Current Affairs Weekly Antibiotic: March 2017 - Part III

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Based on The Hindu, Financial Express, The Statesman, etc.

Weekly Current Affairs Report: 16th March 2017- 23rd March 2017

New Appointments

• Mallikarjun Kharge Set to Become Next Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman
• Shri Upendra Tripathy Appointed as Full Time Interim Director General of International Solar Alliance (ISA).
• The government has announced Madhabi Puri Buch as new whole time member of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla has been appointed as the Chairman of Vodafone-Idea merged entity.
• Snapdeal appoints Jason Kothari as CEO of FreeCharge.
• Captain Amarinder Singh to be sworn-in as Chief Minister of Punjab.
• The BJP named Trivendra Singh Rawat, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak as a new Uttarakhand CM after replacing of Harish Rawat.
• Yogi Adityanath has been named as the New Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh .
• Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh now have two deputy Chief Minister "Keshav Prasad Maurya" and  "Dinesh Sharma".
• Dilip Shanghvi appointed as member of RBI's western board.
• India's most successful Badminton Doubles specialist Jwala Gutta has been appointed a member of the governing body of Sports Authority of India (SAI).
• Babul Supriyo named vice-president of FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017.
• International Cricket Council name Ankur Khanna as new Chief Financial Officer.
• Lenovo appoints Subhankar Roy Chowdhury as head HR for Asia Pacific.

National

• Union Cabinet approves proposal for Amendments to the NABARD Act, 1981
• PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate the country’s longest road tunnel named Chenani-Nashri tunnel, built on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which will cut short the distance between Jammu and Srinagar by nearly 30 km.
• Union Govt. approves 1.17 lakh more affordable houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana  in six states (Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha) with a total investment of Rs 5,773 crore and with central assistance of Rs 1,816 crore.
• NABARD launches water conservation campaign in Karnataka with low-cost technologies for water conservation and efficient use of water in the drought-affected districts.
• Nation is paying tributes to freedom fighters -Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on their 86th martyrdom day (23 March).
• Majuli (Assam) world biggest river island, all set to become India’s 1st carbon neutral district,
• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) commissioned two major facilities a Hypersonic Wind Tunnel and Shock Tunnel at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram.
• Punjab to provide 33 percent reservation for women in govt jobs
• The Essar group’s township at Hazira in Surat district of Gujarat has become India’s first private sector township to go cashless.
• Fifty new Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) will be established across the country to provide quality education to around 50,000 students with the Cabinet giving a go ahead to the project.
• Emulating China and Italy's vertical forests, Bengaluru got its first vertical garden, which it hopes will help in curbing pollution and in beautifying the city.

International

• India is home to world’s fourth highest number of billionaires with Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani leading the club of more than 100 super rich Indians, according to a new list released by Forbes magazine 2017 Billionaires List.
• The U.S. state of Kansas has recognised March 16 as ‘Indian-American Appreciation Day’ to honour an Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was killed last month in a racially-motivated hate crime.
• Two Indian companies Tata Steel, Wipro in world's most ethical companies' list by American think tank Ethisphere Institute. 

Defence & Railway

• Major Rohit Suri awarded Kirti Chakra ( the second highest peacetime gallantry award) by president Pranab Mukherjee.
• Indian railways signs agreement with Australian research centre related to critical infrastructure in India.
• India and Russia have signed two long-term support agreements for the Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat aircraft fleet, which is the mainstay of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• First fully India-made 12-coach train flagged off at Dadar station to Borivali(Mumbai).

Economy

• The World Bank has announced 57 billion US dollar financing for sub-Saharan Africa over the next three fiscal years (2017-2019).
• The World Bank has approved a $175 million loan to India for the National Hydrology Project to improve India’s ability to forecast floods and reduce the recurring chances of floods and droughts.
• The Goods and Service Tax (GST) council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cleared the remaining State GST (SGST) and Union Territory GST (UTGST) draft bills during its 12 Council meeting.
• RBI has been authorized by Government of India (GOI) to conduct field trials of plastic notes of Rs 10 in five cities across the country.

