DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 22TH MAR 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
1.
GOVERNMENT SET TO LAUNCH INDIA’S FIRST SIGN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY SOON
i.
The government has planned to soon launch India’s state of the art dictionary
depicting the sign languages used by hearing and speech impaired people across
the nation to bring uniformity and bridge the communication gap.
ii.
The Indian Sign Language dictionary is being developed by the Indian Sign
Language Research and Training Centre in both print and video format.
iii.
ISLRTC has so far compiled 6,032 Hindi and English words and their
corresponding graphic representation of the signs which are used in daily life.
iv.
The ISL dictionary consists of graphic representations of popular signs used by
the hearing impaired and will also include regional variations along with
legal, technical and medical terms.
v.
Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre is an autonomous organization
of the Government of India established under Society Registration Act, 1860
under the aegis of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
vi. The main objectives of ISLRTC are to develop
manpower for using, teaching and conducting research in Indian Sign Language,
to promote the use of ISL as an educational mode in collaboration with
universities, national and international bodies.
2.
BIRAC’S 5TH FOUNDATION DAY CELEBRATED ON MARCH 20-21, 2017
i.
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council has celebrated its 5th
foundation day on March 20-21 with the theme “BIRAC@5: Impacting the Biotech
Ecosystem”.
ii.
Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan,
was the Chief Guest of 2017 foundation day while Minister of State for Science
& Technology and Earth Sciences, Y S Chowdary was the Guest of Honour.
iii.
The foundation day celebration was followed by Grand Challenges India Meeting
2017 which was organized by the BIRAC – PMU of DBT – BMGF and Wellcome Trust.
3.
MUKESH AMBANI TOPS THE FORBES’S BILLIONAIRE LIST IN INDIA
i.
According to the report released by Forbes, India has 4th highest number of
billionaires in the World and the Indian group is led by Reliance Industries
chief Mukesh Ambani.
ii.
Top 3 Billionaire are Bill Gates, Microsoft Co-Founder $ 86 billion, Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway Chief $75.6
billion and Jeff Bezos, Amazon $72.8 billion.
iii.
Top 3 Indian Billionaires are Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries $ 23.2 billion,
Lakshmi Mittal Arcelor Mittal $ 16.4
billion and Azim Premji Wipro Ltd $ 14.9 billion.
4.
2ND INDIA-UAE CONFERENCE ON GLOBALISATION HELD IN DUBAI
i.
The 2nd India-UAE conference on globalisation, organised by All India
Management Association was held in Dubai to promote cooperation between the 2
countries.
ii.
Theme of the conference was “Resetting Globalisation: Collaborating in a Fast
Changing World.”
iii.
India’s ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri and UAE’s Cabinet Member and
Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al
Nahyan participated in the conference.
ii.
The conference held various sessions includes healthcare, technologies to
encourage competitiveness, the banking and financial sector’s financial
technologies transformation, and the growing role of technology and innovation
in the retail sector.
5.
RBI PROPOSES TO FIX UPPER LIMIT IN PPIS AT RS 1 LAKH
i.
The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to cap the upper limit for Pre-paid
Payment Instruments at Rs 1 lakh due to the growing usage of PPIs for purchase
of goods and services as well as funds transfer.
ii.
The decision was taken by RBI after receiving requests from stakeholders and
other entities for relaxations in certain areas while strengthening the norms
for safety and security, risk mitigation and customer protection aspects
related to usage of PPIs.
iii.
As per the draft notice issued by RBI, the amount in PPI should not exceed Rs 1
lakh at any point of time if the customer provides full KYC and Rs 20,000 if
the customer provides minimum KYC details to the PPI issuing entity.
iv.
PPIs are payment instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services,
including financial services, remittance facilities against the value stored on
such instruments.
6.
MAJOR ROHIT SURI AWARDED KIRTI CHAKRA FOR POK SURGICAL STRIKES
i.
