Daily Current Affairs: March 16, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (March 16, 2021) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK, and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness, and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

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Important Days

National Vaccination Day – 16 March

• National Vaccination Day (which is also known as National Immunisation Day) is observed every year on 16 March. The day was first celebrated at the time when the National Pulse Polio vaccination drive was launched in 1995. This year, owing to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive, the day would assume greater significance.

National News

India’s first centralised AC railway terminal to be set up in Bengaluru, Karnataka

• Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal announced that India’s first centralised air-conditioned railway terminal in Bengaluru would be operational soon.
• India’s first AC railway terminal was built at an anticipated cost of Rs. 314 crores. It is named after Bharat Ratna ‘M Visvesvaraya’. This is Bengaluru’s third railway terminal in the Baiyappanahalli area.

Karnataka        

• Capital: Bengaluru
• Chief Minister: BS Yeddyurappa
• Governor: VajubhaiVala
• National Parks: Anshi National Park, Kudremukh National Park, Bandipur National Park, Bannerghatta National Park, Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) National Park

International Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad) to observe 19 March as FC Kohli Day

• The Kohli Centre on Intelligent Systems (KCIS) at the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) will be celebrating FC Kohli’s birth anniversary on 19 March 19 with a special programme on his life through research and innovation.
• Faqir Chand Kohli is referred to as the “Father of the Indian IT Industry” for his contributions to the establishment and growth of Indian Information Technology. He was the founder and the first CEO of TCS.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi inaugurated the Rasin Dam and Chillimal Dam in Chitrakoot

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Rasin Dam and Chillimal Dam in Chitrakoot. This initiative of the Uttar Pradesh Government is supposed to bring relief to the people from water problems. He also inaugurated various development projects in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh.

 Uttar Pradesh          

• Capital: Lucknow
• Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
• Governor: Anandiben Patel
• National Park: Dudhwa National Park (Tiger Reserve)
• Zoological Parks: Shaheed Ashfaq Ullah Khan Prani Udyan (Gorakhpur), Kanpur Zoological Park, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden

International News

US surpassed Saudi Arabia as India’s second-biggest crude oil supplier

• The United States of America (USA) overtook Saudi Arabia as India’s second-biggest oil supplier as refiners boosted cheaper US crude purchases to record levels to offset OPEC+ supply cuts.
• Iraq continued to be the top oil supplier to India despite a 23 per cent decline in purchases to a five-month low of 867500 barrels per day (BPD).

United States of America

• Capital: Washington, DC
• Currency: US Dollar
• President: Joe Biden

Saudi Arabia

• Capital: Riyadh
• Currency: Riyal
• Prime Minister: Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

El Salvador became the first Central American country to be declared malaria-free

• El Salvador became the first country in Central America and the third in all Americas to get the malaria-free certificate from the World Health Organization (WHO) in recent years.
• A malaria elimination certificate is awarded to a country when the chain of indigenous transmission of the disease has been disrupted nationwide for at least three consecutive years.

El Salvador

• Capital: San Salvador
• Currency: Salvadoran colón; US Dollar
• President: Nayib Bukele

Banking and Economy

RBI asked banks to implement an image-based cheque truncation system in all branches by 30 September

• The Reserve Bank of India asked banks to implement an image-based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) in all branches by 30 September 2021, a move aimed at faster settlement of cheques resulting in better customer service. The CTS is in use since 2010 and presently covers around 1,50,000 branches.
• Cheque truncation involves the stoppage of the physical movement of the cheque and the replacement of the physical instrument by the image/s of the instrument and the corresponding data contained in the MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) line.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI):

• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Formation: 1 April 1935
• Governor: Shaktikanta Das
• Deputy Governors: Bibhu Prasad Kanungo, Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M Rajeshwar Rao
• Subsidiaries: Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNM).

AU Small Finance Bank raised Rs. 625.50 crores through QIP

• Jaipur-based AU Small Finance Bank had raised Rs 625.50 crores by issuing shares to a set of investors through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP).
• Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) means a listed company can issue equity shares, fully and partly convertible debentures, or any securities other than warrants which are convertible to equity shares to a Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB).

