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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
Earth Hour 2019 observed across the world
- The Earth Hour 2019 was observed on March 30, 2019 at 8:30 pm local time to take a global call on climate change.
- It was thirteenth edition of Earth Hour and to mark this day, cities worldwide turned their lights off for one hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time.
- The campaign of Earth Hour 2019 was ‘#Connect2Earth’. It was aimed at building mass awareness on importance of nature and create unstoppable movement for nature similar to when the world came together to tackle climate change.
Odisha celebrates 84th foundation day
- Odisha is celebrating 84 years of its foundation on 1st April 2019. The day is also known as ‘Utkal Divas.’
- Earlier, Odisha was a part of Bihar, it became the first state to be formed on the linguistic basis in 1936.
- The name of the state was changed from Orissa to Odisha, and the name of its language from Oriya to Odia, in 2011
World Autism Awareness Day
- The World Autism Awareness Day was observed across the world on April 2 every year with an aim to raise awareness about autism throughout the world
- The theme for this year is Assistive Technologies, Active Participation.
- The day was first observed in 2007 by the United Nations
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
GST collections for March hit record high of Rs. 1.06 lakh crore
- Finance Ministry stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection stood at Rs. 1.06 lakh crore in March, recording the highest-ever monthly collection since GST launch.
- Around 75.95 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed for February up to March 31, as against 73.48 lakh a month ago. This is the fourth time the collections crossed Rs. 1 lakh crore this fiscal.
- Total gross GST revenue collected in March, 2019 is Rs. 1,06,577 crore of which Central GST is Rs. 20,353 crore, State GST is Rs. 27,520 crore, Integrated GST is Rs. 50,418 crore and cess is Rs. 8,286 crore
- The collection in March 2019, has been highest since introduction of GST and also reflects a 15.6 per cent growth over March 2018, collection of Rs. 92,167 crore.
- Monthly average of GST revenue during 2018-19, stood at Rs. 98,114 crore which is 9.2 per cent higher than the previous fiscal.
- The government has lowered the GST collection target for 2018-19 fiscal to Rs 11.47 lakh crore in the revised estimates, from Rs 13.71 lakh crore budgeted initially
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
SBI Minimum Balance Rules, Charges for this Financial Year
- Customers of the State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest nationalised bank, are required to maintain an average monthly balance in their savings accounts.
- The branches have been categorised into four types – metro, urban, semi-urban and rural. The bank levies charges ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 15 excluding the GST if any customer fails to maintain the average monthly balance.
- For SBI branches in metro and urban areas, the average monthly balance is Rs. 3,000 whereas customers are required to maintain Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 1,000 minimum balance in saving accounts at branches in semi urban and rural areas, respectively.
| USEFUL INFO |
| State Bank of India Headquarters | Mumbai |
| State Bank of India Tagline | The Banker to every Indian |
| State Bank of India Chairperson | Rajnish Kumar |
RBI sets NBFC-MFIs’ average base rate at 9.21% for April-June
- The Reserve Bank set the average base rate to be charged from borrowers by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) at 9.21 per cent for the first quarter of the next fiscal.
- RBI, on the last working day of every quarter, comes out with the average of the base rates of the five largest commercial banks for the purpose of arriving at the interest rates to be charged by NBFC-MFIs to its borrowers in the ensuing quarter
- The regulator in February 2014 had issued directions to NBFC-MFIs regarding pricing of credit
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS
Infosys arm to buy 75% stake in Dutch bank subsidiary
- Global software major Infosys stated that its consulting arm would buy 75 per cent equity stake in Starter N.V., a subsidiary of the Dutch-based ANN AMRO Bank for Rs. 999 crore ($144 million) for strategic partnership in The Netherlands.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Satish Magar takes over as new president of CREDAI
- Satish Magar took over as the new national president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), the apex body of private real estate developers in India.
- Magar, who is the managing director of Magarpatta City, took over the baton from Jaxay Shah to become the new president of the 20-year-old body.
