Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: March 4th week (24 March – 31 March)

Ashokamitran is the pen name of Jagadisa Thyagarajan, an Indian writer regarded one of the most influential figures in post-independent Tamil literature.

The Office of the Insurance Ombudsman, Delhi established under Redressal of Public Grievances, 1998, to deal with consumer complaints against the Insurance Companies operating in General Insurance business and Life Insurance business has been awarded ISO 9001:2015 certification by Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification. Out of 17 offices of the Insurance Ombudsman across the country, the Delhi office of Insurance Ombudsman has got the distinction of First Office being certified as ISO 9001 : 2015 office.

World Bank has committed UD$ 100 million for 13 districts in Uttarakhand. Total Project outlay is $ 125 million.

Minister of State for River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Vijay Goyal said the government has set an objective that no untreated municipal sewage or industrial effluent will be discharged into River Ganga by 2020 under Namami Gange programme.

Karnataka government announced the new Idea2POC (Idea to Proof of Concept) fund of Rs 10-crore fund for women entrepreneurs, through which the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology. Karnataka already has three other Idea2POC funds, one for all technology sectors (Rs 10 crore), one focused on agriculture (Rs 2.5 crore) and another focused on tourism (Rs 2.5 crore).

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. SayTrees, an NGO, installed the first vertical garden in the city on one of the pillars of the Hosur Road flyover

State Bank of India (SBI) chief Arundhati Bhattacharya has been ranked 26th in the Fortune’s top 50 greatest leaders. She is the only Indian corporate leader in the list. Theo Epstein, president of Chicago Cubs tops the ranks of the greatest global leaders in business, government, philanthropy, and the arts, followed by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Pope Francis, Melinda Gates, and Jeff Bezos.

E-commerce major 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. Called the ‘A-Z GST Guide’, the programme in its pilot phase has already helped train over 5,000 sellers on the Amazon platform to get ready for GST

German scientists are testing an ‘artificial Sun’, a massive light array for making hydrogen fuel by dissociating water molecules. The array consists of 140 Xenon lamps, typically used as cinematic spotlights, in a honeycomb pattern focused on an 8-inch-by-8-inch patch.

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh launched Coffee Table Book titled “50 Years – The Great Indian Milk Revolution” commemorating National Dairy Development Board’s (NDDB) Golden Jubilee year.

6 February 2018.

Blue Flag is a military aviation exercise held by the Israeli Air Force.

In a bid to woo the mobile-savvy youth, financial services company Tata Capital has launched a mobile app to offer personal loans up to Rs 15 lakh. The app, called myLoan, is a social profile-based personal loan mobile application.

The apex policy making body for indirect taxes, Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) is being rechristened as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) in the run up to the Goods and Services Tax regime to be rolled out from July 1.

Oxigen Services, India’s largest payment solutions provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Tourism, Arunachal Pradesh for becoming the preferred partner for providing digital payment solution to the residents and tourists visiting the state.

The 105th session of Indian Science Congress will be hosted by Osmania University (O.U) of Hyderabad during January 3-7, 2018.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher will be feted with a Kala Ratan Award by the Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

Flipkart is acquiring eBay India in a deal that is part of a $2 billion fundraising. This comes after recent reports claimed that Flipkart has closed its $1 billion funding from Microsoft, Tencent and eBay, and plans to raise $1 billion more

With its coffers running empty at the end of the current 2016-17 financial year, the state government has decided to borrow Rs 700 crore from the RBI on March 28 to pay this month’s salaries.

Ashwin went past South African pacer Dale Steyn, who had claimed 78 wickets in 12 Tests in 2007-08.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will allow an exchange of up to Rs 4,500 in banned Indian currency notes to each Nepali national.

An Indian Navy team is set to scale Mount Everest as a part of its ‘Sagar Tal se Sagar Matha (Seabed to Summit)’ expedition. The 24-member team, with personnel from INS Chakra and INS Chennai, will plant an ice-axe on the 8,848-metre high peak.

Christened as Railwire Saathi, the Wi-Fi kiosks will function like a PCO for Digital India and enable people to use services like e-commerce, online banking, offer them access to open school/university and insurance schemes, e-ticketing for train and bus services among others.

A resident of Rajasthan’s Bikaner, Tanushree Pareek has become the first woman combat officer to be commissioned in the 51-year history of the BSF, the country’s largest border guarding force. She will now be posted to command a unit along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.

India has become the third largest aviation market in terms of domestic passenger traffic, beating Japan. United States with 815 million passengers in 2016 enjoyed the top position, followed by China with 490 million

73 medals (37 golds, 10 silver and 26 bronze)

Vijaya Bank has entered into an MoU with Piaggio Vehicles for providing financial support for the purchase of vehicles under Small Road Transport Operators (SRTO) scheme in Bengaluru.

Repco Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) has signed an agreement with National Housing Bank for implementation of credit-linked subsidy scheme for the middle income group. The scheme will be implemented for one year with effect from January 1, 2017, in all statutory towns as per the Census 2011 and towns notified subsequently by the Centre

HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri’s name has featured in the list of world’s 30 best CEOs, published by American financial magazine Barron’s.

Gurgaon- 16 lanes on a 3-km stretch

Photojournalist Raghu Rai was conferred with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry for “his remarkable contribution to the field” at 6th National Photography Awards.

The country’s fast-growing e-commerce industry will finally mark its presence at the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), with Paytm set to become a member of the self-regulatory voluntary organisation next month.

Odisha has become the first state to facilitate financial inclusion and extend banking services in unbanked areas through SHGs formed under Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM).

The Odisha government on Monday signed an agreement with the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide banking services through Self Help Groups (SHGs)

Renowned playwright and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Arun Sarma died on Monday at a private hospital in the national Capital after a brief illness.

SBI Card, a leading credit card issuer, has launched a unique credit card ‘SBI Card Unnati’ targeted at all SBI customers, including Jan Dhan account holders throughout the country.

ICICI Bank has partnered with Truecaller to launch a UPI-based mobile payment service called ‘Truecaller Pay’.

Tata AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd has joined hands with Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) to launch m-Insurance which they said would also bring the economically weaker sections under insurance cover. m-Insurance provides life insurance cover of up to Rs. 1 lakh for the telecom company’s prepaid subscriber base in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as a pilot offer on select recharges.

India and Bavaria, Federal Republic of Germany will set up Joint Group to Identify Areas of Co-Operation in Water Sector

The partnership with Airtel will bring Truecaller app to feature phones in India.
A new Truecaller payments service has been announced in collaboration with ICICI bank.
Google Duo has been integrated into the Truecaller app, allowing users to make video calls directly
through it.

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has launched Mobile Clinic Services for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Indian-origin British director Gurinder Chadha has been honoured with the Sikh Jewel Award for 2017 for her immense contribution to British cinema.

Indian-American Vanita Gupta, who headed civil rights division in the Department of Justice in the Obama Administration, has been appointed as president and CEO of ‘The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’, becoming the first woman to head the prestigious organisation.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India on 27 March 2017 won the USD 20,000 Vietnam Open International Challenger badminton title.

Ahmed Kathrada, South Africa’s revered Indian-origin anti-apartheid activist who was one of Nelson Mandela’s closest aides in his struggle to end the white minority rule, died in Johannesburg.

Eminent jurist and senior advocate T R Andhyarujina has passed away.

Axis Bank has tied up with Wells Fargo, the third largest American bank by assets, to offer real time remittances from the Indian diaspora to their relatives back home. Under the arrangement between the two banks, any member of the Indian diaspora with an account with the Wells Fargo will be able to transfer money to their relatives back home and there will be no transaction fee applicable to the money transfers from USA. But the relative or the beneficiary in India will need to have an account with Axis Bank.

The 3rd G-20 Framework Working Group (FWG) Meeting under the G-20 German Presidency is being co-hosted by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Varanasi on 28th and 29th of March, 2017

In an initiative to promote energy efficiency, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has launched a scheme to distribute light-emitting diode (LED) tubelights and energy-efficient fans.

Reliance Infrastructure InvIT Fund has got a crucial approval from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). This is the first approval granted by NHAI for any InvIT fund.

Airports Authority of India won Dainik Bhaskar’s India Pride Awards – 2016 -17 for “Excellence in Infrastructure Development” in the category of Public Sector Undertaking – Central.

DataWind announced its collaboration with Vismaad Inc., the leading developer of educational and animated Punjabi content, to launch the first ever Punjabi education Tablet, Vidya-Tab Punjabi in India.

India’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin received Garfield Sobers Trophy for being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year.

World’s largest corporate Masala bond of HDFC starts trading on London Stock Exchange

The Court further prohibited all the vehicle registering authorities from registering BS-III vehicles on and from April 1 under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The Govardhan Eco Village of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at Wada taluka, has received an award instituted by Water Digest, a news portal on water management.

Priti Patel, Britain’s senior-most Indian-origin minister, has vowed to champion the interests of the Indian Diaspora and work for strengthening the Indo-UK ties as she received her ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman’

Ericsson and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly roll out a ‘5G for India’ program.

India signed its first loan agreement with the New Development Bank (NDB) for $350 million to be used in the development and upgradation of district roads in Madhya Pradesh.The objective of the project is the upgradation of major district roads in the state of Madhya Pradesh to improve connectivity of the interior areas of the state with the national and state highway networks

Forward S.V. Sunil and dragflick specialist Harmanpreet Singh have been named the Asian Hockey Federation’s Player of the Year and Promising Player (junior men) for the Year 2016 respectively

The Reserve Bank of India will set up enforcement department to effectively monitor banks in case they violate regulations. The RBI said that it has decided to establish a separate Enforcement Department which will start operations from April 1, 2017.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has okayed Rs 1,400 crore (EUR 200 million) loan to State Bank of India to fund solar power projects.

Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) announced the launch of ‘811’, India’s unique full-service digital banking ecosystem on mobile that will drive the bank’s organic growth agenda. It has been designed around the idea of simplicity and ease of use. 811 offers a zero balance savings account with zero charges for all digital transactions, where customers can earn up to 6% p.a. on their savings account balances.

Karnataka Bank and SBI Card have launched co-branded credit cards for the customers of Karnataka Bank. Through this alliance Karnataka Bank and SBI Card will launch two variants of the co-branded credit card – ‘Karnataka Bank Platinum SBI Card’ and ‘Karnataka Bank SimplySAVE SBI Card’.

The government has approved Rs 2,256 crore outlay for Project Saksham to bolster the information technology network for the new GST regime.

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a five-day Namami Brahmaputra river festival in Guwahati, Assam and suggested that the state government make it a regular event.

Vanaja N. Sarna was appointed as the new chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), following retirement from service of incumbent Najib Shah

Tamil Nadu have become the first state to win all BCCI senior trophies after winning the Deodhar Trophy. The state, which won the Ranji Trophy in 1987-88, also won the Vijay Hazare Trophy this year, making them five-time winners in the tournament. Tamil Nadu won the Irani Cup in 1988-89 and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2007-08.