Current Affairs: March 4th, 2018

March 4th, 2018

1. National Safety Day is celebrated every year in India on 4th of March.

•  The first National Safety Day (NSD) Campaign was launched in 1972 and has since been organized every year. National Safety Day is a Day which is used to make every people get safe from many issues such as Financial Loss, Health problems and also many types of problems in the life of the citizens.
• It is celebrated on the 4th March every year in India by the National Safety Council of India.

2. Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi clinches gold while Jitu Rai bags bronze in ten meter Air Pistol men’s final in ISFF World Cup in Mexico.

• Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi clinched gold with a world record score while Jitu Rai grabbed bronze in 10m air pistol men’s final in the ISSF World Cup at Guadalajara in Mexico.
• Meerut-based Shahzar made sure that he gave India a taste of gold and kept his cool to achieve his target. Earlier, three Indian shooters Shahzar, Jitu and Om Prakash Mitharval had made it to the final round of the competition.
• A total of 404 athletes from 50 National Olympic Committees are participating in the in the 12-day competition. India has fielded a 33-member squad.
• Mehuli Ghosh added to India’s medal tally as she shot a world junior record 228.4 to win bronze in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event. In this women’s event too, three Indian shooters progressed to the final.
• Anjum Moudgil finished at the fourth position, while Apurvi Chandela was seventh in the standings. Romania’s Laura Georgeta Coman came up with a classy display, leading throughout to win the gold medal.
• National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh has lauded the efforts of his shooters.

3. India beat Pakistan to win Snooker Team World Cup title.

• India has won the inaugural IBSF Snooker Team World Cup title.
• The Indian pair, Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra defeated Pakistan in the best-of-five final played in Doha last night.
• This is the first world title win for Manan Chandra.

4. Indian grapplers win two bronze medals in Asian Wrestling Championships.

• Indian grapplers bagged two Bronze medals on the penultimate day of the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
• The medals came through defending champion Bajrang Punia in men’s 65kg freestyle, and Vinod Kumar Omprakash in the men’s 70kg freestyle. The two medals have taken India’s tally to eight. The medal haul includes one Gold, one Silver, and six Bronze medals.
• Navjot Kaur scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold in the senior continental championship as she clinched the yellow metal in the 65kg freestyle category.
• Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik won a bronze in the 62kg freestyle category.

5. Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: India settle for 1-1 draw against England.

• India settled for a 1-1 draw against England in their second match at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at Ipoh, Malaysia.
• It was India’s first point in the tournament after having lost to Olympic champions Argentina in their tournament opener at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium.
• The Indians have fielded a young and inexperienced team in the tournament under Sardar Singh’s leadership. India will next play world no.1 Australia on Tuesday, while England will be up against Ireland.

6. India set to retain its position in the fast-growing economy: FM

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that India is set to retain its position of a fast growing economy in the coming decades.
• Addressing students at the 17th Convocation of Jammu University, he said, India is looked at as one of the bright spots in the world.
• He appreciated the students for their academic achievements and said that despite the challenges of insurgency and tough topography, students of J&K are showing good results.
• Speaking on the occasion, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that the true purpose of education is not to just gain knowledge but to apply it to the real world outside the classroom.
• Among others the J&K Governor, the Chancellor of the University NN Vohra, Union Minister of State in PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh and J&K Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh were also present on the occasion.

7. India, Vietnam agree that defense & security cooperation will remain an important pillar of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

• In a joint statement issued after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in New Delhi, both the leaders expressed satisfaction at the progress being made in this domain.
• The two sides welcomed the ongoing exchange of senior-level delegations, stronger cooperation between their armed forces and enhanced cooperation in areas of cybersecurity, combating terrorism, maritime security, climate change and food security.
• Vietnamese President highly appreciated India’s long-standing and continued grants-in-aid and lines of credit for Vietnam. He thanked India for increasing scholarships to Vietnamese students, researchers, academic professionals and government officials.

8. National People’s Party leader Conrad Sangma will be the next Chief Minister of Meghalaya.

• Union minister and senior BJP leader K J Alphons informed in Shillong that the Governor has invited Mr. Sangma to take the oath. The Oath taking ceremony will be held in Shillong.
• Mr. Sangma has the support of 34 newly elected legislators including from the BJP, HSPDP, United Democratic Party, Peoples Democratic Front along with an Independent candidate.
• All these party leaders met Governor Ganga Prasad in Raj Bhawan to stake claim to form the next government. A former minister of Meghalaya, Conrod Sangma is the son of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma. He is currently the Lok Sabha member from Tura constituency.

9. Newly elected members of parliament in Nepal took the oath.

• President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath to the senior most member of House of Representatives Mahantha Thakur and senior most member of National Assembly Tara Devi Bhatta at Kathmandu.
• Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

10. Egypt court upholds Red Sea islands transfer to Saudi Arabia.

• Egypt’s top court has upheld a deal to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
• The islands situated between the two countries of Tiran and Sanafir are largely unoccupied but they lie in a strategically important and politically sensitive area.
• The agreement was first announced during the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Cairo in April 2016.

11. US defers termination of H4 visas until June.

• US Administration has deferred termination of work authorization for H4 visa holders until June from the earlier target of February 2018.
• H-4 visa holders are spouses of H1-B visa holders and received work authorization in 2015 during the Obama administration. It is mostly Indian and Chinese women who benefit from this.

12. Odisha govt launches ‘Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas’ programme.

• The Odisha government has launched a programme Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas (Our Village, our development) to reach out to the people in rural areas and involve themselves in the developmental activities.
• Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday flagged off mobile video vans for ‘Ama Gaon Ama Vikas’ programme that will move across the State to highlight various welfare schemes at villages in the state.
• Through this Wi-Fi enabled latest technology video wall vans, people can directly send their grievances to the Chief Minister’s Office at the Secretariat in Bhubaneswar.

13. China proposes to extend Xi Jinping’s rule.

• Ahead of the annual session of China’s parliament, the governing Communist Party has proposed an amendment to the constitution that would pave the way for President Xi Jinping to remain China’s leader for life.
• As of now, a clause in the constitution limits presidencies to two five-year terms. Removal of the said clause would allow the current President Xi Jinping to remain as leader after he is due to step down.

14. SBI hikes lending rate to 8.15%.

• The State Bank raised its lending rates by 20 basis points to 8.15 percent, with immediate effect, setting the tone for the industry to follow suit. This is likely to make home and car loans costlier.
• This is the first lending revision by the bank since April 2016 and comes a day after it massively raised the retail and bulk deposit rates.
• Prior to this, the one year Marginal Cost of funds based Lending Rate, MCLR, on which most of the lending is based now, was at 7.95 percent.
• The six-month MCLR has been raised by 10 basis points to 8 percent, while the three-year loan pricing goes up by 25 basis points to 8.35 percent.
• For the third consecutive time since November, the bank yesterday raised its retail and bulk term deposit rates for various maturities by up to 75 basis points.
• For retail deposits, below 1 crore rupees, the rate was increased by up to 0.50 percent, while for deposits maturing in one year to less than two years, it was hiked by 0.15 percent to 6.40 percent.