Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: March 1st week (01 March – 07 March)

The government has asked all banks to provide mobile banking facility to all customers by March 31 in a bid to push digital transactions.

State Bank of India, which is the largest employer of those with disabilities, has taken the lead to set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for training employees with disability in Bengaluru.

India has decided to seek the aid only through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) of the World Bank and cease the funding from its affiliate — International Development Agency (IDA).

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched “Swachh Shakti Saptah” in Gurugram in Haryana to raise awareness on sanitation and cleanliness.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) declined from 57 to 41 per 1,000 live births between NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4.

With an aim to free India from cataract by 2022, the government has approved a Rs 756 crore scheme to treat over 700 lakh such patients in the next five years. The scheme would render Rs 2,000 as financial assistance for each operation, including cost of lenses.

In order to provide food at subsided rate to the poor in urban areas, Madhya Pradesh government has announced ‘Deendayal Rasoi Yojna’ while presenting Madhya Pradesh’s Budget for 2017-2018.

Kerala has achieved the maximum number of registrations under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime with at least 60 per cent of an estimated 2.5 lakh traders migrating to the new platform.

In a bid to upgrade the current long-term evolution (LTE) mobile communication services across India, Samsung announced its innovative “I&G (Infill & Growth) Project” for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd that will help expand both the current network capacity as well as network coverage.

Indian filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick Under My Burkha, which has been denied a certificate by the country’s movie censor board, has bagged the Audience Award at the Glasgow Film Festival 2017.

India’s cricket team captain Virat Kohli, given to the International Cricketer of the Year, would be presented with the prestigious Polly Umrigar Award at the BCCI Annual Awards.

Australian women cricketer Sarah Coyte, who was also a part of Australia’s 2014 World T20-winning squad, has announced her retirement from all forms of the game.

Nigeria’s former Minister for Environment, Amina Mohammed, has been officially sworn in as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations at the headquarters in New York.

Because of Rihanna’s (Robyn Rihanna Fenty) work in her native island of Barbados and the charities she has founded over the years, the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations honored her with the 2017 Harvard Humanitarian of the Year award.

The Reserve Bank of India has advised bank-operated Financial Literacy Centres to conduct special camps for one year beginning April 1, 2017 on “going digital” through Unified Payments Interface and the *99# service, in view of the government’s emphasis on increasing digital transactions post-demonetisation.

HDFC Life has announced the launch of an exclusive data-led group term insurance plan in partnership with ET Money, the Times Internet backed financial services app. This is the country’s first term insurance plan based on the spend pattern of the users, the private insurer said in a release.

The Ministry of Women & Child Development is observing the Swachhta Pakhwada from 1st March 2017 to 15th March 2017, to raise awareness about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan among women and children. The Swachhta Pakhwada is observed by various Ministries of Government of India to achieve the goal of universal sanitation, hygiene and ‘open defecation free’ India by 2019.

Gopal Baglay, who headed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) division dealing with Pakistan assumed charge as Ministry spokesperson. He has replaced Vikas Swarup, who has been appointed envoy to Canada.

Senior tribal leader from Chhattisgarh and ex-parliamentarian Nand Kumar Sai today assumed charge as chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST). The 71-year-old Sai succeeds Rameshwar Oraon

Telecom Secretary J S Deepak was named India’s next Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from June this year.

Miffed by an allegedly ‘dramatised’ documentary created by BBC on Assam’s Kaziranga National Park (KNP), the Indian government has barred the global news agency from shooting in any of its 50 tiger reserves for a period of five years.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has won the annual Visitor’s Award for the ‘Best University’, 2017.

Making it compulsory for account-holders to maintain a minimum balance, the State Bank of India (SBI) has announced that it will be charging defaulters a penalty from April 1 onwards. Making maintenance of Rs 5,000 mandatory for accounts in metropolitan areas, Rs 3,000 in urban areas, Rs 2,000 in semi-urban areas and Rs 1,000 in rural areas, the SBI listed out the charges to be effective from April 1.

