DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: March 14 & 15, 2020

Dear Bankersdaily Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (March 14 & 15, 2020) 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.

Also, Don’t forget to attend the Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 14 & 15, 2020 now @ our Bankersdaily Tests.

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 National affairs

New Delhi Railway Station to be redeveloped as World Class Station

• Ministry of Railways have entrusted the work of redevelopment of New Delhi Railway station to Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The process for preparation of Detailed Project Report, Master plan and Bid documents has been initiated by RLDA.

Ministry of Railways:

•       Union Minister– Piyush Goyal
•       Minister of State(MoS) – Suresh Angadi

Ministry of Home Affairs sanctions Rs.365 crore for Sabroom ICP in Tripura

• Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sanctioned Rs. 365 crore for setting up of a new Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Sabroom  sub-division of South district around 130 Km . 
• This is the second Integrated Check Post to be built along the Indo-Bangla border.
• Tripura:
    Capital- Agartala
    Chief Minister– Biplab Kumar Deb
    Governor- Ramesh Bais

India has 84 confirmed Coronavirus cases; Health Ministry says, govt has taken various measures to manage pandemic

• Special Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Sanjeeva Kumar has said that India has 84 confirmed Coronavirus cases as on today. Of these, 10 are fully recovered and discharged from various hospitals.
• However, he said, over 4,000 are under surveillance who came in contact with the Coronavirus positive cases.

GST rates on mobile phones to increase to 18% from 12% w.e.f. 1st April

• The Goods and Services Tax Council today decided to increase GST rates on mobile phones to 18 per cent from 12 per cent with effect from 1st of April.
• The Council also decided to slash GST on maintenance, repair and overhaul services for aircraft to five per cent from 12 per cent while the tax rate on handmade and machine-made matchsticks has been rationalized to 12 per cent.

Deadline for bids to buy 100% stake in Air India extended till April 30

• Union Government today extended the deadline for submitting bids for buying 100 per cent stake in Air India till 30th of April. 
• The deadline was originally set at 17th of March.

Union Cabinet approves construction of 780 kilometer of green highways in four states.

• Union Cabinet has approved a proposal for the construction of 780 kilometer of green highways at a cost of 7,660 crore rupees.
• Briefing media, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the project pertains to rehabilitation and upgradation of various National Highways in four states, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

WINGS INDIA 2020 an international exhibition & conference held in Hyderabad

• A 4 day (March 12-15) biennial event WINGS INDIA 2020 themed as ‘Flying For All’ is an International Exhibition & Conference on Civil Aviation sector held at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, is organized by Ministry of Civil Aviation & Airports Authority of India(AAI) & Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Rs 1.83 lakh crore spent under MNREGA  in 2017-2020

• The government states that Rs 1.83 lakh crore is spent under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MNREGA) in 2017-2020 which is nearly double the amount of Rs 92,483 crore spent in 2011-14

Cabinet Approval on March 13,2020

• Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the following approvals on March 13, 2020.
• Union Cabinet approves Yes Bank reconstruction plan; SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis are among others to invest.
• Cabinet approves scheme for “Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP)” for enhancing Exports to International Markets.
• Cabinet approves removal of ambiguities in the Modified NPS-III for determination of fixed costs for the urea units.
• Cabinet clears 4% DA hike for central government employees to 21% from 17%.

‘Bhoomi Rashi portal’- expedited Error free & transparent land acquisition for National Highways project

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) announced  that the ‘Bhoomi Rashi’ portal has significantly increased the process of land acquisition for National Highways project. 
• The portal has made the process error-free & more transparent with the notifications at every stage being processed in real-time.

WCD ministry notifies new POCSO rules 2020 with stringent punishments for sexual offences against children

• The Union cabinet on Friday approved death penalty in aggravated sexual offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
• The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal for amendment in the POCSO Act, 2012 to make punishment more stringent for committing sexual crimes against children.
• Crime Multi-Agency Centre and National Cybercrime Training Centre were launched on 35th Inception Day of NCRB.

