Current Affairs: March 13-14th, 2018

March 13-14th, 2018

1. Stephen Hawking World renowned Visionary physicist dies aged 76.

• The British scientist was famed for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including ‘A Brief History of Time’.
• At the age of 22, Prof Hawking was given only a few years to live after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease.
• Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.

2. PM Narendra Modi launches a Tuberculosis Free India Campaign to eradicate TB from India by 2025.

• After inaugurating the Delhi End-TB Summit in New Delhi, the Prime Minister launched the TB-free India Campaign to take the activities under the National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination forward in a mission mode for ending the epidemic.
• The PM said a target has been set to end TB globally by 2030 and Government of India has set an aim to eradicate it from India five years ahead by 2025.
• Speaking on the occasion Health Minister J P Nadda said Government is committed to eliminating Tuberculosis from India by 2025.
• In his address, Director General of WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, WHO stands with India and other countries in the fight against Tuberculosis.
• Leaders from across the globe have converged in the national capital for the summit, hosted by the Union Ministry of Health along with the WHO and the Stop TB Partnership. TB is responsible for 1.7 million deaths in 2016, despite most cases being curable while over 10 million people contract TB every year.

3. PR Sreejesh returns, Sardar Singh dropped from Commonwealth Games hockey squad.

• Hockey India has announced an 18-member Men’s squad for the upcoming 21st Commonwealth Games to be held at Gold Coast, Australia.
• Midfielder Manpreet Singh will lead the side and K Chinglensana Singh will be his deputy. Seasoned goalkeeper PR Sreejesh makes a comeback after having suffered a medial collateral ligament injury during the Azlan Shah tournament last year.

4. ICC Test rankings: Kagiso Rabada top-ranked bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin gains two places.

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) today released the latest Test Player rankings.
• South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada regained his top spot among bowlers crossing the coveted 900-point mark in ratings. Rabada is the 23rd bowler to cross 900 points and only the fourth South African player to do so after Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, and Dale Steyn.
• Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin climbed up two steps after Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc slipped in rankings following Australia’s defeat. Ashwin is now placed fourth in the Rankings. The other Indian bowler Ravindra Jadeja remains static at third place.
• In the batsmen’s list, there has been no change with Australian skipper Steve Smith perched at the top while Indian captain Virat Kohli in the second position. Cheteshwar Pujara maintains his sixth place in the rankings.

5. State Bank of India, SBI slashes minimum balance charges by up to 75%.

• SBI has cut down the charges for non-maintenance of average minimum balance in its savings accounts by up to 75 percent.
• The new charges, which will benefit about 25 crore bank customers, comes into effect from 1st of next month. The lender has 41 crore savings bank accounts, out of which 16 crore accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna or basic savings bank deposit account and of pensioners, minors, social security benefit holders are already exempted from charges on non-maintenance of minimum balance.

6. RBI discontinues Letters of Undertaking, Letters of Comfort for trade credit.

• The Reserve Bank of India discontinued Letters of Undertaking (LOU) and Letters of Comfort (LOC) for Trade Credits.
• The RBI, in a circular, said it has been decided to discontinue the practice of issuance of LOUs/ LOCs for Trade Credits for imports into India by AD Category -I bank with immediate effect.
• A multi-agency probe, including by CBI and ED has been launched into the PNB fraud.

7. Retail inflation dipped to 4.44 percent in February from 5.07 percent in January.

• According to the Central Statistics Office data, inflation in vegetables was 17.57 per cent as against 26.97 percent, and for fruits, it was 4.80 percent, down from 6.24 percent.
• Inflation for fuel category was at 6.80 percent in February as against 7.73 percent in January. The rate of price increase was, however, higher for transport and communication services at 2.39 percent as against 1.97 percent.
• Industrial Production expanded by 7.5 percent in January compared to 3.5 percent in the same month last year. Growth was mainly on account of an uptick in the manufacturing sector which constitutes 77.63 percent of the Index of Industrial Production.

8. Supreme Court extends March 31 deadline for Aadhaar linking.

• The Supreme Court has extended the end-March deadline for linking of the country’s biometric ID programme or Aadhaar to a range of services.
• The top court, which is weighing petitions on the legitimacy of the federal government’s demand to make Aadhaar mandatory for services such as bank accounts and mobile phones, set no new deadline until it had given judgment in the case.
• Static Part: Chief Justice of India- Dipak Misra.

9. Centre Constitutes Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal between Odisha and Chattisgarh.

• The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation has issued a notification constituting the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal.
• The Tribunal will have its headquarters at Delhi and judges nominated for the panel by the Chief Justice of India is Mr. A.M. Khanwilkar (Supreme Court of India as Chairman), Dr. Ravi Ranjan (Patna High Court as Member), and
  Mrs. Indermeet Kaur Kochhar (Delhi High Court as Member).
• The Tribunal has been constituted following orders of the Supreme Court dated 23rd January 2018 in a suit filed by the Government of Odisha.
• The Government of Odisha had sought to refer the water dispute regarding the inter-state river Mahanadi and its river valley to a Tribunal for adjudication under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

10. West Bengal tops the list in providing jobs under MGNREGA.

• West Bengal has become the best performing State both in terms of allotting jobs and utilizing funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
• According to statistics recently provided in Rajya Sabha by the Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav, West Bengal generated more than 28.21 crore work days under the scheme so far in 2017-18 and spent more than Rs 7,335.31 crore for it.
• Tamil Nadu occupied the second spot with 22.17 crore work days and spent Rs 5,981.75 crore. Were as Andhra Pradesh occupied third spot and Goa was ranked bottom of the list.

11. President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurates world Hindi secretariat in Mauritius.

• He also launched the World Hindi Secretariat’s logo and a large ENT hospital being built with Indian assistance.
• The President noted that the 11th World Hindi Conference is going to be held in Mauritius in August 2018.
• Apart from India, Mauritius is the only country where this conference is being hosted for the third time.
• Static Part: 1. Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean.
  2. Ameenah Gurib is the President of Mauritius while Pravind Jugnauth is the Prime Minister.
  3. Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius while Rupee is its currency.

12. Union Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the two-day Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in New Delhi.

• The theme is “Challenges to Policing in 2020- How is Cyber Space shaping our approach to Cybercrime & Terrorism, how do we perform within it and take advantage of it”.
• The regional conference is being organized by the Asia-Pacific World Regional Office (APWRO) of the IACP in partnership with the Intelligence Bureau.
  The Director, Intelligence Bureau, as the Chair of APWRO, is the host of the Conference.
• The Conference is mainly focused on holding discussions about the growing interest of various terrorist/ organized groups and radical elements in exploiting the Cyberspace and its advanced technologies for their various heinous crimes and nefarious designs.

13. Bidya Devi Bhandari has been re-elected as Nepal President.

• Nepal’s first woman president Bidya Devi Bhandari has been re-elected for a second term in office.
• Incumbent President Bhandari defeated Nepali Congress leader Kumari Laxmi Rai with an overwhelming majority in the presidential election. She became Nepal’s first woman president in 2015.

14. Sebastian Pinera was sworn in as Chile’s president.

• Businessman-turned politician Sebastian Pinera was sworn in as Chile’s president, beginning what will be his second term in office after a four-year absence.
• Pinera, 68, was re-elected in last November elections, promising to lower taxes and boost investment, and will serve until 2022. According to Forbes magazine, Pinera is the fourth wealthiest man in Chile.
• Static Part: Chile, officially the Republic of Chile is a South American country|Santiago is the capital of Chile while Peso is its currency.