Current Affairs 4 March 2018

Daily Current affairs 4 March 2018 Maharashtra gets its very own 1st ever Mega Food Park in Satara Maharashtra got its own 1s...

Daily Current affairs 4 March 2018

Maharashtra gets its very own 1st ever Mega Food Park in Satara

Maharashtra got its own 1st ever Mega Food Park in Satara Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd was inaugurated at Village Degaon in Satara district. Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal unveiled the Satara Mega Food Park in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.  Satara Mega Food Park, first in Maharashtra, is the 12th Mega Food Park operationalized in the country so far and the 10th operationalized during the tenure of present government", Ministry of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal said. The Ministry is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmer’s income and ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government.

Indian Railways on customer friendly mode introduces ticket printing in local language and abolishes MDR charges

 Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges will not be levied on passengers for booking railway tickets (at the railway ticketing counters as well as through IRCTC ticketing website) on payment made through Debit Cards for a transaction value up to Rupees one lakh. Instructions to this effect have been issued to the Banks by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance on 26th February 2018. This will further help in promoting digital and cashless transactions. The Ministry of Railways had informed Department of Expenditure that all proceeds from the sale of tickets through IRCTC website/counters go to Consolidated Fund of India through Ministry of Railways and such transactions should be considered as Government receipts. The benefits of Government transactions must be passed on to the public, and they should not face MDR charges while making payments to Government.

Punjab inks MoU with Nandan Nilekanis e-Gov to provide online services

Punjab government in both transparent and smooth manner, the state government signed a MoU with e-Governance Foundation (e-Gov) of Nandan Nilekani. According to the MoU, a total of 67 services would be provided online within a span of 1 year under 12 modules namely Property Tax, Water & Sewerage Management, Complaints and Grievance, Licensing, Fire Service, Verification, Birth and Death, ULB web portal, Mobile App, State and ULB Dashboards, Payroll and Financial Accounting. On this occasion, Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu "The Punjab Government is fully committed to fulfilling promises of delivering the citizen-centric services to the people of the state in a transparent and smooth manner so as to ensure that they don't have to make rounds of government offices to avail the same."

'Arunachal Express' inaugurated making travelling convenient and viable for commuters

Arunachal Pradesh, State Minister of Railways, Rajen Gohain and Minister of Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the Arunachal Express which is ought to be a weekly express. Arunachal Express, a fully air-conditioned new weekly train service will run between Naharlagun and New Delhi. The new service will complement an existing weekly train service between the two places. It will also be the 14th direct train connecting Northeast with the national capital. The Arunachal Express will have state-of-the-art coaches which are measured to be modern and safe. The train will cover the 2,013 km distance between Naharlagun and Anand Vihar Terminal in little over 38 hours and will have 14 stoppages. The train will be completely air-conditioned and will have first class, two-tier and three-tier coaches along with a pantry car.

With 40 seats BJP thrones thundering victory in Tripura by dethroning Left rule

Bhartiya Janata Party conquers a thriving victory in Tripura by dethroning 25 years of Left government. With 40 seats BJP throned up Tripura while Left’s CPI is marching with 19 seats. The Results for Northeastern states Tripura, Nagaland, and Meghalaya will be declared in a short today as Election Commission has begun counting of votes today early morning amidst tight security. Battle has set high between Bhartiya Janata Party, Left’s Communist Party, Congress and other parties in NE states. A very close fight between BJP and Left suggests the early trends as BJP is leading with 40 seats while Left is leading with 19. In Meghalaya, early trends show Congress leading with 21 seats followed by NPP with 17 seats while BJP is leading with 6. Meanwhile in Nagaland BJP is again leading with 29 seats followed by NPF with 26 and Congress is heading ahead with 1.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says trade between India and Vietnam is growing despite global slowdown

Prime Minister Narendra Modi India and Vietnam will work together for an open and prosperous Indopacific region where sovereignty and international law are respected and disputes are resolved through dialogue.  In his press statement after holding delegation-level talks with President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang in New Delhi, both countries will work for strengthening Defence, Maritime, and energy cooperation.  Vietnam played an important role under Act East policy and bilateral trade between the two nations has grown from six billion dollars to 10 billion dollars despite the global slowdown. Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang's visit will strengthen bilateral relations between both the countries. India and Vietnam inherited the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Ho Chi Min and both fought against colonialism.

India beat Pakistan to win Snooker Team World Cup

India won the inaugural IBSF Snooker Team World Cup title. The Indian combine of Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra defeated Pakistan in the best-of-five final played in Doha.

