DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: March 18, 2020

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Daily Current Affairs (March 18, 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.

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Important Days

World Human Spirit Day

• World Human Spirit Day is observed on February 17th of every year.
• The human spirit is the spiritual or mental part of humanity.
• Christians emphasize that the human spirit is the real person, the essential part of their existence.

National Almond Day

• National Almond Day is celebrated on February 16 of every year.
• Almonds are one of the most heart-healthy available on the market.

National News

47 Squadron of Indian Air Force Celebrates Diamond Jubilee

• No. 47 Squadron of Indian Air Force currently stationed at Air Force Station, Adampur, Punjab completed 60 years of its glorious service to the nation.
• The motto of the unit, “Karmani Vyapurutham Dhanuhu” is translated as “My bow is always stretched for its task”.

Arvind Kejriwal to take oath as Chief Minister of Delhi for third Consecutive term

• Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will take oath as Chief Minister of Delhi on 16 February for the third time.
• Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues.

New Delhi

• CM: Arvind Kejriwal
• Governor: Anil Baijal

Prime Minister participated in Kashi Ek Roop Anek held at Varanasi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the program named ‘Kashi Ek Roop Anek’ held at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He interacted with artisans and craftsmen and distributed kits and financial assistance to artisans and craftsman from different crafts.
• The event aimed to facilitate and strengthen the traditional handicrafts workers, artisans, and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) in achieving the goal of a $5 trillion economy.

Uttar Pradesh                    

• Capital: Lucknow
• Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
• Governor: Anandiben Patel

Kerala Chief Minister launches ”Yodhavu” mobile app to combat drug menace

• Yodhavu-a mobile app through which the public can inform police about drug abuse and its distribution, was launched by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as part of efforts to curb the growing menace in the State.

Kerala

• Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
• Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan
• Governor: Arif Mohammed Khan

Union Food Processing Industries Minister inaugurates India Pavilion at GulFood 2020 in Dubai

• Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the India Pavilion at 25th Edition of the GulFood 2020, Dubai for facilitating tie ups between foreign investors and accelerate the pace of export of food products from India to the western market

United Arab Emirates

• Capital: Abu Dhabi
• Currency: dirham
• President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Seed sowing festival ‘Lui-Ngai-Ni’ celebrated at Ukhrul, Manipur

• The Naga tribes of Manipur celebrated their seed sowing festival ‘Lui-Ngai-Ni’, under the theme “Oneness through Culture”, with much fanfare at Tangkhul Naga Long ground in Ukhrul. Festival Lui-Ngai-Ni reflects the rich cultural heritage of the Nagas.

Manipur                    

• Capital: Imphal
• Chief Minister: N. Biren Singh
• Governor: Najma Heptulla

“Global Investor Summit” for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir

• The Government of India is making preparation in full swing for the Global Investors Summit to be held in Jammu and Kashmir in April 2020.

Jammu and Kashmir

• Capital: Srinagar (summer), Jammu (winter)
• Governor: Girish Chandra Murmu

Chief of Defence Staff aims to set up Air Defence Command by June 2020

• CDS Gen Bipin Rawat is aiming to set up the first integrated tri-services command for handing the air defence of the entire country by June 2020 which will be headed by an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer.

Haryana govt announces Rs six crore to those winning gold medals at Olympics

• Haryana government has decided to give 6 crore rupees to players of the state that bag gold medals at the Olympic Games.
• Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said, 3 crore rupees will be given to those winning gold medals at Asian Games and 1.5 crore rupees to the winners of yellow metal at Commonwealth Games.

Haryana                    

• Capital: Chandigarh
• Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar
• Governor: Satyadev Narayan Arya
• National Parks (NP)- Sultanpur NP, Kalesar NP
• Dance- Phag, Dhamal, Loor, Khoria.

World class National Maritime Heritage Complex will be developed at Lothal, Gujarat

• The MoU on National Maritime Heritage Complex, Lothal will pay the way for cooperation between the two countries for showcasing common Maritime Heritage.

Gujarat                     

• Capital: Gandhinagar
• Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
• Governor: Acharya Devvrat

Prime Minister Modi inaugurates 50 projects worth 1000 crores in Varanasi

• PM Modi inaugurated more than 50 projects that are worth 1000 crores in Varanasi.
• It included 430 beds in a hospital at Banaras Hindu University, flagging off of Maha Kaal Express, 100year celebration of Jagadguru Vishwaradhya Gurukul and unveiling statue of Deendayal Upadhyay.

Airports Authority of India signs concession agreements with Adani Group for 3 airports

• Adani Enterprises said it has signed concession agreements with Airports Authority of India (AAI) for operations, management and development of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangalore airports.
• The concession period is 50 years from the commercial operation date.

BioAsia Summit 2020 to be held in Hyderabad

• Telangana is hosting Bio-Asia Summit 2020 in Hyderabad 2020.
• The main objective of the summit is to explore the capabilities of Life Science Companies and their investments.
• They will focus on the needs of the evolving Life Science industry.
• Theme– Today for Tomorrow.
• Partner Country – Switzerland.

International News

Cabinet Approves amendment of DTAA with Sri Lanka

• India’s Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Sri Lanka, aimed at curbing tax evasion.

India and Thailand marching hand-in-hand to foster business relations

• Asia One Magazine and URS Media organized a Networking Meet called India-Thailand: Today, Tomorrow, Together collaboration with the India Thai Chamber of Commerce (ITCC) at Sathon, Bangkok.