- Rajiv Parikh was unanimously elected as the new president of CREDAI Maharashtra for 2019-21.
Manu Sawhney Takes Over As International Cricket Council CEO
- Manu Sawhney, originally from New Delhi, took over as CEO of the International Cricket Council (ICC). He has been working alongside the outgoing CEO David Richardson for the last six weeks to ensure a smooth transition for the organisation.
- Richardson will remain with the ICC until July, as originally planned, to oversee the delivery of the ICC men’s 50-over World Cup in England from May-July.
| USEFUL INFO |
| ICC Headquarters | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| Chairperson | Shashank Manohar |
| CEO | Dave Richardson |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
Army constructs Maitri Bridge on Indus river to link villages in Leh
- The bridge is constructed over the Indus river at Choglamsar in Leh and is the longest suspension bridge over the Indus river.
- The Army undertook the task of building the Maitri Bridge on Indus river following requests received from the civil administration to help the locals of Choglamsar, Stok and Chuchot villages (largest villages of Ladakh region).
- The 260 feet cable suspension bridge, which has been built using innovative engineering methods, is the longest suspension bridge over the Indus river.
- It was constructed by the Combat Engineers (Sahas aur Yogyata Regiment) of the Fire & Fury Corps in a record time of 40 days, ferrying almost 500 tonnes of bridging equipment and construction material.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
Reliance Mutual Fund customers partners with Google to launch voice-based transactions
- Customers of Reliance Mutual Fund can now carry out voice-based financial transactions, with Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM) partnering with internet major
- With this,RNAM becomes the first company in India, to provide conversational interface that would help customers regarding funds transactions.
- In the first phase, the functionality would be launched inReliance Simply Save app for the customers.
- RNAM is a joint venture between Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital and Japan’s Nippon Life Insurance Co Ltd.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
China launches new data relay satellite
- China launched the first of its new-generation data relay satellites as part of the preparatory work for the nation’s next manned space missions.
- The Tianlian II-01 was lifted off at a Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.
- The spacecraft is the first in China’s second generation of data relay satellite, adding its entry into service will substantially improve the country’s space-based data relay capability.
- The satellite is developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The launch marks the 301st mission of the Long March carrier rocket series. China launched its first data relay satellite, the Tianlian I-01, in April 2008
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MoU
India and Chile exchange three MoUs for cooperation
- India and Chile signed three MoUs in the fields of mining, culture and empowerment of persons with disabilities
- President Kovind arrived in Chile on a three-day visit is on the last leg of his three-nation tour that included Bolivia and Croatia.
- Chile announced that it will allow visa-free entry to Indian nationals holding a valid visa of the United States of America.
- In addition, both India and Chile agreed to explore opportunities for other cooperation in the defence, space research and explorations.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Chile Capital | Santiago |
| Chile Currency | Chilean peso |
| Chile President | Sebastián Piñera |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
India finish with 16 gold medals at Asian Airgun C’ships
- India finished with 16 gold, five silver and four bronze in 12th Asian Airgun Championships to sign off with a total of 25 medals in Taoyuan, Taipei.
- Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals each.
- Throughout the championship, both the senior and junior teams showed extraordinary performance to win 16 out of 18 gold medals on offer during the tournament.
India win ICC Test C’ship mace for 3rd straight year, get $1 million
- India has won ICC Test Championship mace for the third year in a row after finishing at the top of ICC Test team rankings.
- India have also been awarded $1-million cash prize. New Zealand, who are ranked second, won $500,000 prize money after finishing with 108 points, eight behind India.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES
Noted film director J. Mahendran passed away
- Veteran Tamil filmmaker-actor J Mahendran has passes away
- Mahendran’s 1980 film Nenjathai Killathe has won three National Film Awards including Best Feature Film in Tamil, Best Cinematography (Colour) and Best Audiography.
- Renowned for his writing, he is also a part of the Blue Ocean FIlm and Television Academy(BOFTA) in Chennai where he heads the filmmaking and direction course.