Dear Readers, Daily Current Affairs News Updates about the National and International events were listed here. Read Current Affairs Today here and stay updated with current news. Candidates those who are preparing for IBPS/SBI/PO/Clerk exam and all other competitive exams can use this and try Current Affairs Quiz to test your knowledge level.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
No Smoking Day
- No Smoking Day is observed every year on second Wednesday of March to raise awareness about the harmful health effects of tobacco via smoking and to encourage people all over the world to quit smoking.
- This year No Smoking Day 2019 is celebrated on 13 March.
World Kidney Day
- March 14 is observed as World Kidney Day. The day is meant to raise awareness about the importance of taking care of kidneys.
- Every year, World Kidney Day is celebrated all across the globe, featuring awareness campaigns, programs and discussions about the importance of kidneys, causes ofkidney diseases, risk factors associated with them, and how to live with a kidney disease.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Theme 2019 | ‘Kidney health for everyone, everywhere’ |
International Pi Day
- On 14 March Pi Day is celebrated around the world.
- Pi is a symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant.
- It is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter which is approx. 3.14.
International Day of Action for Rivers
- The 22nd annual International Day of Action for Rivers will take place on March 14, 2019
- The International Day of Action for Rivers is a day dedicated to solidarity – when diverse communities around the world come together with one voice to say that our rivers matter.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Theme 2019 | ‘Celebration of the role of women in protecting and managing our rivers’ |
Corporation Bank celebrates 114th Foundation Day
- Corporation Bank observed its 114th Foundation Day
- The bank started operating on March 12, 1906, in Udupi under the leadership of Khan Bahadur Haji Abdullah Haji Kasim Saheb Bahadur with a first day business of Rs. 38, 13 Annas and two Paisa
- To commemorate the 114th Foundation Day, 114 CSR activities were undertaken by the bank across the country.
- Bank Managing Director and CEO P.V. Bharathi, Executive Directors Gopal Murli Bhagat and Birupaksha Mishra and other senior officials were present at the occasion
India Smart Utility Week
- India Smart Utility Week 2019 to be inaugurated by Shri AK Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of Power.
- India Smart Utility Week (ISUW) 2019 which is being held isNew Delhi from 12th March to 16th March 2019. ISUW 2019 is organized by India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF)
- ISGFis also conducting a roundtable of Women for the first time, in partnership with C3E initiative of the IEA (International Energy Agency) to discuss the challenges faced by women and actions required to achieve gender equality in energy sector.
- Some parallel workshop was also conducted on a variety of topics including ‘Blockchain for Utilities’and ‘Future Skills 2030’.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
Arecanut gets its first GI tag for ‘Sirsi Supari’
- Arecanut, also known as supari or betel nut, is the latest entrant in the list of agricultural produce with a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
- The ‘Sirsi Supari’ is grown in Sirsi, Siddpaur and Yellapur taluks of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka.
- Production of arecanut in these three taluks is around 7 per cent of the production of Karnataka State
- Grown on an area of around 40,000 acres, the annual production of ‘Sirsi Supari’ is estimated to be around 40,000 tonnes.
- The Totagars’ Cooperative Sale Society (TSS) Ltd, a Sirsi-based agri cooperative, is the registered proprietor of the GI ‘Sirsi Supari’
United States to set up six nuclear power plants in India
- India and the United States have committed to strengthen bilateral security and civil nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of six US nuclear power plants in India.
- This commitment was made at the 9th round of the India-US Strategic Security Dialogue held in Washington DC.
- The two delegations reaffirmed their commitment to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors
- The Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, while the US delegation was led by Andrea Thompson, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
| USEFUL INFO |
| USA Capital | Washington DC |
| USACurrency | Dollar |
| USAPresident | Donald Trump |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
HDFC Bank crosses Rs. 6 trillion market capital
- India’s most valued lender HDFC Bank Ltd crossed the 6 trillion market capitalisation for the first time, making it only the country’s third firm to achieve the milestone.
- Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the other two companies that crossed the market capitalisation of Rs. 6 trillion.
- RIL remained the most-valued company with a market value of Rs. 8.54 trillion, followed by TCS with a market value of Rs. 7.51 trillion.
- HDFC Bank’s steady 20% profit growth quarter-after-quarter as well as its immunity to the bad loans crisis have helped the stock.
| USEFUL INFO |
| HDFC Headquarters | Mumbai |
| HDFC CEO | Aditya Puri |
| HDFC Tagline | We Understand Your World |
RBI to infuse Rs. 12,500 crore via OMOs
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stated that it will infuse 12,500 crore rupees into the system through open market operations (OMOs).
- It based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, it will conduct the purchase of the government securities under open market operations.
- OMOs are money market tools to infuse or suck out liquidity from the system
| USEFUL INFO |
| RBI Headquarters | Mumbai |
| RBI Governor | Shaktikant Das |
| RBI Deputy Governor | BP Kanungo, N S Vishwanathan, Viral Acharya and Mahesh Kumar Jain |
SBI launched doorstep banking service for senior citizens
- State Bank of India launched ‘Doorstep Banking’ for senior citizen customers over 70 years of age, differently-abled customers and infirm customers including visually impaired customers.
- Doorstep banking services are available to KYC- compliant account holders, with a valid mobile number registered with the bank and residing within 5 kilometres radius from their home branch.
- This service will not be available for accounts operated jointly, minor accounts, and accounts of non-personal nature.
- Eligible customers can avail theses services with a nominal fee of Rs. 100 per transaction for financial transactions and Rs. 60 per transaction for non-financial transactions.
| 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 |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
Sona Yukti gets SEN award for equipping youth with skills
- Sona Yukti has been given the social enterprise network (SEN) sustainability award for education.
