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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
IRCTC launched digital payment gateway, IRCTC iPay
- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), has launched its own payment aggregator system called “IRCTC iPay”.
- With the launch of IRCTC iPay, passengers will not need any third-party platforms as all payment options like credit card, debit dard, UPI – Unified Payment Interface, International Card are integrated into the platform
- The back-end support will be provided by Delhi based MMAD communications, which is IRCTC’s technology partner.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE
West Bengal government launched ‘BanglarShiksha’ portal
- West Bengal Education Minister ParthaChatterjee inaugurated a web portal, ‘BanglarShiksha’, which is set to provide real-time data on state-run and aided schools.
- This is first-of-its-kind online initiative in the state as well as in the country. It will be operated on a trial basis for two months to remove glitches. The portal should be fully functional by May 1
- The portal will store real-time data of 1.5 crore students, five lakh teachers and one lakh schools.
| USEFUL INFO |
| West Bengal Capital | Kolkata |
| West Bengal Chief Minister | Mamata Banerjee |
| West Bengal Governor | Keshari Nath Tripathi |
Textiles Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the ‘Titanwala Museum’ in Rajasthan
- Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the ‘Titanwala Museum’ in Bagru that showcases the Chhipa community’s hand-block printing
- The museum is an effort towards preserving the art of traditional Bagru block printing
- Bagru printing is one of the traditional techniques of printing with natural color followed by the chippas of Rajasthan
| USEFUL INFO |
| Rajasthan Capital | Jaipur |
| Rajasthan Chief Minister | Ashok Gehlot |
| Rajasthan Governor | Kalyan Singh |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
Goods and Services Tax collection drops to Rs. 97,247 crore in February
- GST collections dropped to Rs. 97,247 crore in February from Rs. 1.02 lakh crore in the previous month
- The total gross GST revenue collected in February 2019 is Rs 97,247 crore of which Central GST is Rs. 17,626 crore, State GST (SGST) is Rs. 24,192 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is Rs. 46,953 crore and Cess is Rs. 8,476 crore
- Goods and Services Tax collections in the current fiscal till February totalled Rs. 10.70 lakh crore.
- The government has lowered the GST collection target for current fiscal to Rs. 11.47 lakh crore in the Revised Estimates, from Rs 13.71 lakh crore budgeted initially
- For the next fiscal 2019-20, the GST collection target has been budgeted at Rs 13.71 lakh crore.
Department of Economic Affairs Revised GDP estimate for 2018-19 to
7 per cent
- The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) revised gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for 2018-19 to 7 per cent is at a higher base
- Recently Central Statistics Office (CSO) lowered the FY 19 GDP growth in second advance estimate of national income to 7 per cent from 7.2 per cent
PNB comes first in executing ‘reforms agenda’
- Punjab National has been ranked first among public sector banks in the implementation of ‘reforms agenda’, followed by Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India
- The BCG-IBA report – EASE Reforms for Public Sector Banks – measures performance of each PSB on 140 objective metrics across 6 themes, including customer responsiveness, credit off-take and digitalisation
- PNB with a score of 78.4 out of 100 has been ranked first in the EASE (Enhanced Access & Service Excellence)-index
- PNB has shown “strong performance” in the parameters like customer responsiveness, responsible banking, credit off-take and financial inclusion
| USEFUL INFO |
| Punjab National Bank Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Punjab National Bank CEO | Sunil Mehta |
| Punjab National Bank Tagline | The name you can bank upon |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Pranay Kumar Verma appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Vietnam
- The Ministry of External Affairs appointed Pranay Kumar Verma as the next Ambassador of India to Vietnam
- Pranay Kumar Verma, a 1994 cadre Indian Foreign Services officer, is presently serving as the Joint Secretary at Ministry of External Affairs
- Furthermore, Nina Tshering La and Abhay Thakur were concurrently accredited as the respective Ambassadors of India to Gabon and Chad on March 1.
- Nina Tshering La presently serving as the Ambassador of India to the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be carrying out the additional duties with residence in Kinshasa.