Centre invokes ‘Epidemic Act 1897’ and ‘Disaster Management Act 2005’ to prevent spread of COVID-19; Karnataka, first state to enact 1897 Act

• The Centre has decided to invoke Epidemic Act 1897, an act to provide for prevention of the spread of “dangerous epidemic diseases,” to combat novel coronavirus in India. 
• The decision was taken in a meeting convened by the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba yesterday with representatives of the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other ministries, according to media reports.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

3rd edition of WION Global Summit 2020 held in Dubai,UAE

• WION (World Is One News), the India’s first International News Channel,has organized its 3rd edition of Global summit 2020 based on the theme “Navigating and negotiating global imperatives” at The Oberoi, in Dubai, UAE ( United Arab Emirates). 

India gained C grade, no country made up to A grade: Animal Protection Index 2020

• World Animal Protection released the 2nd edition of global Animal Protection Index (API) 2020, where India gained C grade (also in 1st edition in 2014) with other 8 countries which indicates India is one of the better-performing countries. 
• Tragically no country gained A grade.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI issues guidelines for Ind AS implementation by NBFCs, ARCs

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has framed regulatory guidance on Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) to be applicable on Ind AS implementing Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) for preparation of their financial statements (FS) from financial year (FY) 2019-20 onwards. 
• The guidance has been framed to promote a high quality, consistent implementation, and better supervision of FS.

SBI Board approved Rs 7,250 cr fund infusion into Yes Bank, Stake remains under 49%

• The executive committee of the central board of State Bank of India (SBI) has approved an investment of Rs 7,250 crore in Yes Bank Ltd. as a part of RBI formulated rescue plan titled “Yes Bank Ltd. 
• Reconstruction Scheme, 2020” for the revival of Yes Bank. 
• The SBI has not specified its shareholding the bank but it will remain under 49% of the paid-up capital of the Yes Bank.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

India’s current account deficit narrows dramatically to $ 1.4 bn in October-December 2019 quarter: RBI

• India’s current account deficit was at 2.7% of the GDP in the year-ago period and 0.9% in the preceding quarter.
• India’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed sharply to $1.4 billion or 0.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the December quarter, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on March 12.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

India’s first Living Culinary Arts and Museum of WGSHA  enters Limca Book of Records

• Team WGSHA is proud to announce that the culinary museum in WGSHA has been listed in Limca Book of Records as India’s First Living Culinary Arts Museum. 
• Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) entered the Limca Book of Records (LBR) for establishing “India’s First Living Culinary Arts Museum” at WGSHA, Manipal, Karnataka.

Nita Ambani, Serena Williams & Simone Biles named in Influential Women in Sports list 2020

• Nita Ambani, the owner of Mumbai Indians cricket team franchise, has been named in the iSportconnect’s list of 10 most influential women in sports for 2020.
• iSportconnect is a Sports business network, which released the list. The other women who feature in the list were Tennis superstars Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, ace gymnast Simone Biles and famous footballer Megan Rapinoe among others.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

YES Bank’s new management: Prashant Kumar appointed MD, CEO; Sunil Mehta Non-Executive Chairman

• Government appointed former Chief Financial Officer & deputy Managing Director(MD) of SBI Prashant Kumar as MD & Chief Financial Officer(CEO), the former Punjab National Bank(PNB) MD Sunil Mehta as Non-Executive Chairman, Mahesh Krishnamurthy & Atul Bheda as non-executive directors of the reconstructed board of Yes Bank.
• State Bank of India (SBI), which has a 49 % stake in Yes Bank, will nominate 2 directors & Reserve Bank could appoint one or more additional directors.
• The moratorium on Yes Bank to be lifted by March 18 which means depositors will be able to withdraw an amount without a cap.

