Current Affairs - March 30, 2018 Current Affairs

Vice -President M Venkaiah Naidu officially launched the most anticipated biopic of legendary actor and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N T Rama Rao. The opening ceremony took place at Ramakrishna Horticultural studios here. Naidu pointed out that President, Vice -President doesn't attend film events but out of his respected and love for NTR, he opted to witness the historic moment. Speaking on this occasion, Naidu underlined the contribution of legendary actor and described NTR as the pride of Telugu People all over the World. The Vice -President extended his best wishes to Nandamuri Balakrishna who will be essaying the role of the great actor and heaped praises on the entire team for helming the epic tale. On the first day of the shoot, Balakrishna who is playing his father NTR's role appeared as Suyodhana from 'Daana Veera Soora Karna' for the muhurtham scene.

The Sri Lankan government has decided to postpone International Workers Day events from May 1 to May 7 this year. This has been done to avoid an overlap with the Buddhist festival of Vesak. May 1 is significant internationally and commemorates the crucial gains made by working-class struggles.

Veteran director Shekhar Kapur has been appointed the chairman of the central panel of the 65th National Film Awards. The central panel comprises a chairperson and 10 other members, including five regional chairpersons who head the respective regional panels. The 11-member committee reportedly includes lyricist Mehboob, actress Gautami Tadimalla and director Rahul Rawail.

ISRO has successfully launched GSAT-6A telecommunication satellite using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, about 110km from Chennai on March 29, 2018. The 49.1-metre tall GSLV F 08 is a three-stage rocket weighing 415.6 ton. The core of first stage is fired with solid fuel while the four strap-on motors by liquid fuel. The second is the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine. The purpose of the satellite is to provide mobile communication applications in S-band in five spot beams and C-band in one beam during its 10-year life span. This is also the first GSLV rocket launch after Director Sivan took over as Chairman of ISRO.

Scientists have discovered a hot, metallic, Earth-sized planet-"K2-229b"- orbiting a dwarf star located 260 million light-years away. The planet is almost 20% larger than Earth but has a mass which is over two-and-a-half times greater. K2-229b is also the innermost planet in a system of at least three planets, though all three orbit much closer to their star than Mercury.

In Varanasi, overhead power cables are being taken off after underground lines have been laid for more than 16 sq km. Under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) of Indian government, Powergrid has laid 16 square kilometers of underground lines in Varanasi. This will be utilized by nearly 50,000 consumers. In June 2015, Former Union minister of state for power and coal Piyush Goyal announced the Rs 432-crore project for underground cabling work under IPDS for Varanasi. Work on this project was started in December 2015. Atul Nigam, managing director of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, said that, line loss in the area covered by IPDS has reduced to 9.9% from 42.7%.

Abiye Ahmed has been elected as prime minister of Ethiopia following the resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn last month. The council of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) elected Abiye Ahmed as chairperson to succeed Hailemariam Desalegn. This automatically made Abiye Ahmed as the prime minister of Ethiopia. He is 41 years old. He joined the House of Representatives in 2010. Earlier, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Ethiopian National Defense Force.

SWIFT (Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication System platform) has announced the extension of its gpi (Global Payment Innovation) Tracker to cover all payment instructions sent across the network. SWIFT system is used by banks across the world to transmit messages relating to cross border financial transactions. gpi Tracker, developed by SWIFT, gives end-to-end visibility on the status of a payment transaction from the moment it is sent until it is confirmed. gpi tracker was introduced in May 2017 and now accounts for 10 per cent of entire SWIFT cross border payment traffic. Extending the tracker to cover all payment instructions sent across the network will enhance the transparency and reliability of the process.

The first mega food park of Rajasthan has inaugurated by Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal at Roopangarh village near Ajmer. The Food Park is set up at an investment of Rs 113.57 crore and will benefit around 25 thousand farmers in Ajmer and neighbouring districts. Center has given the Rs 50 crore subsidy for this project. The mega food park would attract an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crore in about 30 food processing units in the park and to a turnover of about Rs 500 crore per annum. The Park is expected to provide employment to around 5 thousand persons. Rajasthan is the fourth largest producer of food grains in India and leader in mustard, guar seed, coriander, groundnut, fennel, soybean, gram, and oilseeds.

The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 58.9 crore on ICICI Bank Limited for non-compliance with the directions issued by the RBI on direct sale of securities from its Held To Maturity (HTM) portfolio and specified disclosure in this regard. The Central Bank stated this penalty has been imposed in the exercise of powers vested with the RBI under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to its directions/guidelines.

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli's wax figure will soon be unveiled at Madame Tussauds, Delhi. Madame Tussauds wax museum in Delhi is known for the portrayal of the famous names in the world of entertainment, sports, history and politics. The main Madame Tussauds wax museum is in London and smaller museums are located in a number of other major cities of the world including New York, Berlin, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Critiano Ronaldo are other sportsperson featured at Madame Tussauds Delhi.

Hockey Punjab won the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (A Division) at the Padma Shri Mohammad Shahid Synthetic Hockey Stadium in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Hockey Punjab defeated Petroleum Sports Promotion Board 2-1 in the finals and won the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (A Division). In the Bronze medal match, Railway Sports Promotion Board defeated Air India Sports Promotion Board 5-3.

The 15th meeting of the India-US Counterterrorism Joint Working Group was held in New Delhi. The India delegation was led by Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary Mahaveer Singhvi. US delegation was led by U.S. State Department's Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Alina L. Romanowski. Threats posed by terrorist groups throughout the world and in their respective regions including cross border terrorism in the South Asian region were reviewed by the working group. Both countries ensured to strengthen information exchange on world's most dangerous terrorist groups and individuals. They discussed efforts to curb the funding and operations of regional and global terrorist organizations.

On 25th March 2018, International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade was observed all over the world. When and Why: The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is observed every year on 25th March. This day honours and remembers people who suffered and died due to the slavery system. It also aims to create awareness on the hazards of racism. The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced migration in the world history. In memory of the victims of transatlantic slave trade the United Nations declared 25 March as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 2007. Theme: The theme for International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 2018 is: "Remember Slavery: Triumphs and Struggles for Freedom and Equality".

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in India will facilitate to set up 'WomenInTech (WIT) Forum that will work towards encouraging women to take up careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). WIT Forum will not only work towards creating awareness among young women about career opportunities in STEM but will also provide scholarships for economically weaker section. It will also provide mentoring and upskilling to increase the employability of women in STEM careers. Professional consultancy network Deloitte is the knowledge partner for this initiative. In the context of this news, it is important to note that nearly 2.5-3 million new jobs will be created in the IT and IT enabled services sector by 2025.