- Sona Yukti is the only Indian organisation to be selected as part of the SEN awards for 2018.
- The award was presented by Young Presidents Organisation to CEO of Sona Yukti Chockalingam Valliappa at its annual event held in Cape Town, South Africa.
- The award is given in recognition of helping over 55,000 economically disadvantaged individuals, majority of them women, by training them to land highly skilled jobs in marginalised communities.
- The organisation has presence in rural areas of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Kusumagraj literature award for Ved Rahi
- Film director and novelist Ved Rahi has been selected for prestigious “Kusumagraj” national award for literature.
- The ‘Kusumagraj Rashtriya Sahitya Puraskar’ carries cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh, a memento and a citation.
- The award Instituted, by the city-based Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), after Jnanpith-laureate Marathi poet and playwright late V V Shirwadkar, popularly known as ‘Kusumagraj’.
- Rahi has penned seven novels in Dogri language. He was given Sahitya Akademi award for his Dogri novel, “Aale” in 1983
- He was director of 1991 Doordarshan television serial, “Gul Gulshan Gulfaam”.
India awards 200 Golden Jubilee Scholarships to Nepali students
- The Indian Embassy in Nepal awarded 200 Golden Jubilee Scholarships to meritorious Nepali students for continuing various undergraduate courses at colleges and universities.
- The Government of India had started the prestigious Golden Jubilee Scholarship Scheme in 2002 to mark the completion of 50 years of India-Nepal Economic Cooperation
- This year the scholarships recipients covered for 36 undergraduate courses including MBBS, BDS, BE, BSc, BBA and B.Com etc. The students have been shortlisted from 50 districts of Nepal. They include around 45 per cent girls and 8 per cent differently able students.
- Under this scheme, an MBBS/BDS student receives 4000 Nepali Rupees (NRs.) per month for five years, a BE student receives 4000 NRs. per month for four years and students studying in other under-graduate courses receive 3000 NRs. per month for three years. So far more than 2350 Nepali students have been awarded the Golden Jubilee Scholarships from across 77 districts of Nepal
President confers gallantry and distinguished service awards
- The President and Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces Shri Ram Nath Kovind conferred three Kirti Chakras and fifteen Shaurya Chakras to Armed Forces Personnel for displaying conspicuous gallantry, indomitable courage and extreme devotion to duty at a solemn ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan
- Two Kirti Chakras and one Shaurya Chakra were given posthumously.
- The President also conferred fourteen Param Vishisht Seva Medals, one Uttam Yudh Seva Medals and twenty two Ati Vishisht Seva Medals to senior officers of the Armed Forces for distinguished service of an exceptional order.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
M Ravi Kanth gets extension for 6 months as HUDCO chief
- M Ravi Kanth the Chairman and Managing Director of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) Ltd has been granted extension in tenure for the post of CMD of HUCDCO for a further period of 6 months.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved six month extension of M Ravi Kanth with effect from April 11, 2019.
- Kanth, was a 1986 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, joined as the CMD of HUDCO on April 11, 2014.
| USEFUL INFO |
| HUDCO Headquarters | New Delhi |
| HUDCO Chairman & MD | M Ravi Kanth |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
India extends USD 250 mn to Nepal for reconstruction of infrastructures post earthquake
- India has extended a grant assistance of up to USD 250 million to Nepal for the reconstruction of infrastructures in the areas of housing, education, health and cultural heritage that was destroyed during the devastating April 2015 earthquake.
- During the India-NepalJoint Project Monitoring Committee meeting held on March 12thin Kathmandu officials from the two countries reviewed the progress of post-earthquake reconstruction projects.
- Earlier India stated that it will reconstruct 72 education facilities in Nepal that were damaged during the earthquake
| USEFUL INFO |
| Nepal Capital | Kathmandu |
| Nepal Currency | Nepali Rupee |
| Nepal Prime Minister | K P Sharma Oli |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APP
Google shuts down its messaging app ‘Allo’
- Google has stopped all the services of its messaging app ‘Allo’ from March 12,2019 and shut down the app.
- The ‘Allo’ messaging app from Google could not achieve popularity like its other product and hence Google has stopped the operation of Allo. It was launched in 2016.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
U.S. special forces hold exercise with NSG in Hyderabad
- As a part of US-India security partnership, a special force of the US military forces and the Indian National Security Guard (NSG) involved in a joint exercise in Hyderabad
- The US forces are from the 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) stationed out of Okinawa in Japan
- The Hyderabad-exercise would help build interoperability and comradeship between the two forces and was designed to enhance the capabilities of both Indian and U.S
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
Special Olympics World Games 2019 begin at Abu Dhabi in UAE
- Special Olympics World Games 2019, begin at Abu Dhabi in UAE, made history by welcoming a record-breaking 200 nations at the Games. Of the 200 nations, 195 will compete in the Games and five will observe.
- The event held in the West Asia for the first time, 7,500 athletes will take part in 24 Olympic-style sports over seven days
- With the highest number of women taking part and the largest number of Unified teammates on board, the World Games will capture the attention of the globe.
- More than 2,500 women will fly the flag for their nation, with almost half of them performing in athletics competitions. Saudi Arabia will send female athletes for the first time, with 14 women participating.
| USEFUL INFO |
| UAE Capital | Abu Dhabi |
| UAE Currency | Dirham |
| UAE President | Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY
Art critic John Richardson passed away
- Sir John Richardson, the eminent British art historian and critic whose multivolume series on Pablo Picasso drew upon his personal and aesthetic affinity for the Spanish artist, has passed away
- Richardson’s criticism and scholarship brought him a Whitbread award in 1991and a knighthood in 2012.