Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 25, 26 and 27 March, 2017. These are important for the upcoming SBI PO Mains, NIACL Assistant Mains as well as other insurance and bank exams.
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Current Affairs at a Glance - 25-27 March, 2017 - Tap to show
- Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on 24 March 2017 launched MoPNG e-Seva, a dedicated grievances redressal platform on Social Media for all queries and grievances relating to Oil and Gas Sector.
- India has become the third largest aviation market in terms of domestic passenger traffic, according to an industry report by the Sydney-based aviation think-tank, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
- The Union Cabinet gave its approval to amend three existing Acts to facilitate the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
- The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on 26 March 2017 launched Mobile Clinic Services for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- The Indian Navy successfully test-fired the short-range Baraksurface-to-air missile from the aircraft carrier INSVikramaditya.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi features among the names of probable contenders for Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people in the world.
- HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri was on 25 March 2017 got featured in the World's Best CEOs list of American financial magazine Barron’s. Puri ranked at 23rd position in the list beating social media giant Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg who got the 30th spot.
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) on 22 March 2017 released the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI) Report 2017. The index ranked 127 countries on their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy. In the report, while Switzerland occupied the top spot, India was placed in the 87th position.
- The eleventh edition of the Earth Hour was observed globally, including India, on 25 March 2017 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time.
- The 2017 International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members was observed on 25 March 2017.
- The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade was observed globally on 25 March 2017 with the theme "Remember Slavery: Recognising the Legacy and Contributions of People of African Descent".
- The International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations andforthe Dignity of Victims was observed globally on 24 March 2017.
- Carrie Lam, a Beijing-backed civil servant, was on 26 March 2017 chosen as the Chief Executive of the HongKong. With this, Lam becomes the first women to be named as the women chief of the financial hub.
- Renowned pulmonologist Randeep Guleria on 24 March 2017 was the Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
- Bhubaneswar will host the mens hockey World League Final 2017 and World Cup 2018, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the government of Odisha confirmed on Monday.
- India’s special athletes won 73 medals in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games. The games were held between 18 March and 25 March 2017 in Austria.
- West Bengal on 26 March 2017 lifted the Santosh Trophy for the 32nd time at the GMC Stadium, Bambolim, Goa.
Financial and Industry News –
Union Petroleum Ministry launches MoPNG e-Seva
- Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on 24 March 2017 launched MoPNG e-Seva, a dedicated grievances redressal platform on Social Media for all queries and grievances relating to Oil and Gas Sector.
- The grievances will be dealt on real-time basis.
- The MoPNG e-Seva portal will be a single point interface for all customers to reach out to the government for addressing their feedback or grievances related to Oil & Gas Sector on social media.
- It will also deliver 24 x 7 support for consumers.
- It will serve as a single point for queries on Twitter and Facebook to begin with; and other social media platforms in due course.
- A team of Nodal Officers from Oil Companies and Allied Services will be addressing the issues on real-time basis.
India becomes the third largest aviation market in domestic traffic
- India has become the third largest aviation market in terms of domestic passenger traffic, according to an industry report by the Sydney-based aviation think-tank, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
- According to the details in the report, India’s domestic passenger traffic stood at 100 million in 2016, which is only behind the US (719 million) and China (436 million).
- India acquired the third position by beating Japan, the domestic passenger traffic of which stood at 97 million in 2016.
- The domestic air traffic in India has shown a consistent growth of 20 to 25 per cent throughout 2015 and 2016 with a peak in January 2017at 25.13 per cent.
- According to CAPA, India, which is currently at the fourth position along with the UK in terms of overall air passenger traffic including both domestic and international air passenger traffic, is inching closer towards becoming the third largest one by March 2018.
- The same was confirmed by the head of CAPA India, Kapil Kail who said India will become the third largest market 2-3 years ahead of the projected time due to higher rate of growth.
Union Cabinet approved amendments to existing Acts to facilitate implementation of GST
- The Union Cabinet gave its approval to amend three existing Acts to facilitate the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
- The approval was given at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 March 2017 in New Delhi.
Following are the three existing Acts which will be amended by the Parliament.
i. The Customs Act, 1962
ii. The Customs Tariff Act, 1975
iii. The Central Excise Act, 1944
- Besides, the Cabinet gave its approval to repeal the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.
- The above proposals will result in the following benefits.
- Insertion of Sections 108A and 108B in the Customs Act, 1962 seeks to provide for furnishing of information relating to import or export of goods by specified persons.
- This amendment will enable analysis and detection of cases of under or over-valuation in imports and exports, misuse of export promotion schemes including the Drawback Scheme.
New related to India and states –
Indian Navy to de-induct TU142M Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft after 29 years
- Indian Navy on 26 March 2017 decided to de-induct TU142M Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft after 29 years of dedicated service to the nation.
- The aircraft will be formally de-inducted on 29 March 2017 by Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff at a ceremony to be held at INS Rajali, informally known as Arakkonam Naval Air Station. Rajali is located near Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu.
