VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MARCH 11^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MARCH 11^th, 2019

1.     The new visa agreement between Maldives and India has come into force from today. 

a.      The agreement will provide a liberal visa policy for Maldivians seeking medical treatment as well as education and business opportunities in India.

b.      The visa deal will allow Maldivian businessmen and tourists to stay in India for 90 days without a visa. 

c.      Maldivians with tourist visas can also stay in India for treatment if they suffer a sudden medical issue. 

2.     Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina today jointly inaugurated 4 projects via video conferencing in various fields including Road transport, Health and Education.

3.     The Election Commission has announced that during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all EVMs will carry photographs of candidates to avoid confusion over similar names. 

a.      The photograph will be printed on the EVM ballot units as well as on postal ballot papers.

b.      Note : India had gone to polls with Photo Electoral Rolls for the first time in 2009.

4.     India's 1st holistic LGBTQ clinic and community-based HIV treatment centre was inaugurated in Mumbai today. 

a.      Started by Humsafar Trust, the centre will also provide for Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), used in treatment of HIV. 

5.     Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the new Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology at Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh). 

a.      It is a state-of-the-art institution spread over 25 acres and built at an estimated cost of Rs. 289 crore. 

b.      The Institute comprises of an auditorium with seating capacity of 1000 people, an open-air theatre and an Archaeological Museum.

6.     The Marayoor jaggery, the traditional and handmade product from Idukki district (Kerala), has finally received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag from central government. 

a.      Produced in Marayoor, this jaggery is made from sugarcane and no chemicals are added during the manufacturing process. 

7.     The World Bank has provided additional financing of $137 million (nearly ₹960 crore)for the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) to rehabilitate and modernise over 220 selected large dams in 6 states (Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand). 

a.      Note : Previously, the bank approved $350 million to finance DRIP in 2010.

8.     The Goa government has approved setting up 2 Information Technology (IT) parks in North Goa, seeking to address the IT sector's future demands. 

a.      The IT Parks will come up at Chimbel and Penha-de-Franca villages, bordering Panaji. 

b.      The Chimbel project is an "integrated IT township" while the Penha-de-Franca project is a "hybrid IT Park" under the Goa Information Technology Development Act, 2007.

9.     Employees wouldn't require to file employee provident fund transfer claims on changing their jobs from the next fiscal as the process would be made automated.

a.      Currently, EPFO subscribers are required to file EPF transfer claims on changing jobs despite having a universal account number. 

b.      The EPFO gets about eight lakh EPF transfer claims every year.

10.India has launched its 3rd IT corridor in China. 

a.      The corridor will facilitate partnerships between Indian and Chinese companies. 

b.      The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) entered into a partnership with China’s Xuzhou city from Jiangsu Province in China to help develop the IT corridor.

c.      The IT industry body has already launched such corridors at Dalian and Guiyang cities to cash in on the burgeoning Chinese IT industry market.

11.IIT Madras has teamed up with sustainable technology company Teerthaa to create a device that can produce potable water from atmospheric air. 

a.      The device named 'NERO', that will be powered by solar thermal energy, will produce 4 to 5 litres of potable water per day. 

12.A team of IIT-Kharagpur students has developed the code for a smartphone app that can detect counterfeit currency. 

a.      The app verifies a note's authenticity, uploaded by a user, using 25 features extracted from the front and rear side of it. 

13.President Ram Nath Kovind today conferred the Padma awards on prominent personalities at a civil investiture ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan. 

a.      Padma Bhusan was presented to Mohanlal (Malayalam Actor), Pravin Gordhan (South African politician), Jhon Chambers (former Cisco head), Hukumdev Narayan Yadav (Parliamentarian), Kariya Munda ((Parliamentarian), Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (Parliamentarian), and Kuldip Nayar (late journalist).

b.      Padma Shri was conferred on various personalities including Harika Dronavalli (Chess player), Sharat Kamal (Table Tennis player), Bhagirati Devi (Social Worker), Muktaben Dagli (Social Worker), Prabhudeva (Actor), Shankar Mahadevan (Music Director), S Jaishankar (former civil servant), Rajkumari Devi (Agriculturist), Babaulal Dahiya (Agriculturist), Dilip Chakravarty (Archaeologist), Mammen Chandy (Hematologist).

c.      This year, 112 personalities were selected for the Padma awards, which was announced on the eve of Republic Day. 

d.      The remaining awardees are likely to be conferred the honour at another function to be held later this month. 

e.      Check Complete List of Padma Awardees 2019 from HERE

14.Gymnast Dipa Karmakar was honoured by 'Barbie' in celebration of their 60th anniversary and was presented a doll modelled after her. 

15.Mohammad Shtayyeh has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Palestine.

a.      He is going to replace Rami al-Hamdallah, who tendered his resignation from the post 6 weeks ago. 

16.Former finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia has been appointed as the new chancellor of Gujarat Central University for a period of five years.

a.      Hasmukh Adhia was a Gujarat cadre IAS officer and was appointed as the secretary in the Department of Financial Services after then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi took charge as the Prime Minister in 2014.

17.IDBI Bank today announced that it is considering to extend the tenure of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) Rakesh Sharma for a period of 3 years. 

a.      Sharma's six-month term at IDBI Bank is set to end in April.