassador of 'Educate Girls', an international non-profit organisation. As brand ambassador of Educate Girls, Katrina Kaif will work towards creating equal opportunities for girls to access quality education. Educate Girls involves the families, village leaders, local administration and school authorities in its efforts towards educating girls.

India's National Cultural Audiovisual Archives (NCAA) has been certified as the world's first Trusted Digital Repository as per ISO 16363:2012 standard, granted by Primary Trustworthy Digital Repository Authorisation Body Ltd. (PTAB), United Kingdom. NCAA is a project of the Union Ministry of Culture, implemented by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). Objective of NCAA is to identify and preserve India's cultural heritage available in audiovisual form through a process of digitization and making it accessible to the people. By end of March 2018, a corpus of 30000 hours of unpublished, non-commercial audio & video recordings will be made online at NCAA repository.

First G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors under Presidency of Argentina was held on 19th and 20th March 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The meeting was attended by 22 finance ministers, 17 Central Bank Governors and 10 heads of international organizations, including International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Christine Lagarde and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Achim Steiner. . Discussions at the this two-day meeting revolved around infrastructure development and the future of work in the digital arena. Interestingly, concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to slap import tariffs on steel and aluminium, which may trigger a global trade war were not discussed at this meeting.

Bank of America has started rolling out Erica, its chatbot that can help customers check balances, remind about bills and answer bank-related questions. Erica has been rolled out to customers in Rhode Island. Bank of America had first introduced Erica at fintech and payments conference Money 2020 in October 2016. Testing of Erica was conducted during 2017. Customers of Bank of America will be able to interact with Erica via voice or text and it will help them with routine day to day banking transactions.

In a first, Kerala government will rope in qualified tribal instructors to impart literacy in their respective settlements in a bid to improve literacy rates among tribal populations. The instructors will teach people who are above 15 years of age. Around 370 instructors for 100 villages have been appointed for the initiative.

As per 20th annual Quality of Living survey by Mercer, Austria's capital city Vienna rated the world's most liveable city. It was followed by Switzerland's Zurich, while New Zealand's Auckland and Germany's Munich tied for third place. Hyderabad and Pune have been rated India's most livable cities as they have tied for the 142nd place in Mercer's global Quality of Living survey. Iraq's capital city Baghdad has been rated the least liveable city for the tenth consecutive year.