Banking

• RBI proposed to fix the upper limit for Pre-paid Payment Instruments (PPIs) at Rs 1 lakh in view of growing usage of PPIs for a purchase of goods and services.
• ICICI Bank topped the list of banks that witnessed most number of frauds during April-December period of 2016 with state-owned SBI taking the second spot, according to RBI data.
• Russian bank VTB has decided to close its only office in New Delhi, India to cut costs but will continue to work in India, the bank stated.
• Rs 3-lakh limit proposed for cash payments(cash transaction limit) in the Budget for 2017-18 will be brought down to Rs 2 lakh,according to 45th Amdendments finance bill, Aadhaar mandatory for I-T returns.
• All 5 associate bank of SBI to operate as SBI from 1st April 2017.
• New-Delhi headquartered The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will be merged with the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI).
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has finalized Rs 8,586-crore capital infusion for 10 PSU banks
• Mahesh Kumar Jain, who was Managing Director & CEO at Indian Bank, has been appointed as Managing Director & CEO of IDBI Bank. Kishore Piraji Kharat, who was appointed as IDBI Bank CEO, has now been appointed as Managing Director and CEO of Indian Bank.
• Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched ESAF (Evangelical Social Action Forum) Small Finance Bank, Kerala’s first private sector bank since the country’s Independence, in Thrissur, Kerala.
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed celebrities to endorse Mutual Fund products at the industry level and issued new advertising code that will require fund houses to communicate in a simple manner with the public.
• State Bank of India and real estate developers’ body (Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India) CREDAI have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly conduct various initiatives towards development of the realty sector.
• Chennai Port Trust and the Government of Puducherry has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for handling EXIM cargo originating from Puducherry Port hinterland in New Delhi. 
• HDFC Bank launched an instant digital Loan Against Securities (LAS) facility in collaboration with the National Securities Depository Ltd.(NSDL).
• Private insurer Future Generali India Insurance Company (FGII) has entered into a corporate agency tie-up for its products with public lender UCO Bank.
• Central Bank of India has been awarded first prize in the implementation of Official Language Policy in the western region for the year 2015-2016.

Books and Authors

• Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has launched his autobiography titled "My Story" at Kolkata.

Mobile Applications (Apps)

• South Indian Bank (SIB) has introduced Aadhar-based payment in its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) mobile application- 'SIB M-Pay'. 
• Samsung(Android phone maker) launched its digital payment application, called 'Samsung Pay'.
• ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets has announced the launch of a mobile banking app 'Mera iMobile' for rural customers.
• Amitabh Bachchan launches world's first app (‘ABC of Breast Health’) for breast health

Schemes/ Programme

• Amazon India has come out with a new programme for sellers to get insights and help related to the goods and services tax (GST), which is set to be rolled out from July 1, 2017 called the ‘A-Z GST Guide’.
• The government has launched a new scheme "Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES)" for developing export linked infrastructure in states with a view to promote outbound shipments.
• Telangana launched Rs. 605-crore ‘KCR Kit’ scheme for pregnant women, new born baby.

Agreements

• Bharti Airtel has acquired Tikona Digital's 4G airwaves for Rs 1,600 crore to take on Reliance Jio Infocomm and the Vodafone-Idea Cellular in the competitive market.
• Idea Cellular board approves merger with Vodafone India Ltd.
• India and ADB Signed $350 Million Loan for Roads in Madhya Pradesh.
• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed definitive agreements to buy out debt-ridden Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s (GSPC) entire 80% stake in KG-basin natural gas block for $1.2 billion.
• India and Brazil initialed the text of the Social Security Agreement (SSA) in Brazil. This SSA is an outcome of the meetings of BRICS Labour & Employment Ministers held on 9 June 2016 in Geneva and on 27-28 September 2016 in New Delhi. The SSA between India and Brazil once in force by early 2018 will be the first such agreement between the BRICS countries.
• India with World Health Organization (WHO) signed a 'call for action' and pledged to scale up measures to end the Tuberculosis by 2030.
• Bandhan Bank, has signed an agreement with Avenues India Pvt Ltd, a payment solution provider to provide merchants with seamless access to point-of-sales (POS) and payment gateway products.
• The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has tied up with Sentifi, a Swiss company and leader in algorithmic-based analysis, for social media updates of 40,000 globally listed stocks.
• Yes Bank partners with Payjo for artificial intelligence solutions.

Brand Ambassador

• PepsiCo’s sports drink brand Gatorade has roped in Indian shuttler PV Sindhu as its brand ambassador.
• Shahid Afridi appointed ambassador of Blind Cricket World Cup 2018.