Major Rohit Suri, the leader of the army team that carried out surgical strike
in PoK in 2016, was presented the Kirti Chakra by President Pranab Mukherjee
during the military investiture ceremony held in the Durbar Hall of the
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
ii.
Besides, another member of the surgical strikes team Naib Subedar Vijay Kumar
was conferred the Shaurya Chakra for his daredevilry in killing 2 terrorists in
the operation despite coming under fire.
iii.
Corporal Gursevak Singh of Indian Air Force was posthumously conferred the
Saurya Chakra for putting up a valiant fight against terrorists who had
attacked the frontline Pathankot air base in January 2016.
iv.
Mr. Mukherjee conferred a total of 13 Shaurya Chakras on military personnel,
who were also involved in operations against terrorists in the Pathankot Air
Force station and the government institute near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.
6 of the 13 Shaurya Chakras were conferred posthumously.
7.
MADHABI PURI BUCH APPOINTED AS SEBI WHOLE-TIME MEMBER
i.
Madhabi Puri Buch has been appointed as a Full-Time Member of Mumbai based
Securities and Exchange Board of India for a period of 3 years by the Personnel
Ministry.
ii.
Madhabi Puri currently working at the New Development Bank, China. She is
founder-director of Agora Advisory Pvt Ltd
8.
INDIA’S VIDYA PILLAI WINS SILVER IN WORLD WOMEN SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP
i.
India’s Billiards Champion Vidya Pillai settled for silver medal in the 2017
World Women Snooker Championship held in Safra Toa Payoh, Singapore.
ii.
Hong Kong’s Ng on Yee won the gold. This was the 2nd win for Ng who earlier won
the Championship in 2015.
iii.
This is Vidya’s 1st international medal for India in 2017. Vidya Pillai, an
8-time women’s national snooker champion, previously won gold at the IBSF World
Team Snooker Championship in 2013.
9.
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
i.
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is
celebrated every year on 21st March to
encourage people to remember their obligation and determination to combat
racial discrimination.
ii.
Its aim is to remind people of racial discrimination’s negative consequences.
iii.
2017 Theme was “Racial profiling and incitement to hatred, including in the
context of migration”.
10.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS: MARCH 21
i.
Every year on 21st March is observed as International Day of Forests proclaimed
by United Nations across the world to promote the importance of forests and
trees in our lives.
ii.
2017 Theme was “Forests and energy”. This year theme highlights the importance
of wood energy in improving people’s lives, powering sustainable development
and mitigating climate change.
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED
ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1.
WHO AMONG THE GIVEN HAS BECOME THE 1ST WOMEN BELONGING TO PRIVATE SECTOR TO BE
APPOINTED AS THE FULL-TIME MEMBER OF SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA?
a) Madhabi Puri Buch
b) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
c) Sara Blakely
d) Kalpana Morparia
Q2.
THE SECOND INDIA-UAE CONFERENCE ON GLOBALIZATION WAS HELD IN WHICH CITY?
a) Bangaluru
b) New Delhi
c) Abu Dhabi
d) Dubai
Q3.
WHO HAS BEEN HONORED WITH THE KIRTI CHAKRA BY PRESIDENT PRANAB MUKHERJEE?
a) Ramesh Pratap Singh
b) Major Rohit Suri
c) Vijay Kumar
d) Gursevak Singh
Q4.
THE INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY SOON TO BE LAUNCHED BY THE GOVERNMENT IS
BEING DEVELOPED BY WHICH ORGANIZATION?
a) Sign Language Interpreters Association of New
Zealand
b) Association of Visual Language Interpreters
of Canada
c) World Federation of the Deaf
d) Indian Sign Language Research and Training
Centre
Q5.
WHAT IS THE THEME OF THE 2017 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS?
a) Forests and Energy
b) Forests | Climate | Change
c) My Forest, Our Future
d) Forests and Water
ANSWERS:
