Current Affairs March 17 2019

We are here for you to provide the important Current Affairs March 17 2019, which have unique updates of all daily events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, PTI, Indian Express, Business Standard and all Government official websites.

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INDIAN AFFAIRS

IIT Kharagpur to Adopt Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate Programme
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur will adopt Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate programme to help students gain cloud computing skills including hands-on experience in artificial intelligence (AI).
i. It will be introduced to provide AWS Cloud Computing experience and AI-enablement for all our students, irrespective of their branch of study.
ii. 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.
iii. As part of AWS Educate, the students will gain access to 12 Cloud Career Pathways covering topics that are in demand by employers, such as machine learning, cybersecurity, and software development, each with over 30 hours of content.
iv. Upon completion, learners will be eligible to receive an AWS Educate Certificate of Completion or an AWS Educate Badge.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI: No dilution on February 12 circular over stressed assets 
On 16^th March 2019, Reserve Bank of India maintained that there is no dilution in its stand regarding February 12 circular on stressed assets recognition and resolution.
Key Points:
i. The central bank said in a statement that it is restated that the RBI maintained its stand on all aspects of the Framework as has been consistently stated in its communications, including the clarification given during the post-monetary policy press conference which was held on February 7, 2019.
ii. Also there would be no changes in the circular, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on last month. The circular directed lenders to refer any loan account more than Rs 2,000 crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) if the loan amount is not resolved within 180 days of default. Also it underscored IBC’s status as the cornerstone of the bad loan resolution framework, scrapping all previous mechanisms.
iii. The circular imposed a one-day default rule and banks have to treat a company as a defaulter even if it misses repayment schedule by a day.
Reserve Bank of India:
♦ Governor-Shaktikanta Das
♦ Headquarter-Mumbai

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

IIT Kharagpur inked agreement with C-DAC to develope India’s first 1.3 PetaFlop High Performance Computing facility
Under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), India’s 1^st state-of-the-art 1.3 PetaFlop High-Performance Computing facility and data center ecosystem will set up at IIT Kharagpur. On March 12, 2019 IIT Kharagpur signed a MoU with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

Key Points:
i. C-DAC would facilitate supply, installation, commissioning and operations of state-of-the-art HPC facility along with Data Center ecosystem at the institute funded under the NSM project.
ii. The initiative will be undertaken at the Centre for Computational and Data Sciences at IIT Kharagpur.
iii. It will accelerate and evolve the level of research currently being done with manifold improvement in output and efficiency. This new facility is likely to ready for use in three to four months.
iv. National Super computing Mission(NSM) is being carry out by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) with an estimated cost of Rs.4,500 crore.
About Department of Science and Technology (DST):
♦ Minister – Dr Harsh Vardhan
♦ Secretary – Ashutosh Sharma

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Convention of War Decorated India held in Chandigarh
The two-day national convention of War Decorated India was held at the Manekshaw Auditorium in Chandimandir, the headquarters of the Western Command, near Chandigarh and was attended by some living gallantry award winners and relatives of the deceased awardees. Next of kin, relatives of the awardees were felicitated at the convention.

i. Chief of Staff Western Command Lt General P.N. Bali addressed the convention.
ii. Among Victoria Cross awardees, the relatives of Late Naib Subedar Nand Singh (Sikh Regiment), Late Subedar Ram Sarup Singh (1 Punjab) and Late Badlu Ram (Cavalry) were felicitated.
iii. Among Param Vir Chakra awardees, relatives of Late Col. Hoshiar Singh (Grenadiers) and Late Subedar Joginder Singh (Sikh Regiment) were felicitated.
iv. Among Maha Vir Chakra awardees those felicitated were the relatives of late Brigadier N.S. Sandhu (Dogra), late Brigadier K.S. Chandpuri (Punjab Regiment), late Lt General Gowry Shankar (Signals), late Lt Ved Prakash Trehan (Rajputana Rifles), late SepoyAnusuya Prasad (Mahar Regiment) and late Porter Mohammed Ismail (Punjab Regiment Civilian Porter) .

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Kotak Mahindra Bank has appointed KVS Manian, Gaurang Shah as board directors 
KVS Manian and Gaurang Shah appointed as Kotak Mahindra Bank’s  whole-time directors for a three-year term effective from the date of approval from the Reserve Bank of India.
Key Point:
i. The appointment of KVS Manian and Gaurang Shah is also subject to share­holders’ approval.
ii. KVS Manian is currently working as the president – corporate, investment bank and Gaurang Shah is the president- group chief risk officer of the bank.
About Kotak Mahindra Bank
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai
♦ Founder: Uday Kotak
♦ Founded: February 2003
♦ App: Kotak 811

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Astronomers discovers 83 supermassive black holes from early universe
Astronomers have discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes 13 billion light-years away from the Earth, from a time when the universe was less than 10% of its present age.
i. The finding, published in the Astrophysical Journal, increases the number of black holes known at that epoch (a particular period of time in history or a person’s life) considerably, and reveals, for the first time, how common they are early in the universe’s history.
ii.The team used data taken with ‘Hyper Suprime-Cam’ (HSC) instrument, mounted on the Subaru Telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

SPORTS

K T Irfan named as first Indian athlete to be chosen for Tokyo Olympics 2020
29-year-old Indian athlete from Kerala, K.T. Irfan has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as he finished fourth in the men’s 20 kilometer category at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan.

i. He holds the national record of 1:20:21 which he achieved during his 10th place finish at the 2012 Olympics in London.
ii. He also qualified for 2019’s World Championships that is to be held in Doha,Qatar as he bettered the qualifying mark of 1:22:30.

Diksha became the 2nd Indian golfer to win Ladies European Tour
On 16^th March 2019,18 year old,Indian woman golfer Diksha Dagar became the 2^nd Indian winner on Ladies European Tour after clinching South African Women’s Open in Cape Town.

She follows Aditi Ashok, who in 2016 became the first Indian to win on the Ladies European Tour after clinching Hero Women’s Indian Open in Gurugram.

OBITUARY

Journalist Darryl D’Monte passed away at age of 74 years
Senior journalist and environmental activist Darryl D’Monte died at a hospital in Mumbai after a brief illness at the age of 74 years.He hailed from Mumbai.

i. In a career spanning several decades, he served as the resident editor of Mumbai editions of The Times of India and The Indian Express.
ii. Besides journalism, he had a keen interest in environmental issues and took some initiatives for the cause, he added.