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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
PM unveiled world’s largest Bhagwad Gita at ISKCON Temple
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled world’s largest Bhagwad Gita prepared by ISKCON Temple devotees in New Delhi on the occasion of Gita Aradhana Mahotsav.
- Measuring over 2.8 meters and weighing more than 800 kilogram
- The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is a worldwide confederation of more than 400 temples and runs 100 vegetarian restaurants and a wide variety of community serving projects.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE
Delhi government presents Rs. 60,000 crore budget for 2019-20
- Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodiaresented a Rs 60,000 crore budget for 2019-20 in the Assembly
- Allocation of Rs. 100 crore for providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission
- 15,000 crore allocated for education sector. A total of 375 crore rupees have been set aside for 100 mohallah clinics and Rs. 6,380 crores have been made in the budget for Municipal corporations of Delhi.
| USEFUL INFO |
| New Delhi Capital | New Delhi |
| New Delhi Chief Minister | Arvind Kejiriwal |
| New Delhi Governor | Anil Baijal |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
Syndicate Bank to bring down NPA in the current year
- Syndicate Bank to bring down NPA in the current year
- The bank is aiming at bringing down the gross NPA to below 12% and the net NPA to below 6% in the current year from the existing level of 12.5 and 6 .5 % respectively.
- The bank has made a profit in the third quarter after loss in the previous quarters of FY 19.
- The bank is planning to launch employee share purchase scheme in the first week of March.The scheme offers share s of the bank at a discount ranging from 23 to 25 % with lower grade employees getting maximum discount.The bank is expecting to raise Rs 500 to 600 crore from the process.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Syndicate Bank Headquarter | Manipal |
| Syndicate Bank Tagline | Faithful Friendly Bank |
| Syndicate Bank CEO | Mrutyunjay Mahapatra |
RBI to soon put into circulation Rs. 100 bank notes in new series
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will shortly put into circulation new series Rs. 100 denomination bank notes bearing the signature of New Governor Shaktikanta Das
- The design of these notes is similar in all respects to the Rs. 100 bank notes in circulation currently.
- All bank notes in the denomination of Rs. 100 issued by the RBI in the past will continue to be legal tender
| USEFUL INFO |
| RBI Headquarters | Mumbai |
| RBI Governor | Shaktikant Das |
| RBI Deputy Governor | BP Kanungo, N S Vishwanathan, Viral Acharya and Mahesh Kumar Jain |
Kotak Mahindra Bank raises foreign investment limit
- Kotak Mahindra Bank has raised the limit on total shareholding of foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors in the company to 45 percent from 43 percent.
- The hike in the shareholding limit comes after central bank directive on reducing its Chief Executive UdayKotak’s stake in the bank.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank Headquarters | Mumbai |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank Tagline | Let’s make money simple |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO | UdayKotak |
April – January Fiscal deficit touches 121.5% of FY19 target
- India’s fiscal deficit during April-January stood at Rs. 7.7 lakh crore or 121.5% of the budgeted estimate of Rs 6.24 lakh crore for 2018-19
- The gap between the government’s revenue and expenditure had stood at 113.7% in January 2018.
- While presenting the Interim Budget earlier this month, the government had revised the fiscal deficit target for FY19 to 3.4% of GDP from 3.3%.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS
Adani Group wins bids to operate five Airports for 50 years
- Gautam Adani’s Adani Group has won bids to operate five out of six airports, put up for privatisation by the central government, for the next 50 years.
- The AAI chose the winner on the basis of “per-passenger fee” offered by the bidders
- The Airports are Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur airports
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
President Conferred ‘Gandhi Peace Prize’
| YEAR | AWARDEES | LOCATED AT | FIELD |
| 2015 | Vivekananda Kendra | KANYAKUMARI, TN | Rural Development, Education and Development of natural resources. |
| 2016 | AkshayaPatra Foundationand Sulabh International | BENGALURU, KARNATAKA | 1.For Providing mid-day meals to millions of children across India 2. Sulabh International for its contribution in improving the condition of sanitation in India and emancipation of manual scavengers |
| 2017 | EkalAbhiyan Trust | KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL | For Providing Education for Rural and Tribal Children in remote areas pan India, Rural Empowerment, Gender and Social Equality |
| 2018 | YoheiSasakawa (Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organisation for Leprosy Elimination) | Japan | His contribution in Leprosy Eradication in India and across the world. |
Lifetime Achievement Award for G.R. Karthikeyan
- R. Karthikeyan, father of India’s first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan,was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award and Raghul Rangasamy was named the Upcoming Motorsports Person of the Year and received the Raymond Gautam Singhania Trophy at the FMSCI Annual Awards in Mumbai
- FIA president Jean Todt was the chief guest and handed over the awards.
| USEFUL INFO |
| International Automobile Federation Headquarters | Paris, France |
| International Automobile Federation President | Jean Todt |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
India-Bangladesh Joint Military Exercise ‘Sampriti 2019’ to be held in Bangladesh
- A joint military exercise ‘Sampriti 2019’ between India and Bangladesh will be conducted at Tangail in Bangladesh from02 March to 15 March 2019.