- Meanwhile, Thakur – the current Ambassador of India to Nigeria – will be taking on the additional duty with residence in Abuja.
| USEFUL INFO |
| External Affairs Minister | Sushma Swaraj |
| Constituency | Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh |
Ravneet Gill takes charge as YES Bank MD and CEO
- Ravneet Gill took charge as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of YES Bank for a three-year term
- Interim MD and CEO of the bank Ajai Kumar continues as a Non-Executive, Non-Independent Director on the board of the bank
- Gill was previously the CEO of Deutsche Bank’s India operations since 2012
| USEFUL INFO |
| Yes Bank Headquarters | Mumbai |
| Yes Bank Tagline | Experience our Expertise |
| Yes Bank CEO | Ravneet Gill |
Air Marshal R Nambiar appointed as Western Air Command Chief
- Eastern Air Command chief Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar has been appointed as the new chief of Western Air Command (WAC)
- Western Air Command is headquartered in the national capital and controls the area from north of Bikaner in Rajasthan up to Siachen Glacier and controls almost 40 per cent of the air bases of the Indian Air Force
- Air Marshal RaghunathNambiar has been a Flight commander of a Mirage-2000 Squadron, the Senior Test Pilot and Commanding Officer of the Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft System Testing Establishment (ASTE)
- He was awarded the VayuSena Medal for Gallantry by the President of India for the Kargil Operations.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMIT AND CONFERENCE
Airports Authority of India organised the Startup Conclave “Innovate for Airports”
- Airports Authority of India organised the Startup Conclave under the Startup initiative “Innovate for Airports”at the Airports Authority of India Officer’s Institute
- The Airports Authority of India (AAI) launched its Start-up policy to lays down the guidelines to help AAI as well as startups in relevant domains interact with one another
- During the event 8Startups were awarded the “Letter of Consent” under this initiative
| USEFUL INFO |
| AAI Headquarters | New Delhi |
| AAI Chairman | Guruprasad Mohapatra |
International Digital Health Symposium’ Inaugurated In New Delhi
- Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Smt. Anupriya Patel inaugurated the ‘International Digital Health Symposium in New Delhi. She also inaugurated the exhibition on Digital Health as part of the Symposium
- Participant countries along with various Government Ministries, states and other stakeholders showcased key innovations, implementation experiences and innovative Digital Health Interventions.
- The Digital Health Symposium follows the two-day Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) summit and allows wide engagement with innovators, clinical leaders, academia, researchers, healthcare establishments, government representatives, international and national technical experts, entrepreneurs and the research community
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Signalchip launched India’s first indigenous semiconductor chips for 4G LTE, 5G NR modems
- Bengaluru-based Signal chip launched India’s first semiconductor chips for 4G LTE and 5G NR modems.
- The company launched four chips as part of its SCBM34XX and SCRF34XX/45XX series, code-named ‘Agumbe’.
- These chips also support positioning using India’s own satellite navigation system, NAVIC.
- Founder and CEO of SIGNALCHIP Himanshu Khasnis
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
NITI Aayog partners with Adobe to boost digital literacy, creativity skills
- Software firm Adobe has partnered with Niti Aayog’sAtal Innovation Mission (AIM) to collaborate on enhancing digital literacy and creativity skills.
- The two parties have signed a statement of intent (SOI) to collectively drive the charter of developing creative skills and spreading digital literacy across all Atal Tinkering Labs in India
- 100 schools under Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) initiative will be adopted by Adobe and it will be implementing its Digital Disha Program in ATLs
- The Atal Tinkering Lab is based on the philosophy to identify and nurture innovation in young students across the country
| USEFUL INFO |
| NITI Aayog CEO | Amitabh Kant |
| NITI Aayog Vice Chairman | Rajiv Kumar |
India, Brunei signed pact to exchange information on tax and banking matters
- India and Brunei signed an agreement for exchange of information in tax matters to curb tax evasion and tax avoidance
- The Tax Information and Exchange Agreement (TIEA) was signed by Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, and DatoPaduka Haji Sidek Ali, Brunei’s High Commissioner to India
- The agreement also provides for mutual assistance in collection of tax revenue claims between both countries,
| USEFUL INFO |
| Brunei Capital | Bandar Seri Begawan |
| Brunei Currency | Brunei dollar |
| Brunei Prime Minister | Hassanal Bolkiah |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS
Arun Jaitley released a book titled ‘Mann Ki Baat – A Social Revolution on Radio’
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was released a book titled, ‘Mann Ki Baat – A Social Revolution on Radio’ in New Delhi
- The book is a compendium encompassing 50 editions of the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on All India Radio
- The book contains a comprehensive, qualitative and academic analysis of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ – the themes, the choice of topics, the salient features
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES
Legendary composer and four-time Oscar winner Andre Previn passed away
- Legendary composer and pianist Andre Previn has passed away
- He was a 10-time Grammy Award winner and also won four Oscars throughout his lifetime
- Previn is known for his classics like 1964’s ‘My Fair Lady’ and 1996’s ‘The Fortunate Cookie’
- Previn won his first Grammy in 1958 for best soundtrack album, dramatic picture score or original cast for ‘Gigi.’