Flipkart Limited invests 4843.4 crore into its India units to take on Amazon

The Singapore-based holding firm of Indian online retailer Flipkart had invested 4843.4 crores into two of its India entities, in a bid to take on its rival Amazon. Flipkart Limited had put 4472.4 crores into the marketplace unit of Flipkart India, Another Singapore-based unit Flipkart Marketplace Private Limited had invested₹370.9 crore into Flipkart Internet Private Limited, which owns and operates an online shopping portal in India. The funding is expected to help Flipkart build its war chest in the battle against Amazon.com Inc., which is rapidly gaining share in India’s online retail market. The investment comes at a time when the company had raised about $4 billion last year in two funding rounds from investors including Chinese Internet giant Tencent, U.S.-based e-commerce firm eBay, software maker Microsoft and Japan’s SoftBank Group. Last August, SoftBank, led by CEO Masayoshi Son announced an investment in Flipkart through its $100 billion technology-focused fund Vision Fund. Flipkart, which had in excess of $4 billion of cash on the balance sheet after that round, is now penetrating deeper into the Indian market.

International Current Affairs

1. World Wild Life Day: 3 March

World Wild Life Day was celebrated all over the world on March 3 to create awareness about the world’s wild animals and plants and safeguard them. 

• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) announced 3 March, as UN World Wildlife Day, to mark the date on which the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed.
• The theme for World Wildlife Day 2018 is: “Big cats: predators under threat”.

2. India, Russia, Bangladesh sign pact for Rooppur atomic plant

Indian companies can now participate in construction and installation works in the “non-critical” category for the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

• The Rooppur project is the first initiative under an Indo-Russian deal to undertake atomic energy projects in third countries.
• This will also be the first time Indian companies will be able to participate in a nuclear power project abroad.
• India is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and hence cannot participate directly in construction of atomic power reactors.

3. India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world

With 31 new Indians on the list, India comes third after China and USA on Hurun's Global Rich List 2018.

• However, China with 819 names and USA with 571 are way ahead in terms of number of billionaires.
• The total number of Indians on that list is 131, but if Indian-origins are considered then the tally would move up to 170.
• The Hurun Rich List 2018 ranked 2,694 billionaires from 68 countries and 2,157 companies.

National Current Affairs

4. List of Agreements signed visit of President of Vietnam to India

MoU on Economic and Trade Cooperation.

• Work Plan for the years 2018-2022 between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.
• MoU on Cooperation between the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, India (GCNEP) and the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (VINATOM).

Points to Remember

• Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia.
• Tran Dại Quang is the President of Vietnam. Nguyen Xuan Phuc is the Prime Minister of Vietnam.
• Hanoi is the Capital of Vietnam while Dong is the Currency.

Important Appointments

5. Armen Sarkisian Elected Next Armenian President

Armenia’s parliament on March 2 elected Armen Sarkisian as the country’s next president.

• Ninety lawmakers voted in favor of the 64-year-old Sarkisian, a former prime minister and currently the country’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
• Sarkisian succeeds Serzh Sarkisian, who opposition leaders say could now become prime minister and continue to wield power.

Points to Remember

• Armenia  is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia.
• Yerevan is the Capital of Vietnam while Dram is the Currency.

6. SBI Life Insurance appoints Sanjeev Nautiyal as MD, CEO

Private life insurer SBI Life Insurance has appointed Sanjeev Nautiyal as the managing director and chief executive officer of the company for two years.

• The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.
• Nautiyal took over the post from Arijit Basu and was the chief general manager of State Bank of India (SBI)'s Ahmedabad circle until now.
• He had started his career as a probationary officer in SBI in 1985.

Awards

7. Shatrughan Sinha wins lifetime achievement award in United Kingdom

Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the fields of arts and politics at a ceremony in the UK's Parliament complex in London.

• The annual 'Political and Public Life Awards', now in its 12th year, recognize individuals who have made a significant impact on public life or made a difference in their local communities.
• Sinha, who started his career as an actor in late 1960s, has to his credit over 225 Hindi feature films besides several in other Indian languages.
• A member of the ruling BJP, he represents Bihar state's Patna Sahib Constituency in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament.

Sports Current Affairs

8. India beat Pakistan to win Snooker Team World Cup

The Indian combine of Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra staged a remarkable recovery to beat Pakistan in the final of the inaugural IBSF Snooker Team World Cup.

• After being 0-2 down in the best-of-five final, India found themselves in a deeper hole at 0-30 down in the third frame, but won the next three sets to win the game.

Deaths

9. Noted Odia Bhajan singer Arabinda Muduli passes away

Noted Odia Bhajan singer Arabinda Muduli passed away following a cardiac arrest. He was 56.

• A musician, singer and lyricist, Muduli enthralled the audience with devotional songs and had won the hearts of millions of people in Odisha and elsewhere.
• Born on September 1, 1961 at Khanati in Khordha district, he was a devotee of lord Jagannath and sang only Bhajans.
• He was a disciple of legendary bhajan singer Bhikari Bal.