DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: MARCH 13, 2018

NATIONAL

A Tribunal to solve Mahanadi Water dispute

The Centre has constituted Mahanadi Water Dispute Tribunal for adjudication of long standing disputes between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing of Mahanadi river water.

The tribunal with three members was formed under Section-4 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) has nominated Supreme Court Judge A M Khanwilkar as chairman of the Tribunal. The two other members are Justice Ravi Ranjan of Patna High Court and Jusitce Indwermeet Kaur Kochar of Delhi High Court.

PM Modi, French President Macron Inaugurate UP’s Biggest Solar PP

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have inaugurated Uttar Pradesh’s biggest solar power plant in Mirzapur district’s Chhanvey block.

It is built at a cost of around Rs. 500 crore by French firm ENGIE and the 100 MW solar plant has 1,18,600 solar panels in over 380 acres. The solar plant will generate 15.6 crore units of electricity annually.

Economic offenders Bill introduced in Lok Sabha

The government has introduced a economic offenders Bill in the Lok Sabha.The Minister of State for Finance Pratap Shukla introduced the Bill.

It is to prevent economic offenders from escaping Indian courts by absconding from the country after committing a scam.

FEO Bill defines “individual who has committed a scheduled offence or offences involving Rs 100 crore or more and has absconded from India or refused to return to India in order that he or she may avoid facing criminal prosecution here”.

Bill on chit funds sector introduced in Lok Sabha

The government has  introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Chit Funds Act, 1982.

It aims to facilitate orderly growth of the sector and provide more financial products to investors.

The Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2018, was introduced by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla.

Union Government launches ‘I – Metros’

The Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha has launched the “I-Metros”.

It is an association of All Indian Metro Rail companies, which will be a forum for exchange of ideas, pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience, best practices, innovations etc.

It is registered under the Society Registration Act 1860.

India’s first coastal policing academy in Gujarat

The Union home ministry has sanctioned the launch of the National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP) from a campus of Gujarat’s Fisheries Research Centre.

It is located in coastal Okha in the newly created Devbhoomi Dwarka district.

NCAP aims to sharpen the response and skills of the marine forces of multiple states which have sea lines.

Floating Lab has been set up to monitor Loktak Lake

The Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Laboratory (IBSD), Imphal has set up a floating laboratory in northeast India’s largest freshwater lake, Manipur’s  Loktak.

The lab has been set up to constantly monitor its water quality and eventually improve it.

The laboratory was inaugurated by Manipur’s Forest and Environment Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar Singh in Imphal.

PM Modi inaugurates “End TB Summit”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates ‘End TB Summit’ in New Delhi.

The summit is being co-hosted by the Health Ministry, WHO South East Asia Regional Office and Stop TB Partnership.

Prime Minister Modi also launches Tuberculosis Free India Campaign. The campaign will take the activities of National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB elimination forward in a mission mode.

The Prime Minister’s vision to end TB is by 2025.

GST Council approves rollout of e-way bill from April

The GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley approved the rollout of inter-state e-Way bill from April 1, deferred the liability to pay tax on reverse charge mechanism until June 30 and extended tax exemption benefits to exporters for another six months.

The deduction of tax at source (TDS) and collection of tax at source (TCS) has also been deferred by another 3 months until June 30.

E-Way or electronic-Way Bill for intra-state movement of goods will be introduced in a phased manner April 15 and would cover all the States by June 1.

Rajasthan Assembly passed Criminal Laws Bill

Rajasthan Assembly passed The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018 awarding death penalty to convicts involved in the rape of girls below 12 years of age.

The Bill was introduced by Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria.

The amendment says that a person who is convicted of raping or gang-raping a girl up to twelve years of age will be given a death sentence or rigorous imprisonment, which shall not be less than fourteen years.

India provides USD 100 ml LoC for Mauritius

The Govt of India has announced a new Line of Credit of USD 100 million for defence procurement by Mauritius as the two sides signed many agreements on the second day of President Ram Nath Kovinds visit.

The agreements were signed after President Kovind held delegation-level talks with Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.

Mauritius

Capital: Port Louis

President: Ameenah Gurib-Fakim

Currency: Mauritian rupee

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Milk production up 20% in 2014-2017

The Milk production in the country is increased by 20 percent from 137.7 million tonnes to 165.4 million tonnes between 2014 and 2017.

With a corpus of Rs 2,450 crore, the government has set up an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for financing infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector. Kisan Credit Card has been extended by the government to the fisheries and livestock farmers.

These were announced by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh.

Radha Mohan Singh

Constituency: Purvi Champaran in Bihar state.

SPORTS

Navjot Kaur Ranked No2 in World Wrestling

The Asian champion Navjot Kaur has been ranked world No 2 in the women’s 65 kg category during the latest rankings released by the United World Wrestling.

Navjot became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the recent Asian Championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Among other Indians, Vinesh Phogat is ranked second in the 50kg category behind Lei Chun of China. In the 59kg category, Sangeeta Phogat is ranked fifth in the world.

Olympic champion Sakshi Malik is currently world No 4 in the 62 kg category.

United World Wrestling

Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland

President: Nenad Lalovic

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ: MARCH 13, 2018