AU Small Finance Bank

• Headquarters: Jaipur, Rajasthan
• Founder: Sanjay Agarwal
• Founded: 2017

Life Insurance Corporation of India launched a new protection & savings plan named “Bachat Plus”

• Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) introduced a new policy named ‘Bachat Plus’, which is a non-linked participating individual savings plan that offers a combination of protection and savings.
• The policy provides financial support for the family of the deceased policyholder any time before maturity and lump sum amount at the time of maturity for the surviving policyholders. Proposers can choose to pay the premium either as a single premium or for a limited period of five years.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 1 September 1956
• Chairman: MR Kumar

NPCI launched a UPI-Help feature for digital payments

• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched ‘UPI-Help’ on the BHIM app to address issues and resolve complaints of users while conducting Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions.
• “UPI-Help” helps users to register a complaint online using their BHIM UPI app for UPI transactions as well as resolve complaints online for person-to-person transactions.
• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
• Currently, the UPI-Help option had gone live on the BHIM app for the customers of State Bank of India, AXIS Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI):

• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Non-Executive Chairman: Biswamohan Mahapatra
• MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe
• Founded: 2008

Science and Technology

Samsung India had partnered with Delhi Technological University to set up an Innovation Lab

• Samsung India had inaugurated a Samsung Innovation Lab at Delhi Technological University (DTU) under the Samsung Innovation Campus initiative, strengthening its commitment towards the Government’s Skill India initiative as part of its latest vision Powering Digital India.
• This new lab will enable students to get a deeper understanding of some of the latest technologies and work jointly with Samsung engineers to contribute to the projects with fresh ideas, gain valuable industry experience and expand their horizons.

Awards and Recognitions

63rd edition of the Annual Grammy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles

• The 2021 Grammy Awards recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year.
• Trevor Noah hosted the ceremony from the Los Angeles Convention Center, USA.
• Beyoncé led the field with nine nominations and, after picking up the 28^th Grammy win of her career, she broke the record for the most Grammy wins (Four) ever by a female artist and most Grammy wins ever by a singer.

List of Winners

• Record of the Year: “Everything I Wanted”, by Billie Eilish
• Album of the Year: “Folklore”, by Taylor Swift
• Song of the Year: “I Can’t Breathe”, by Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
• Best New Artist: Megan Thee Stallion
• Best rap performance: “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyonce
• Best rap song: “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyonce
• Best music video: “Brown Skin Girl” by Beyonce
• Best R&B Performance: “Black Parade” by Beyonce

Books and Authors

A book titled “Prince with a Paintbrush: The Story of Raja Ravi Varma” was authored by Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan

• Author Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan’s latest book for children ‘Prince with a Paintbrush: The Story of Raja Ravi Varma’, a pictorial biography of celebrated artist Raja Ravi Varma will hit the stands in April 2021.
• It aims to inspire young readers to learn about the famed artist and how he left a mark on the art world.
• Raja Ravi Varma, known as the ‘Father of Modern Indian Art’, also established the first lithographic press in India.

Rankings

India ranked highest in workplace satisfaction: JLL HPI Index

• According to JLL’s (Jones Lang Lasalle’s) Human Performance Indicator (HPI) Index, India ranked highest in workplace satisfaction at 98 per cent followed by China at 97 per cent.
• The Asia-Pacific HPI results are based on a study of 1,500 employees in five countries across the region.
• With nearly 81 per cent of high performers practising flexible working, including flexible hours and work-from-home, India leads in this aspect in comparison with other APAC countries.

Elon Musk became the world’s richest person

• According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk’s net worth was pegged at $182 billion, narrowly ahead of Jeff Bezos of Amazon, whose wealth was pegged at $181 billion. He became the world’s richest person after getting ahead of Jeff Bezos in terms of his net worth. Elon Musk is the founder of SpaceX and Tesla.

Obituary

Renowned painter and Padma Bhushan awardee Laxman Pai passed away at 95

• Renowned painter and Padma Bhushan awardee Laxman Pai passed away in Goa. He was honoured with several prestigious awards, including Padma Bhushan (India’s third highest civilian honour), Padma Shri, Nehru Award, and Lalit Kala Akademi Award.

Cassette inventor and CD pioneer Lou Ottens passed away at 94

• Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer, credited with inventing the cassette tape (1963) and played a major role in the development of the first CD, had died at the age of 94. He also worked on the CD development project.
• An estimated 100 billion cassette tapes have been sold around the world since they were introduced in the 1960s.

Sports News

Virat Kohli became the first cricketer to score 3,000 runs in T20 International

• India skipper Virat Kohli became the first-ever batsman to score 3,000 runs in T20 International cricket. He achieved the milestone from 87 T20I matches.
• New Zealand’s Martin Guptill is second on the list of leading run-getters in T20I cricket, having scored 2,839 runs in 99 matches. India’s Rohit Sharma comes third in the list with 2,773 runs in 108 matches.

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Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 16, 2021