Central Government nominates Debasish Panda as Director central board of RBI

• The Central Government has nominated Debasish Panda, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, as a Director on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India vice Rajiv Kumar.

iQOO named Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador

• iQOO – a new smartphone brand from China and part of the BBK Group – on Wednesday named cricketer Virat Kohli as its new brand ambassador.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS 

Bharti Airtel took 10% stake in fitness start-up Spectacom Global ltd

• The telco is believed to have picked up a 10% stake in Spectacom Global, people aware of the matter told ET on condition of anonymity.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Newly Discovered insect species named after singer Lady Gaga

• A newly discovered species of treehopper has been named “Kaikaia Gaga” after American singer Lady Gaga. The species was named by Brendan Morris, PhD candidate in entomology from University of Illinois, United States (US).
• The species were found near the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and the species looks beautiful, vibrant as pop diva, have crazy horns with wacky fashion sense.
• The information about the new insect species was published in the journal Zootaxa (which focuses on animal taxonomy).

ARCI developed a cost-effective solar receiver tube technology for heat applications

• Scientists from the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad developed a cost-effective solar receiver tube technology for industrial process heat applications.  

SPORTS

Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Jaydev Unadkat-led Saurashtra lift first-ever title against Bengal

• Saurashtra on Friday clinched its maiden Ranji Trophy title in Rajkot at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
• As per the rules, if the final of the Ranji Trophy is headed towards a draw, then the winner is decided on the basis of a first-innings lead. 
• Whoever manages to take the lead in the first innings, is declared as the champion.

World Athletics fines Russia of USD 10 million & caps neutral athlete at 10

• World Athletics on Thursday fined Russia’s track and field federation 10 million U.S. dollars for breaching anti-doping rules and capped at 10 the number of Russians allowed to compete as neutrals at the Tokyo Olympics.

OBITUARY

Former Czech Olympic javelin champion Dana Zatopkova dies at 97

• Dana Zatopkova (97), a former Czechoslovak javelin-thrower, passed away on 13th March 2020.  
• She is an Olympic javelin champion, won gold in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 and won the Olympic silver in Rome in 1960. 
• Helsinki Organizing Committee declared her “the happiest gold medalist”. She served as a coach in 1960 and retired from the role in 1980.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Pi Day was celebrated on March 14, 2020

• Pi Day was celebrated on March 14, 2020 because the date stands as 3/14 in the month/day format. 
• Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant and its value up to five decimal places 3.14159. Coincidentally, March 14 is also Physicist Albert Einstein’s birthday.

STATE NEWS

CM Yogi Adityanath launched 3 schemes during ‘Kaushal Satrang’ programme held in Lucknow, UP

• The schemes are Kaushal Satrang, CM Yuva Hub and CM Apprenticeship scheme.
• Kaushal Satrang will have seven components which will provide opportunities to the youth. 
• In this regard, UP govt has inked MoU with IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology)-Kanpur and other placement agencies for the employment of 2 Lakh youth and to train the state’s youth for world level competitions.

Nitin Gadkari requests to spread information about “Udyam Sakhi” portal: Lok Sabha

• Minister of micro, small and medium enterprises(MSME), Nitin Gadkari  has requested the Lok Sabha members to spread the information about an MSME initiative “Udyam Sakhi” Portal, which was launched in 2018. 
• This portal is for women entrepreneurs of India and to facilitate the networking of women startups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, mentors, students and enterprise facilitators.

Telangana youngest Mountaineer Amgoth Tukaram  scales Australia’s highest Mount Kosciuszko

• A young mountaineer Amgoth Tukaram from Telangana has scaled Australia’s highest peak  Mount Kosciuszko(2,228 metres), who also scaled the Mount Kilimanjaro(19,308 feet) in Africa, the Mount Everest (29,029 feet) in Nepal,  Mount Elbrus(18513 ft) in Russia and Mount Aconcagua(22,837 feet) in South America.

Telangana

• Capital – Hyderabad
• Chief minister – K. Chandrasekhar Rao
• Governor – Tamilisai Soundarajan

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 14 , 15 , 16 & 17, 2020

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