Thailand

• Capital- Bangkok
• Currency- Thai Baht
• Prime Minister- Prayut Chan-o-cha

India attends Munich Security Conference in Germany

• The Munich Security Conference is being held in Germany between 2020 February 14-16. Conference was attended by External Affairs minister S Jaishankar representing India. It is one of the world’s leading forum that debates on international security policy.
• Munich Security Conference (MSC) will discuss a theme coined as “westlessness”.

Banking and Financial

RBI estimates GDP to expand at 6% in FY21

• Reserve Bank of India projected the economy to expand by 6 per cent during the next financial year, pegging it at the lower end of the GDP growth estimate of the Economic Survey.
• The survey, tabled in Parliament last month, estimated the GDP growth during FY21 at 6-6.5 per cent.

Reserve Bank of India re-draws its financial year

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will align its financial accounting year with that of the central government with effect from 2020-21. Fiscal 2019-20 will end on June 30, 2020 while fiscal year 2020-21 will begin on July 1, 2020 but ends on March 31, 2021.

Government to infuse Rs 1,300 Crore in Exim Bank next fiscal

• Government has decided to pump Rs 1,300 Cr into state-owned Exim Bank to fund its business growth. Last year, the government doubled its authorised capital from Rs 10,000 Cr to Rs 20,000 Cr. Exim Bank is the principal export credit agency in India.
• EXIM Bank was established in 1982.

Moody’s cuts India 2020 GDP forecast to 5.4%

• Moody’s Investors Service slashed India’s growth forecast to 5.4 percent for 2020 from 6.6 percent projected earlier on slower than expected economic recovery.

Bajaj Finance among top 10 most-valued firms on BSE

• Bajaj Finance Ltd replaced State Bank of India to become India’s tenth most-valued firm by market capitalisation on the BSE.
• Reliance Industries Ltd is the country’s most valued company with a market cap of 9.48 trillion, followed by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (8.26 trillion) and HDFC Bank Ltd (6.73 trillion).

PAN will become inoperative after March 31 if not linked with Aadhaar

• Permanent Account Number will become inoperative if it is not linked with Aadhaar by March 31, 2020, the Income Tax department has said. The deadline for linking of PAN & Aadhar has been extended several times & the current deadline ends on March 31, 2020.
• PAN is a 10-character alphanumeric number.

General Insurance Corporation of India gets license from Bank of Russia for reinsurance business 

• India’s reinsurance company, General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) has received the license from Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) to commence reinsurance business in Russia.

Science and Technology

Fingopay to launch biometric finger vein payment technology

• Biometric VeinID platform Fingopay will soon launch an open banking retail pilot with payments company Reflow. The partnership enabled the Fintech to successfully complete the world’s first bank-to-bank, face to face payment using Finger VeinID.

National Institute of Technology Trichy develops a mobile app for Self Help Group products

• National Institute of Technology (NIT), Trichy, Tamil Nadu has developed Thirumathikart a mobile app for SHG (Self Help Group) products.
• The main objective of the app is to empower women and help them access market opportunities in a seamless manner.

ISRO to launch 10 Earth Imaging Satellites in 2020 including first Geo Imaging Satellite-1

• The country will send up an unusually large number of 10 earth observation (EO) satellites during 2020-21, according to the latest annual report of the Indian Space Research Organisation for 2019-20.
• It includes the first Geo Imaging Satellite, GISAT-1.

Election Commission & IIT Madras join hands to develop new technology for voting

• Election Commission has collaborated with IIT Madras to work on a new technology which will allow electors to vote from far away cities without going to the designated polling station of their constituencies.
• Block chain enabled customised e-ballot paper will be generated.

Appointments

Indian Cricketer Robin Singh appointed UAE’s director of cricket

• Former India all-rounder Robin Singh was appointed director of cricket of the United Arab Emirates. His appointment was announced after Emirates Cricket Board fired head coach Dougie Brown.
• Robin Singh, who played 136 ODI matches between 1989 and 2001, has earlier coached Hong Kong and USA nation teams.

Books and Author

Abhinav Kashyap releases ‘The Crossfire of Love’, a novel by US-based author Dhiren Tiwari

• Filmmaker and screenwriter Abhinav Kashyap of the ‘Dabangg’ fame recently unveiled the novel ‘The Crossfire of Love’, a racing psychological romantic thriller by US-based author Dhiren Tiwari.

Sports News

Bhawna Jat sets new national record in 20-kilometer race walk category

• Bhawna Jat qualified for the 2020 Olympics after setting a new national record in the 20 km race walk category at the National Championships in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

India settles for bronze at Badminton Asia Team Championships

• Indian Men’s team settled for bronze at the Badminton Asia Team Championships after losing to 2-time defending champions Indonesia in the semi-finals at Manila, Philippians.
• Lakshya Sen won over world No.7 Asian games champion Jonatan Christie in the 2nd singles encounter.

Joshna Chinappa clinches 77th Senior National squash Championship

• India’s squash ace Joshna Chinappa has clinched 77th Senior National Championship in woman’s category at the ISA courts in Chennai. With the win, she claimed her 18th title in the career.
• Saurav Ghosal won in the Men’s category bagging his 13th title.

Vidit Gujrathi beats Ragger, jumps to top spot in Prague Chess

• Vidit S Gujrathi won over Austrian Grand Master Markus Ragger in the 3rd round of the Prague chess festival to jump to the top spot in the master’s category.

Indian athletes clinch 3 medals in World Snowshoe Championship

• Indian athletes finished with 3 medals in different categories in the World SnowShoe Championship at Myoko, Japan. Ayan Bin Shahnaz bagged silver, while Zain Ali & Muzamil Hussain Mir-all from Kashmir-bagged bronze medals in their respective categories.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 18, 2020

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