To enable the banking sector tackle the problem of stressed assets, which now stands at about Rs 12 lakh crore, the Centre has set up an information utility (IU) called National E-Governance Services.

To promote start-ups in the state, the Odisha government has signed an agreement with Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Union ministry of commerce and industries.

Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation is to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Assam Government for joint promotion of tourism places in each of their respective States with the active participation of the travel industry.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has announced that Sanskrit will be made a compulsory language for students up to class 8 in the state.

The Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited, popularly known as Poompuhar, will join hands with National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Hyderabad, to create contemporary designs. Under a one-year deal, which can be mutually extended, NIFT will supply 15 designs every month to Poompuhar.

Rotary, as part of its India Literacy Mission, is organising the ‘Rotary South Asia Lieracy Summit’ in Chennai, Tamil Nadu from March 3 to 5.

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has launched a portal which will be a “hub of learning, interaction, opportunity, and connection.” The “ammakalviyagam.in”, named after late chief minister Jayalalithaa, was launched by Panneerselvam as part of her 69th birth anniversary celebrations.

Senior IAS officer T Jacob has been appointed as Secretary, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Following directives issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and to make smart cards interoperable, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) announced that all cards issued on and after April 1, 2017, will be non-refundable. Passengers who have old cards will also not be able to seek a refund of the balance on their cards, barring the security deposit.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Millicom International Cellular to combine the operations of their respective subsidiaries in Ghana.

H S Rao, veteran Indian journalist of the Press Trust of India news agency in the UK, has received a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his illustrious career spanning nearly five decades.

China – Top ; India – 5^th

United States and South Korean troops kicked off the 2017 iteration of their large-scale annual Foal Eagle exercise.

Former US President Barack Obama will be honoured by John F. Kennedy Foundation’s ‘Profile in Courage’ award this year.

Sri Lanka won the “Most Popular Tourism Destination Award” at the Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF) in China.

Real Madrid star and the first French player to have won the Ballon d’Or award, Raymond Kopa has died at the age of 85 .

Cook-cum-helpers working under the Midday meal scheme as well as the student beneficiaries will now be required to have an Aadhaar card to avail the facility with the HRD ministry mandating the same. The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), under the Human Resource Development ministry, has decided to give a window till June 30 to those who do not have an Aadhaar card yet.

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has successfully coordinated Operation Thunder Bird from January 30 to February 19, 2017 in its fight to end poaching of India’s wildlife animals. It also had convened Operation Save Kurma, a species specific operation on turtles between 15 December 2016 and 30 January 2017.

Google India and Telangana government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at supporting the digitisation efforts of the state.

In a strategic move, Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia and India’s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel have announced to create a strategic roadmap for network evolution to the 5G-technology standard and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices.

René Garcia Préval was a Haitian politician and agronomist who twice served as President of Haiti, from February 7, 1996 to February 7, 2001

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra released his latest book ‘Numbers Do Lie’ at an event in Delhi. Also present at the launch was former India captain and arguably India’s greatest ever all-rounder — Kapil Dev.

As NPAs of public sector banks soared to a staggering Rs 6.8 lakh crore, the chairman of a key Parliamentary panel has favoured naming and shaming corporate houses which default on repayment of bank loans. PAC chief K V Thomas hopes “naming and shaming” such corporate houses may help financial institutions get back their money.

India’s tallest national flag, measuring 360 feet, was hoisted at the Attari-Wagah joint check post in Punjab. A 293-foot tall tricolour in Ranchi had held the record earlier.

India will lead the world in smart phone adoption with a net addition of 350 million connections in 2016-20. A GSM Association report released in Barcelona says, the estimates are based on the GSMA Intelligence Consumer Survey 2016 conducted across 56 countries on the mobile usage trend.

Vijayawada Airport in Gannavaram has been renamed as ‘Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao-Amaravati Airport’ after the legendary actor and founder of the ruling Telugu Desam Party, and the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.
The Tirupati Airport has been renamed as ‘Sri Venkateswara Airport’ after Lord Venkateswara of the temple town.