- The 14 day exercise is aimed to strengthen and broaden the aspects of interoperability and cooperation between the Indian and Bangladesh Armies
- Sampriti 2019’ will be the eighth edition of the exercise which is hosted alternately by both countries
- The exercise will involve tactical level operations in a counter insurgency and counter terrorism environment under the UN mandate
| USEFUL INFO |
| Bangladesh Capital | Dhaka |
| Bangladesh Currency | Thaka |
| Bangladesh Prime Minster | Sheikh Hassina |
| Bangladesh President | Abdul Hamid |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Iran Foreign Minister Zarif announced resignation
- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation
- Zarif played a major role in negotiating the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and major international powers
- He was educated in the US and holds a PhD in international law from the University of Denver.
- He has served as Iran’s ambassador to the UN and became foreign minister in 2013 after President Hassan Rouhani was elected
| USEFUL INFO |
| Iran Capital | Tehran |
| IranCurrency | Iranian Rial |
| Iran President | Hassan Rouhani |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
Prajnesh Gunneswaran reached career best 94th Rank
- India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran achieved his career-best ranking, rising three places to 94th in the latest list.
- Ramkumar Ramanathan dropped nine spots to 137, while Yuki Bhambri further slipped to 171.
- In Doubles rankings, Rohan Bopanna remained at 38th and DivijSharan at 39th, while Leander Paesrose two spots to 73rd.
- In the Women’s rankings, AnkitaRaina continued to be the top-placed Indian at 164, followed by Karman Thandi at 207 and Pranjala Yadlapalli at 293
Hungary’s Veronika Major wins gold medal at ISSF World Cup
- Hungary’s Veronika Major won a gold medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in New Delhi.
- She bagged the medal in 10-metre air pistol event.
- Taipei’s Chia Ying Wu won a silver medal, with 238.4 points Korean Bomi Kim came third, with 218.3 points.
Sanath Jayasuriya banned from cricket for two years
- Former Sri Lanka captain and World Cup winner Sanath Jayasuriya was handed a two-year ban from all forms of cricket by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption code
- This was after Jayasuriya refused to co-operate with investigations surrounding corruption activities in Sri Lanka
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
RBI removed Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank from PCA framework
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed three commercial banks -Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank from the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework allowing them to resume their normal lending activities
- With the removal of Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank, six public sector banks are still under the PCA framework.
- Bank of India (BoI), Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) were taken out of PCA framework on January 31
BoB ties up with German KfW for USD 130m to refinance solar units
- State-run Bank of Baroda has tied up with Germany’s KfW Development Bank for funding of USD 113 million to refinance solar projects.
- The tie-up is part of an Indo-German Solar Energy Partnership signed in 2015
| USEFUL INFO |
| Bank of Baroda Headquarters | Vadodara |
| Bank of Baroda CEO | P. S. Jayakumar |
| Bank of Baroda Tagline | India’s International Bank |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Muhammadu Buhari re-elected as Nigerian president
- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been re-elected for a second four year term.
- Buhari defeated his main rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with a margin of around four million votes.
- Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) won in 19 of the 36 states while Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was won in 17 states
| USEFUL INFO |
| Nigeria Capital | Abuja |
| Nigeria Currency | Nigerian naira |
| Nigeria President | Muhammadu Buhari |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
Playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar to be honoured with META lifetime achievement award
- Eminent Indian playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar has been chosen for this year’s META Lifetime Achievement Award
- The playwright will be conferred upon with the award on March 12, along with the winners of the 14th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) festival
- Elkunchwar has over 30 plays and essays like ‘Sultan’, ‘Holi’, ‘Garbo’, ‘Yatanaghar’, and ‘Atmakatha’
- He was recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
DAC approved acquisition of defence equipment worth Rs. 2700 crore
- The Defence Acquisition Council has approved the acquisition of defence equipment for about 2700 Crores rupees
- The Defence Acquisition Council, is the highest decision-making body for defence purchase, was chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
- The Council granted approval for procurement of three cadet training ships for the Indian Navy which would be utilised to provide basic sea training for officer cadets including women officer under trainees
- The ships would be capable of undertaking hospital ship duties, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, undertaking search and rescue (SAR) missions
| USEFUL INFO |
| Defence Minister | Nirmala Sitharaman |
| Constituency | Rajya Sabha, Karnataka |