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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
- Every year on 25 March, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade offers the opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Theme 2019 | ‘Remember Slavery: The Power of the Arts for Justice’ |
International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members
- The International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members is observed annually on 25 March by the United Nations.
- It commemorates the anniversary of the abduction of Alec Collett, a former journalist who was working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) when he was kidnapped by armed gunman in 1985. His body was finally found in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon in 2009.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
World’s largest e-waste recycling hub opens in Dubai
- The world’s largest e-waste recycling facility has located at the Dubai Industrial Park, the 280,000 square feet plant will process Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), IT asset disposition (ITAD), refrigerant gas and specialised waste.
- The 120 million dirhams ($5 million) project is backed by the Swiss Government Export Finance Agency.
Norway Introduced the World’s First Wireless Electric Car Charging Stations
- Oslo will be the world’s first city to install wireless charging stations for electric taxis, in a bid to make a zero-emission cab system by as early as 2023.
- Oslo Municipality is working with Finnish utilities firm Fortum to install charging plates in the road that connect to energy receivers in the vehicles themselves, making Norway the first country in this area.
- The goal is to make it as easy as possible to charge electric taxis, as doing so now is cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive.
- Norway wants all new cars to be zero emission by 2025 whereas other nations, like Britain and France have similar goals for 2040.
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| Norway Capital | Oslo |
| Currency | Norwegian Krone |
| Prime Minister | Erna Solberg |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE
EC comes up with PWD app for over two lakhs Divyang voters in Maharashtra
- In Maharashtra, Election Commission has come up with a mobile application called ‘PWD’ for making voting easier and implement the poll body’s slogan of Accessible Elections for over two lakhs Divyang voters across the state.
- The app would facilitate Divyang voters special facilities including wheelchairs, ramps and transport from home at polling booths during the Lok Sabha elections.
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| Maharashtra Capital | Mumbai |
| CM | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Governor | Chinamani Vidyasagar Rao |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
RBI appoints five-member committee to deepen digital payments
- The central bank of the country has appointed 5-member committee under the chairmanship of Nandan Nilekani to further deepen digital payments and enhance financial inclusion through Fintech.
- This announcement made by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das at the first event of Financial Technology (Fintech) Conclave, which was organized by NITI Aayog in New Delhi.
- The purpose of the event is to shape India’s predominance in FinTech, build the future strategy and policy to uplift the financial inclusion.
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| RBI Headquarters | Mumbai |
| RBI Governor | Shaktikant Das |
| RBI Deputy Governor | BP Kanungo, N S Vishwanathan, Viral Acharya and Mahesh Kumar Jain |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Govindaraj re-elected as BFI president
- Govindaraj was unanimously re-elected as president of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).
- Chander Mukhi Sharma was re-elected secretary-general as the BFI promised a bunch of new ideas and tournaments.
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| BFI HQ | New Delhi |
| President | K Govindaraj |
Paralympic high jumper Girish Gowda appointed as Karnataka Lok Sabha Elections Ambassador
- Silver Medalist in Paralympic high jump,Girish Gowda has been appointed as the ambassador of Karnataka Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
- He represented India inmen’s high jump F-42 category during 2012 Summer Paralympics games held in London, where he clinched silver medal. With this, he became the first Indian to win medal in this category.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
International seminar on ‘Sanskrit: a common treasure for India & Nepal’ held in Kathmandu
- An international seminar on ‘Sanskrit: a common treasure for India and Nepal’ held at Kathmandu, Nepal.
- The three day seminar is culmination of a month-long Festival of India in Nepal which is being organized by the Embassy of India and Ministry of Culture.
- A panel of 10 world renowned Sanskrit scholars from India and 35 senior Sanskrit professors from various parts of Nepal will present their research papers on different topics including Sanskrit language, literature, Ayurveda and Yoga during the seminar.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND INDEX
Samsung tops consumer-focused brands in India list
- Samsung, Tata Motors, Apple, Hero MotoCorp and Nike are the top-five consumer-focused brands in the country, according to TRA.
- ‘India’s Most Consumer-Focused Brands 2019’, measures brands on their increase in buying propensity index over the previous year.
- HDFC is the top amongst Banks in the list and is at the 8th spot. While for Top PSU Bank, SBI is the leader at 12th position overall.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
IAF inducts first four heavy-lift Chinook helicopters
- Indian Air Force (IAF) formally inducted the four heavy-lift Chinook helicopters.
- Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa announced the induction at a ceremony held at Air Force base in Chandigarh. Chinook helicopters will be deployed at Chandigarh’s Air Force Station 12 Wing.
- The second batch of Chinooks will be stationed in Assam’s Dinjan.
- India bought 15 CH-47F (I) Chinook helicopters in September 2015 from Boeing (United States) at a cost of $1.5 billion.
- The entire fleet of 15 Chinooks is expected to be inducted in the air force by March 2020.