Sports

• Ravindra Jadeja No.1 bowler and Cheteshwar Pujara No.2 batsman according to ICC Test Rankings.
• Cheteshwar Pujara has becomes first Indian to face 500 balls in Test innings.
• Tamil Nadu has won the domestic 50-over competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, for the fifth time.
• Roger Federer claims fifth Indian Wells Masters title after defeating Stan Wawrinka in California, USA.
• Ankur Mittal clinches double trap gold at International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in New Delhi.
• India's Vidya Pillai won silver in the World Women Snooker Championship in Singapore.

Award & Honour

• The 8th Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2016 (Northern and Eastern Region) were announced in New Delhi. Anima Pookkunnyil, Assistant Editor with BusinessLine, and Shreya Ila Anasuya, a freelance journalist, were awarded this year for their critical gender-sensitive reportage. 
• ABB India bags award for restoring 1,035 MW Sharavathi hydroelectric plant in Karnataka
• Singapore's Changi Airport has been voted the World's Best Airport by air travellers at the 2017 World Airport Awards for the fifth consecutive year.
• An Indian-American high school student, Indrani Das, 17, of New Jersey, has won the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search bagging the top award of 250,000 dollars.
• The French mathematician Yves Meyer, a self-described “nomad” who has made deep contributions to the many subfields through which he has roamed over the past half-century, received the 2017 Abel Prize.
• Ed Sheeran to Receive Songwriters Hall of Fame's 2017 Hal David Starlight Award.
• India win 8 medals in the 9th Para Athletics Grand Prix in dubai with 3 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals. Sundar Singh Gurjar was the star among the Indians as he won a gold each in men's Javelin Throw F-46 and Discus Throw F-46 competitions. The third Indian gold was bagged by Narender Ranbir in men's Javelin Throw F-44 with an effort of 47.75m.
• TV journalist Ravish Kumar was honoured with the first Kuldip Nayar journalism award.
• An Indian-American computer scientist, Anshumali Shrivastava has won National Science Foundation (NSF)'s prestigious CAREER award for his research on redesigning current machine-learning processes. 

Conference / Events / Host 

• 'International Buddhist Conference' organized by Ministry of Culture and Nava Nalanda Mahavira Deemed University in Rajgir, Bihar.
• Harsh Vardhan will inaugurate the 5th foundation day function of the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) in New Delhi.
• The International Conference on the Vision Zero and its relevance to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) began at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
• First joint cycle expedition of India-Bangladesh Army flagged off from Agartala.

Obituary

• Dev Raj Sikka, former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, passed away at Pune.
• Ashwin Sundar, Former national racing champion and his wife died in a car mishap.

Miscellaneous

• The high-level Committee has been formed to examine the working of the regulatory bodies Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH) and their governing legislations, The committee will be headed by Arvind Panagariya.
• The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, is the first academic institution to get a supercomputing facility under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
• India ranks 131st out of 181 countries on Human Development Index, Report published by United Nation. Norway Topped the lists.
• India ranked 122nd out of 155 countries in the recently released World Happiness Report, 2017.
• India ranks 148 globally in terms of representation of women in executive government and parliament, according to a report published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women.
• Four Indian cities are among the cheapest to live in globally, while Singapore (last in the list) has been ranked as the most expensive for the fourth consecutive year, according to a 'Worldwide Cost of Living 2017' report by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Bengaluru (3rd place), Chennai (6th), Mumbai (7th) and New Delhi (10th) have been ranked by EIU among the 10 cheapest cities in the world.
• India's contribution to the United Nations rose 55 per cent to Rs 244 crore in 2015-16 compared with the previous fiscal.
• The government of India is all set to come up with the country's first-of-its-kind dictionary which aims to bring uniformity in sign languages used by hearing and speech impaired people across the nation.
• The Government has approved a new scheme to provide financial assistance or capital subsidy to small powerloom units, for installation of Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) plant, in order to alleviate the problem of power cut and shortages faced by decentralized powerloom units in India.
• Sanjauli police station of Sanjauli the main suburb of the city of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh has become the first police post in the country to be linked with Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).
• The Times Higher Education (THE) released its Asia University Rankings 2017 . The top rank in the Asia University Rankings was attained by the National University of Singapore (NUS) for the second consecutive year. According to the 2017 ranking, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has been ranked best Indian University and has been placed at 27th position among the universities in Asia.
• Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has unseated his actor Shah Rukh Khan to become the top earning celebrity of 2016 in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List.
• First Airbus training centre in Asia to come up near Delhi's IGI Airport.
• MIT Pune, IBM unveil robot 'Chintu' to assist senior citizens in their everyday tasks.

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