16 March 2019 - Daily Current Affairs
1. India to host U-17 Women's Football World Cup in 2020
- India will host the Under-17 Women's Football World Cup in 2020.
- This was announced by the President of International Football Federation (FIFA) Gianni Infantino after the council meeting in Miami, USA on 15th March 2019.
- The tournament in India will be the seventh edition and the second to be held in Asia after Jordan in 2016.
- This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men's World Cup in 2017.
Note:
- The 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was held in Uruguay from 13 November to 1 December 2018.
- Spain won their first title, beating Mexico 2–1 in the Final.
Source: DD News
2. Karnataka lifts maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
- Karnataka defeated Maharashtra to win their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on 14th March 2019.
- With the win, Karnataka set a record of most number of wins in a row by an Indian domestic team as they won 14 T20 matches to lift the coveted T20 trophy.
- Karnataka also equalled Indian Premier League outfit Kolkata Knight Riders’ record of 14 consecutive wins.
Brief scores: Maharashtra 155/4 (Naushad Shaikh 69 not out, Rahul Tripathi 30, Abhimanyu Mithun 2/24) lost to Karnataka 159/2 (Mayank Agarwal 85 not out, Rohan Kadam 60).
Source: business standard
3. JP Duminy to retire from ODIs after ICC World Cup 2019
- South African all-rounder JP Duminy announced that he would retire from ODIs after the ICC World Cup in England.
- However, he will continue to be available for South Africa in T20 Internationals.
- The 34-year-old made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2004 and has played 193 matches in the format.
Source: The Hindu
4. SC lifts life ban on Sreesanth, asks BCCI to take a fresh decision
- The Supreme Court has set aside the life ban imposed on cricketer Sreesanth by BCCI over his involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
- The apex court directed BCCI to hear Sreesanth and take a fresh decision on the quantum of punishment within three months.
- However, it added that its order shall have no effect on criminal proceedings pending against Sreesanth.
Note:
- S Sreesanth, the tainted Indian fast bowler, was charged with the crime of spot-fixing during the 2013 edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) when he represented the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
- Thereafter, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) slapped the 36-year-old with a lifetime ban and ever since he has been training hard with all his might to prove himself innocent.
Source: newsinshort
Awards
5. Swati Shingade bags the first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award
- Swati Shingade of Pune, Maharashtra has bagged the first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award for 2018-19.
- The award was presented by Prasar Bharati Chairman A. Surya Prakash to Ms Shingade at a grand finale event organised by DD Kisan Channel in New Delhi.
- Speaking on the occasion, Mr Surya Prakash said, the Kisan Channel has provided a platform to the women farmers and the aim of the channel is to make aware the people about the various schemes of the government.
Source: DD News
6. Manmohan Singh presents an award to Arun Jaitley for implementing GST
- Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the BusinessLine Changemaker Of The Year award to Union Minister Arun Jaitley for successfully introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- Jaitley received the award on behalf of the GST Council.
- The award was also presented to the petitioners against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised homosexuality.
Source: newsinshort
7. Kent RO receives the Best Domestic Water Purifier Award 2019
- One of the leading brands in the water purifier industry, Kent RO Systems Pvt. Ltd. has been bestowed with the Best Domestic Water Purifier Award 2018-19 for its RO+UV+UF technology at the Water Digest Water Awards.
- Water Digest Water Awards backed by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and UNESCO.
- Kent has become the first choice when people think of a water purifier and winning awards like these just reflect on the kind of quality that we intend to provide to our users.
Source: business standard
8. Padmanaban Gopalan wins the Commonwealth Youth Award for The Asian Region
- A social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, Padmanaban Gopalan, founder of No Food Waste, was named the winner of the Commonwealth Youth Award for the Asian region worth 3,000 Pounds at a ceremony at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
- His initiative runs a geo-mapping platform, which allows users to drop food at located “hunger spots” and has so far recovered over 650,000 meals across 14 cities and the platform has been used by over 12,000 volunteers.
Source: business standard
Banking & Economy
9. Aviva Life Insurance launches Wings to empower women at the workplace
- Aviva Life Insurance has announced the launch of ‘Wings’, a specially designed mentorship program to empower the female workforce.
- The program is an initiative of the SHE division of the company, for mentoring all the women employees.
About the program
- The new initiative has been aimed to empower the women in Aviva to fulfil their professional and personal goals.