- These choppers will be used for various military purposes such as deploying of troops and machinery at high-altitude locations along the India-Pakistan border to support country’s current and future security goals.
Indian-Sri Lankan armies to conduct military exercise Mitra Shakti
- The joint training exercise MITRASHAKTI – VI between Indian and Sri Lanka Army is being held at Diyatalawa in Sri Lanka.
- The exercise is designed to enhance interoperability and mutual understanding between both the armies and build a relationship based on professional respect, personal bonding and extensive training interaction.
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| Sri Lanka Capital | Colombo, Jayawardenepura Kotte |
| Currency | Sri Lankan rupee |
| President | Maithripala Sirisena |
Indian Navy nuclear, biological, chemical training facility launched
- The Indian Navy’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Training Facility (NBCTF) was inaugurated at INS Shivaji in Lonavala by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba
- The NBCTF, christened “Abhedya”, impenetrable in Sanskrit, will help train personnel of naval ships fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical detection and protection systems.
- INS Shivaji is celebrating its platinum jubilee year in 2019-20 and Admiral Lanba released the platinum jubilee logo, with the theme “Propelling the Indian Navy since 1945”,
- The Goa Shipyard Limited had signed the contract with the Indian Navy for the construction of the facility in March 2016.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
eBay adds Google Pay to its managed payments program
- eBay announced adding Google Pay to its suite of payment options as part of its move to intermediate end-to-end payments on its marketplace.
- With the integration, Google Pay users will be able to complete purchases on eBay via the app, mobile web and on desktop from sellers participating in eBay’s managed payments program, while shoppers using the Google Pay digital wallet will be able to complete purchases on desktop.
- eBay’s new managed payments approach to payments after it decided to cut ties with long-standing partner and former subsidiary PayPal. Dutch fintech company Adyen is set to become eBay’s primary payments processor after the current PayPal deal expires in mid-2020
- Earlier, eBay added Apple Pay as a payment method under its managed payments programme.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ISRO to launch 29 satellites including EMISAT on first of April
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch 29 satellites including the primary payload EMISAT, on the first of April. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C45 will take off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
- EMISAT has been developed for monitoring radar network by India. EMISAT, weighing 436 kg, is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement. It will be placed in an orbit of about 753 km altitude.
- Indian Institute of Space Science (IISc) and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation are the other two institutions that will have their devices on the experimental platform.
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| ISRO Headquarters | Bengaluru |
| ISRO Chairman | Kailasavadivoo Sivan |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
Lingshui China Masters Badminton Tournament 2019 – Complete winner list
- The 2019 Lingshui China Masterswas a badminton tournament held at Agile Stadium in China from 12 to 17 March 2019
- The tournament was the first Super 100 tournament of the 2019 BWF World Tour.
| Events | Winners | Runner Up |
| Men’s Singles | Weng Hongyang (China) | Liu Haichao (China) |
| Women Singles | Kim Ga-eun (South Korea) | Zhang Yiman (China) |
| Men’s Doubles | Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan (Chinese Taipei) | Ou Xuanyi and Ren Xiangyu (China) |
| Women’s Doubles | Baek Ha-na and Kim Hye-rin (South Korea) | Liu Xuanxuan and Xiayuting (China) |
| Mixed Doubles | Tang Chun Man and Ng Tsz Yau (Hong Kong) | Guo Xinwaa and Liu Xuanxuan (China) |
China crowned Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships winners
- China defeated Japan 3-2 to win the 2019 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships. This was the second edition of the tournament.
- 11 teams including India was part of this tournament that was held in Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong. The event was also known as the Tong Yun Kai Cup 2019 named after the president of the Hong Kong badminton association.
- In the mixed doubles, Chinese pair He Jiting and Du Yue has defeated apanese pair Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
- In the men’s doubles, Yugo Kobayashi and Takuro Hoki of China beat Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong of Japan
- In thewomen’s doubles, Li Yinhui and Du Yue won for China by beating Ayako Sakuramoto and Yukiko Takahata.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY
Cult-horror writer Larry Cohen passed away
- Larry Cohen, the writer and director best known for his work in horror and films on exploitation of black people, including the cult classic ‘It’s Alive’, ‘Black Caesar’, and ‘Hell Up in Harlem’, has passed away.
Noted folk artist Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi passed away
- Noted folk artist, music director and writer Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi has passed away
- She got her first gramophone record at the age of 8 years. Her book Bhava Geetalu, a compilation of folk songs, was released in Chennai last year.
- Anasuya Devi presented her talent in the presence of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sarvepally Radhakrishnan during the freedom movement
- Anasuya Devi received a major title ‘Kalaprapoorna’ an honorary doctorate from Andhra University way in 1977. She has won Lifetime Achievement awards in U.S.A and hailed as the ‘Queen of Folk Music’ in Paris