- Reports suggest that to commemorate the stellar service of the TU142M aircraft, a TU Static Display aircraft will be inaugurated on the occasion at INS Rajali.
- Besides, an Indian Navy statement says that the role of the TU142M will be taken by P-8I aircraft, which was inducted into the Indian Navy in recent past.
- Commander Yogender Mair, the last Commanding Officer of the squadron with the TU 142M aircraft, will hand over the charge to Commander V. Ranganathan, who will be the first Squadron Commanding Officer with the P-8l.
ESIC launches Mobile Clinic Services in AP, Telangana
- The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on 26 March 2017 launched Mobile Clinic Services for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- With this, workers, who are covered by the ESI facility but unable to access the medical services due to location problems, can now easily avail the services through these Mobile Clinics.
- ESI services cover around 48 lakh beneficiaries through 12 lakh insured persons in Telangana. There are a total of six ESI hospitals, 70 dispensaries, 149 panel clinics and two diagnostic centres in the state.
- Telangana and Andhra Pradesh became the first states in the country to offer the facility of mobile clinics. Later, the service will be made available in other parts of the country as well.
- These mobile clinics will serve the areas which are not covered by ESI Dispensaries in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
- 13 mobile clinics were launched initially and among them 8 clinics would serve in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda and Nizamabad districts in Telangana.
Arun Jailtley handed over DRDO developed products to Indian Navy
- The Union Minister of Defence, Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley on 24 March 2017 handed over the following three naval systems to the Indian Navy at a ceremony held in New Delhi.
i. USHUS-II Submarine Sonar
ii. Directing Gear for Hull Mounted Sonar Array
iii. RLG based Inertial Navigation System for Ship Applications (INS-SA)
- All these naval systems were developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). And, they were handed over to the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba.
- On this occasion, Arun Jaitley released two other products developed by the DRDO, namely, IP-based Secure Phone and the Gallium Nitride Technology.
Navy successfully test-fired Barak missile from INS Vikramaditya
- The Indian Navy successfully test-fired the short-range Barak surface-to-air missile from the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
- The firing was conducted between 21 March and 23 March 2017 as part of the 'Operational Readiness Inspection' of the Western Fleet by Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Naval Command.
- During the firing carried out in the Arabian Sea, the missile was fired against a live low flying high speed target. The Indian Navy officials confirmed that Barak engaged and destroyed the target successfully.
- Barak Class Missiles are jointly developed by India and Israel.
Lists & Indexes –
PM Modi among Time magazine contenders for most influential people
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi features among the names of probable contenders for Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people in the world.
- The official list comprising names of leading artists, world leaders, lawmakers, scientist and leaders in technology and business field will be announced by the magazine next month.
Key Highlights
- The final voting rights to decide among the probable contenders will lie in the hands of the publication’s readers.
- The editors of Time will however, determine the ultimate honourees.
- Modi’s name had been among the magazine’s last year’s list of probable contenders as well.
- He was also named among the publication’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2015.
- In fact, former US President Barack Obama had written a profile for him in the magazine.
- Indians in Times 100 most influential list 2016
- The Indians who featured in the magazine’s 100 most influential people list 2016 include Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, tennis star Sania Mirza, Indian environmentalist and political activist Sunita Narain, Indian American physician Raj Panjabi, Flipkart-founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, Indian born CEO of Google Sundar Pichai and the then Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan.
HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri features in World's Best CEOs list by Barron's
- HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri was on 25 March 2017 got featured in the World's Best CEOs list of American financial magazine Barron’s. Puri ranked at 23rd position in the list beating social media giant Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg who got the 30th spot.
- The top three positions in the list were secured by Mary Barra of General Motors, Gary Dickerson of Applied Materials and Stephen Hemsley respectively.
- Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella got the fifth spot in the list.
WEF released Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2017
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) on 22 March 2017 released the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI) Report 2017. The index ranked 127 countries on their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy.
- In the report, while Switzerland occupied the top spot, India was placed in the 87th position.
- Top performers come in all shapes and sizes: While many of this year’s top performers tend to be smaller countries, both in size of gross domestic product and population, and typically have advanced economies, a significant number of countries do not fit this mould.
- European countries dominate the leader board: As in previous years, countries from Europe continue to hold many of the top 20 ranks on the EAPI. Colombia (8th), New Zealand (9th), Uruguay (10th) and Costa Rica (14th), which figured in the top 20, are the only exceptions.
- The world’s biggest energy consumers are being outperformed: Major energy consumers of the world, both in the developed and developing world, continue to struggle to take leading positions on the EAPI.
Days –
Earth Hour observed on 25 March 2017
- The eleventh edition of the Earth Hour was observed globally, including India, on 25 March 2017 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. The focus of the global event was to engage people in critical climate conversations and solutions.
- From New York to New Zealand, Paris to Paraguay millions of citizens came together to celebrate the event.
- 187 countries and territories celebrated the Earth Hour 2017. And, more than 3,000 landmarks switched off their lights and millions of individuals, businesses and organizations across seven continents stepped forward to change climate change.
