Current Affairs Daily Digest – March 17 2021
Current Affairs Daily Digest – March 17 2021. Read and Download daily, monthly Current Affairs Daily Digest 2021 for competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, IBPS, SBI etc,. Download month wise Current affairs 2020 PDF and Current affairs quiz PDF .
1. WEF honours ReNew Power named as Global Lighthouse Network
ReNew Power has been named to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Lighthouse Network, which recognises companies using new technologies to achieve environmentally sustainable, community supportive, profitable growth. ReNew Power is an Indian renewable energy company.
2. Audio cassette tape inventor Lou Ottens passes away
The Dutch inventor of audio cassette tapes, Lou Ottens passed away. Dutch engineer credited with inventing the cassette tape and playing a major role in the development of the first CD. In 1963, Ottens presented the first cassette tape at the Berlin Radio Show electronics fair.
3. WHO declares El Salvador malaria-free
El Salvador is the first country in Central America to be certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization. WHO grants a certification of malaria elimination when a country proves “beyond a reasonable doubt” that there has been no indigenous transmission of the disease nationwide for the previous three consecutive years.
4. Virat Kohli becomes first player to score 3000 runs in men’s T20I
Indian captain Virat Kohli has breached the 3000-run mark in Twenty20 Internationals with his last shot in the second T20I against England. Kohli’s knock of 73 runs, which came off 49 balls, also helped India to level the five-match T20I series. He also became the third captain in international cricket to score 12000 runs as a captain. He joined legendary captains Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith in the elite list.
5. India-Finland Virtual Summit 2021
The India-Finland Virtual Summit was held on March 16, 2021, with the participation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland Ms Sanna Marin. The virtual summit was organised to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral issues as well as other regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
6. Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020
The Parliament has cleared the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The bill was approved in the Rajya Sabha March 16, 2021. The bill was already passed in the Lok Sabha on March 17, 2020.
7. SBI and IOCL to ink India’s First Libor Alternative Rate Deal
The State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) will be sign the first Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) linked external commercial borrowing (ECB) deal. The deal will be signed because the de facto international benchmark reference rate called the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) will no longer work as the benchmark after December 2021.
8. World’s Largest Floating Solar Farms being built in Singapore
The largest floating solar farm of the world is being built in Singapore. The country has resorted to set up the energy plants off the coasts and reservoirs across it. This floating solar farm is being set up in the light that despite being one of the smallest countries across the world, it is one of the biggest per capita carbon dioxide emitters in India.
9. RBI imposes Rs 2 crore penalty on SBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced on March 16, 2021 that it has fined India’s largest lending bank “State Bank of India (SBI)” with Rs 2 crore after it failed to follow the regulations in payment of remuneration to its employees through the commissions.
10. Rajasthan Passes Demand for Higher Education Grants
The Rajasthan Assembly has passed the demand for grants of Rs 370.60 for the higher education by voice vote on March 16, 2021. The bill was passed amid the protest by the opposition legislators.
They stormed into the well of the House and staged a sit-in against the government even though the Higher Education Minister, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, had replied to the issue.
11. National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2020
Rajya Sabha has passed the “National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professional Bill, 2020” by voice vote on March 16, 2021. The Bill seeks to regulate & maintain the standards of education & services by allied & healthcare professionals.
12. Indian firms to collaborate with Finland to develop 5G and 6G Technologies
The Information technology companies of India, like Wipro and Tech Mahindra, will be collaborating with the companies of Finland to develop the 5G and 6G technologies to use them in India and other markets.
The tech company, Nokia has already started working in the rural areas of India so as to expand the 5G applications.
13. Union Cabinet approves revised cost estimates of Comprehensive Scheme for Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh
The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on March 16, 2021, approved the Revised Cost Estimate of a Comprehensive Scheme in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs. 9129. 32 crores.
As per the official statement, the Cabinet Committee on the Economic Affairs under the Chairmanship of PM Modi, in a major step towards the economic development of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh through the strengthening of Intra-State Transmission and Distribution Systems has given approval to the Revised Cost Estimate- RCE of Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission and Distribution in both the states.