- Effective practice of mentoring at the workplace helps women ideate about what they will become, giving them a clearer picture of their future and their growth prospects.
Note:
- Aviva Life Insurance is a joint venture between Dabur Invest and Aviva International Holdings, a UK-based insurance group, whose association with India goes back to 1834.
Source: The Economic Times
10. SBI Yono App to allow cardless withdrawals
- The State Bank of India has launched the YONO Cash service for its customers which will allow them to withdraw cash from ATMs without their debit cards.
- A part of SBI's digital banking platform, You Only Need One (YONO), the cardless cash withdrawal service will be available across 16,500 ATMs of the bank in the country.
- Such SBI ATMs will be called YONO Cash Point.
How to withdraw cash using YONO Cash service:
- SBI customers can use the YONO app on their smartphones to withdraw cash from SBI ATMs, or YONO Cash Points, without using their debit and credit cards.
- After installing the YONO app on their phones, SBI account holders will have to set a 6-digit YONO PIN for withdrawing cash.
- Once a request for withdrawing cash is placed, a 6-digit code will be sent to the user's phone via SMS, which will then have to be entered into a YONO Cash Point.
Note:
- On 3 December 2018, SBI appointed Swapna as the brand ambassador for its digital app 'YONO' (You only need one).
- YONO’ is the first digital banking platform which offers customized products to customers.
- SBI has tied up with 60 e-commerce players to provide more facility other than banking services.
Source: business today
Appointment
11. Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to head transformative mobility panel
- Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will head the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, which is being set up to promote clean and sustainable mobility initiatives in the country.
- The Union Cabinet on March 7 had approved setting up of the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage.
- The terms of reference of the mission include ensuring implementation and compliance of the decisions and recommendations of the steering committee.
Source: The Economic Times
12. SC appoints PS Narasimha as a mediator to resolve disputes of admin in BCCI
- The Supreme Court (SC) has appointed senior advocate P S Narasimha as a mediator for resolving various disputes related to cricket administration in the country.
- Narasimha is assisting the apex court as an amicus curiae in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) matter.
- According to the SC bench, the game must go on, asking Narasimha to act as a mediator in the cricket administration disputes.
Source: The Hindu
National Affairs
13. IIT Kharagpur to adopt Amazon Web Services Educate programme
- According to the top official of the institute; the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur will adopt Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate programme to help students gain cloud computing skills including hands-on experience in artificial intelligence (AI).
About AWS Educate programme
- The AWS Educate programme is Amazons global initiative to provide students and educators with resources needed to accelerate cloud-related learning and to help power the workforce of tomorrow.
- The programme offers a robust set of no-cost tools, resources and AWS Promotional Credits for students and educators to boost their cloud skills and experience.
Source: Business standard
International Affairs
14. Vienna placed at the top position in the Mercer’s Quality of Living Survey 2019
- The Austrian capital Vienna topped the new Mercer Quality of Living Survey.
- Thirteen out of the world’s 20 best places to live are in Europe.
- Zurich, Switzerland's biggest city, came in second place for overall quality of living, followed by Auckland, Munich and Vancouver in joint third place.
- Luxembourg was named as the safest city in the world, followed by Helsinki in Finland and the Swiss cities of Basel, Bern and Zurich.
Note:
- Mercer's annual index ranks 231 cities around the world on factors including political stability, crime, personal freedoms, healthcare, education, housing, recreation and public transport.
World's 3 best cities for quality of living
- Vienna, Austria,
- Zurich, Switzerland,
- Vancouver, Canada, Munich, Germany, Auckland, New Zealand
World's 3 worst cities for quality of living
- Baghdad, Iraq,
- Bangui, Central African Republic and
- Sana'a, Yemen
Summit & Conferences
15. First BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concludes successfully
- The first BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concluded yesterday at Curitiba in Brazil.
- Secretary, Economic Relations in the Ministry of External Affairs, T S Tirumurti led the Indian delegation at the two-day meeting.
- During the meeting, India conveyed its support for the priority areas set out by Brazil, particularly to take forward BRICS cooperation on counter-terrorism in a meaningful and concrete manner with BRICS member countries.
Note:
- Brazil will host next 11th edition of the BRICS summit in 2019
- The BRICS chairmanship does not only include the hosting of the 2019 BRICS Summit, but also the hosting of numerous smaller ministerial, business and civil society meetings.
- The 10th edition of the BRICS Summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Source: DD News