- More than 350 ambassdors and influencers joined the Earth Hour 2017.
- Around 18,000 people donated their facebook feed that has a potential reach of 12 million users.
- To mark the occasion, iconic monuments, including India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Red Fort, Akshardham Temple, Qutab Minar, Safdarjung Tomb and Lotus Temple switched off their lights.
International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members observed
- The 2017 International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members was observed on 25 March 2017.
- The day is observed each year on the anniversary of the abduction of Alec Collett.
- The day aims to mobilize action, demand justice and strengthen United Nations’ resolve to protect the UN staff and peacekeepers, as well as their colleagues in the non-governmental community and the press.
- As of 15 March 2015, 33 UN and associated personnel were detained by State authorities in 15 countries. One staff member is missing and two contractors remain in the custody of abductors.
International day of Remembrance of the victims of Transatlantic Slave Trade observed globally
- The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade was observed globally on 25 March 2017 with the theme "Remember Slavery: Recognising the Legacy and Contributions of People of African Descent".
- The theme aims to draw attention to the consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, especially the ways in which the enslaved Africans and their descendants influenced and continue to shape societies across the world, including in the areas of technology and culture.
- The theme also highlights the persistent spirit and innovation of the enslaved people.
International Day for Right to Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations 2017 observed
- The International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims was observed globally on 24 March 2017.
- In particular, the day recognizes the important work and values of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador, who was assasinated on 24 March 1980, after denouncing violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable populations and defending the principles of protecting lives.
- The Day aims to honour the memory of victims of gross and systematic human rights violations and promotes the importance of the right to truth and justice.
- The day also pays tribute to those who have devoted their lives to, and lost their lives in, the struggle to promote and protect human rights for all.
Appointments –
Carrie Lam to be Hong Kong's first female Chief Executive
- Carrie Lam, a Beijing-backed civil servant, was on 26 March 2017 chosen as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong. With this, Lam becomes the first women to be named as the women chief of the financial hub.
- Lam will become the Chief Executive of Hong Kong on 1 July 2017. She was chosen for the post with 777 votes while her closest rival John Tsang, the former financial secretary, was able to secure 365 votes.
- She was chosen for the post amid protests and accusations that Beijing is denying a more populist leader to the city. Accusations say, 7.3 million people of the city has no say in deciding their leader in the China-ruled city. The leader of the city is chosen from among several candidates by a 1200-people election committee, which is stacked with pro-Beijing and pro-establishment loyalists.
Randeep Guleria appointed as Director of AIIMS, New Delhi
- Renowned pulmonologist Randeep Guleria on 24 March 2017 was the Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
- The appointment was made by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dr Guleria has been appointed as Director, AIIMS, for five years.
- Dr Guleria will succeed Dr M C Mishra, who retired in January 2017 after serving for over three years.
Sports News –
Odisha to host hockey World League Final 2017, World Cup 2018
- Bhubaneswar will host the mens hockey World League Final 2017 and World Cup 2018, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the government of Odisha confirmed on Monday.
- It was also confirmed that Odisha will be the title sponsor of both events. As a result, the official event titles will be the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017 and the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, according to the FIH's official statement.
- Fans will descend upon the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar to share the glory of two of hockey's biggest events, where World League and World Cup champions will be crowned.
- The multi-purpose stadium, built in 2010, has facilities for athletics, football, basketball, tennis, table-tennis and swimming, ensuring that it is well-equipped to host international sporting events.
India won 73 medals in 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games
- India’s special athletes won 73 medals in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games. The games were held between 18 March and 25 March 2017 in Austria.
- India dominated in three team events - Floor Hockey (male), Unified Floorball and Traditional Floorball.
- Cumulatively, Indian athletes won 30 medals in these three games, which was also the highest tally in a single day. Along with this, the special women team also won 16 bronze medals.
- An important gold medal came in the Unified Floorball (Male) event, where India defeated Nigeria, while the Floor Hockey team crushed Lithuania 7-2.
Sebastian Vettel beats Lewis Hamilton to win Australian Grand Prix
- Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel on 26 March 2017 defeated Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to clinch the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.
- It was Vettel's first win since the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2015.
West Bengal wins 2016-17 Santosh Trophy
- West Bengal on 26 March 2017 lifted the Santosh Trophy for the 32nd time at the GMC Stadium, Bambolim, Goa.
- West Bengal’s Manvir Singh struck in the 119th minute for a 1-0 win over Goa.
- With the win, West Bengal ended a six-year wait having last won the title in 2011. Goa last won the title in the year 2009.
World –
World Conference on Environment 2017 concluded
- The World Conference on Environment 2017 concluded on 26 March 2017 in New Delhi. While the two-day long conference was inaugurated by the President Pranab Mukherjee on 25 March 2017, the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the closing ceremony at the Vigyan Bhawan.
- Supreme Court Justices, Chief Justices of various High Courts, Union Cabinet Ministers and distinguished invitees from India and abroad were the chief guests in various technical sessions of the conference.
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