DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 21 MAR 2018



DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 21 MAR 2018
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
                                  SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      PUNJAB TO IMPOSE PERMANENT BAN ON HOOKAH BARS
i.The Punjab Government is all set to impose a permanent ban on hookah bars across the State .
ii.Punjab will be the second State in the country, after Gujarat, to take this  significant decision.
iii.Gujarat has banned Hookah bars in the State by passing the COTPA Amendment Bill, 2017.


2.      INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS ON  21 MARCH
i. The International Day of Forests was established on the 21st  of March, by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on November 28, 2012.
ii. It is observed to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations.
iii. The theme of the International Day of Forests in 2018 is "Forests and Sustainable Cities".

3.      VIENNA NAMED THE WORLD’S MOST LIVEABLE CITY FOR THE NINTH YEAR
i. The Austrian capital Vienna has been named the world’s best city to live in for the ninth consecutive year.
ii. The list is announced by Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey examining factors such as crime, healthcare, education, public services, recreation, housing and personal freedom.
iii. Baghdad remained the worst city to live according to the same survey.

4.      CABINET APPROVES NORTH-EAST INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (NEIDS) 2017
i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the PM has approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme 2017 with financial outlay of Rs.3000 crores upto March, 2020.
ii. Government will provide necessary allocations for remaining period of scheme after assessment before March 2020.
iii. NEIDS is a combination of the incentives covered under the earlier two schemes with a much larger outlay.

5.      CABINET APPROVES AYUSHMAN BHARAT – NATIONAL HEALTH PROTECTION MISSION
i. The Union Cabinet has approved the launch of a new Centrally Sponsored Ayushman Bharat -National Health Protection Mission having central sector component under Ayushman Bharat Mission anchored in the MoHFW.
ii. The scheme has the benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year.
iii. The target beneficiaries of the proposed scheme will be more than 10 crore families belonging to poor and vulnerable population based on SECC database.

6.      CANADIAN MATHEMATICIAN ROBERT LANGLANDS WINS ABEL PRIZE
i. Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands has won the prestigious Abel Prize for developing a programme connecting representation theory to number theory.
ii. Langlands will be awarded the 6.0-million-kroner Abel Prize by Norway’s King Harald in Oslo on May 22.
iii. The award is named after the 19th century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, the prize was established by the Norwegian government in 2002.

7.      INDIA POST RELEASES SPECIAL COVER ON STEPHEN HAWKING
i. India Post has paid tribute to theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking by issuing a special cover on him.
ii. Hawking died at the age of 76 on March 14 in his home in Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. WHICH STATE GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO IMPOSE A PERMANENT BAN ON HOOKAH BARS IN THE STATE?
A. Haryana
B. Kerala
C. Punjab
D. Jharkhand
E. Rajasthan
Q2. AS PER 20TH ANNUAL QUALITY OF LIVING SURVEY BY MERCER, WHICH CITY HAS BEEN NAMED THE WORLD’S BEST CITY TO LIVE IN FOR THE NINTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR?
A. Vancouver, Canada
B. Munich, Germany
C. Auckland, New Zealand
D. Vienna, Austria
E. Zurich, Switzerland
Q3. THE NORWEGIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND LETTERS DECLARED WHOM, THE WINNER OF ABEL PRIZE FOR 2018?
A. Richard Taylor
B. James Arthur
C. Andrew Wiles
D. Robert Langlands
E. Edward Frenkel
Q4. WHAT IS THE THEME FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS 2018?
A. Protect Forests
B. Support Linguistic Diversity
C. Forests and Sustainable Cities
D. Forests and Animals
E. Plant Trees Go Green

ANSWERS:
1-C        2-D         3-D         4-C