Haryana Assembly announced ‘Tirtha Darshan’ scheme, under which senior citizens of the state will be able to go on pilgrimage within the country on government expenses.

M P Veerendra Kumar was chosen for the prestigious award for his Malayalam travelogue ‘Hymavathabhoovil’, which dwells upon ancient trails of Indian culture, myth, literature and people strewn in the plains, valleys and mountains of India”.

Unseeded American Sam Querrey stunned second-seeded Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) on March 4, 2017 to win the ATP Mexico Open.

HDFC Bank has announced the launch of an electronic virtual assistant (EVA), an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot, for customer services. EVA is India’s first AI-based banking chatbot and can answer millions of customer queries across multiple channels instantly.

Public sector Canara Bank has won a number of medals in the Collateral Awards Category at the 11th Global Communication Conclave held in Bangaluru by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI). The bank won a gold medal for a radio jingle and silver medals for Corporate Film and Brochure (CSR). It won bronze medals for its in-house magazine (regional language),corporate advertisement – print, table calendar – 2017 and Big Diary 2017.

Finance Ministry has agreed in-principle to allow public sector banks to offer stock options to their employees from next fiscal — a move aimed at retaining experienced hands with better incentives. According to sources, Employee Stock Option plans (ESOPs) could be given by those banks which have not only earned substantial profit but also made remarkable improvement in managing NPAs.

The proposal seeks to provide technical support to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in strengthening capacities of governance institutions including Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs) to better leverage opportunities created for gender equality through legislation, policies and programmes.

Al Nagah-II 2017 is a joint training exercise of the Indian Army and the Royal Army of Oman

The joint training exercise of the Indian Army and the Royal Army of Oman, named Al Nagah-II 2017, commenced with the opening ceremony at Bakloh in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.

Amid a major row with neighbouring Punjab over river water sharing through the SYL canal, the Haryana government has allocated Rs 100 crore in its 2017-18 budget for the construction of the controversial canal.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been recently honoured with the best actress award for her performance in ‘Sarbjit’ at the International Film Festival and Awards of Australia (IFFAA).

The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary in March 2017. Indonesia, as the current Chair of IORA, will host the first ever IORA Leaders’ Summit on 7 March 2017 in Jakarta under the theme”Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous Indian Ocean”.

Rabi Ray was an Indian socialist politician, a Gandhian, a speaker of the Lok Sabha and a former Union minister. He hailed from Odisha.

China’s banking system surpassed that of the eurozone, becoming the world’s largest by assets. Chinese bank assets, frequently discussed here and which are also the basis for Kyle Bass’ bearish stance on China, hit $33 trillion at the end of 2016, versus $31 trillion for the eurozone, $16 trillion for the US and $7 trillion for Japan.

IDFC Bank has become the first bank to launch the biometric-based payment system Aadhaar Pay through its network.

A joint military exercise ‘Surya Kiran-Xi’ between India and Nepal began today in Pithoragarh area of Uttarakhand.

PM Modi inaugurated India’s longest cable-bridge in Bharuch,Gujarat which is 1344 metres long and 22.8 metres wide.

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has been ranked eighth at the ‘THE’s Best Small Universities in the World 2017’.

As per the Airports Council International (ACI) ranking Incheon Airport, South Korea got the top place in best airport in the highest passenger handling capacity category. While two Indian Airports namely Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport of Mumbai have shared the second spot with Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has secured the first position in Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passengers’ survey in the 5-15 million passengers per annum (MPPA) category for the year 2016.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named OPPO Mobiles India Private Limited as the new sponsor for the Indian Cricket Team.

Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas has won his third straight Brazil Open tennis title by defeating Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.

North Korea has issued a temporary ban on all Malaysians from leaving country in the wake of an increasingly heated diplomatic row over the murder of Pyongyang leader’s half brother in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Bengali folk singer Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee died in a accident in West Bengal’s Hooghly district after his car apparently lost control and fell off the highway.