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  • Current Affairs 20th March 2019

    Updated : 20-Mar-2019

    Current Affairs 20th March 2019 - Important Points

    • India Post released special stamp cover on Ice Stupas on - 18th March 2019
    • Pramod Sawant sworn-in as - Goa Chief Minister
    • Mukesh Ambani rescues Anil Ambani in - Ericsson Payout Case
    • India bags 188 medals at Special Olympics organised in - Abu Dhabi
    • PCB pays compensation to - BCCI
    • State Bank of India launches cardless ATM withdrawal with - YONO Cash
    • Who has won Windham-Campbell Award ? - Raghu Karnad
    • Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose to be the-  First Lokpal
      Current Affairs 20th March 2019 - Details

    India Post released special stamp cover on Ice Stupas on - 18th March 2019

    The Department of Indian Post on March 18th, 2019 published out a special stamp cover on “Ice Stupa”. The stamp was published by Jand K’s Chief Postmaster General during an programme held at the Ice Stupa site at Gangles Village in Leh. A number of officers and dignitaries from Army and civil administration were present at the programme.
    The special stamps goal to spread awareness about exhausting glaciers and affect the ecology around the Himalayas. Global warming and ecological imbalance have resulted into irretrievable damage to the
    Himalayas in the past several years.
    Ice Stupas
    The artificial glaciers are being constructed by saving winter water, which flows waste, in a conical-shaped stupa that does not dissolve easily.
    The stupas have been intended to dissolve slowly, as a result serving the motive of drinking and irrigation for nearby villages population.
    Importance
    The Ice Stupa is a persistence technique that has been established over a period. Each stupa has the
    measurements to store minimum 30-50 lakh litres water. This is separately from the naturally saved water in the mountains.

    Pramod Sawant sworn-in as - Goa Chief Minister

    Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker and BJP leader, Pramod Sawant took oath-in as the 11th CM of Goa in a late-night ceremony, hours after, former CM Manohar Parrikar was cremated with state honours.
    He was presented the oath of office and secrecy by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha.
    Goa gets 2 Deputy Chief Ministers
    Along with the CM, Ramkrishna Dhavlikar of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Vijai Sardesai of Goa Forward Party took oath-in as Deputy CM.
    Both the Deputy Chief Ministers belong to small coalition parties supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party in the coastal state.
    Total 12 Ministers sworn-in in the new State Cabinet
    The whole Cabinet of Manohar Parikkar has been reserved in the state.
    A final of 12 Ministers sworn-in in to the new cabinet of the state, including Chief Minister Sawant and 2
    Deputy Chief Ministers.
    The other Ministers involved 4 Bharatiya Janata Party Ministers, Mauvin Godinho, Vishwajit Rane, Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral; Manohar Ajgaonkar of MGP, Rohan Khavtye (Independent party), Govind Gaude (Independent Party); Vinod Palyekar and Jayesh Salgaonkar of Goa Forward Party.

    Mukesh Ambani rescues Anil Ambani in - Ericsson Payout Case

    Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, issued more than Rupees 450 crores help to his
    younger brother Anil Ambani, rescuing him from the Ericsson Pay-out Case and saving him from prisoned.
    Anil Ambani, Chairman of the Reliance Communications Ltd, thanked his elder brother Mukesh Ambani and  his wife Nita Ambani for helping in paying pending dues to Ericsson.
    Contempt petition by Ericsson
    The Swedish gear-maker Ericsson lodged the contempt appeals alleging that Reliance Communications Ltd dishonoured the undertaking completed before the top court to pay off the due sum worth Rupees 550 crores. The company lost the 2 deadlines of September 30th and December 15th.
    Ericsson appealed that the Reliance group ‘wilfully and consciously’ disobeyed the Apex Court order dated August 3rd, 2018 and the undertaking given before it to pay up by September ending.
    The Supreme court on October 23rd, 2018 gave 1 last opportunity to Reliance Communications Ltd for
    clearing the settlement amount by December 15th as the deadline. However, this time limit was also
    missed. 
    The recurring failure by Reliance Communications Ltd to fulfil with the promise pushed him in trouble
    when the Supreme Court detained Ambani in contempt.
    The company agonized another setback when the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in March
    2019 rejected to free up Rupees 260 crore tax refunds withdrawn by the banks that too had opposed
    release of the tax refunds.

    India bags 188 medals at Special Olympics organised in - Abu Dhabi

    India till date secured total 188 medals at the Special Olympics World Games, which is being organised in United Arab Emirates’ capital city Abu Dhabi. India’s medal tally includes 50 Gold, 63 Silver and 75 Bronze medals respectively. 
    Organised in West Asia for the 1st time, 7500 athletes from 190 nations worldwide are participating in the 15th edition of the Games, which boasts of 24 Olympic-style sporting programs. Team India is the 2nd largest contingent after the host United Arab Emirates with 378 athletes.
    Historic Moment

    • Indian paddlers created history in table tennis by clinching 4 Gold and 1 Silver medal.
    • While in the women’s singles programme, India’s Anu Chennekota’s secured her maiden Special
    • Olympics World Games Gold medal in the 16-21 years’ division-3 category.
    • Another Indian Sabita Yadav secured a singles Gold medal in division-4 category and Reshma Shaikh clinched silver medal after a narrow loss to Sabita in the final game.
    • In the men’s programme, Karnataka’s Sandesh Krishna and Maharashtra’s Akash Tukuram secured Gold medal in men’s singles game in different divisions of the 18-21 years’ category.
    • India’s Sonu Kumar from Rohtak, Haryana secured a Gold in judo by winning all his 3 bouts.
    • On the other hand, Muskan secured Gold medal in deadlifting, bagged a silver each in squat and bench press and a bronze as well.
    • India’s Vijay, Hufeja Ayub Shaikh, Jashan Deep Singh, Harshad Gaonkar and Hardik Agarwal brought glories for the nation, while 4 Silver medals were bagged by Santoshi Vijay Kauthankar from Goa in the women’s category.
    • Priya Gada also secured a Silver medal in the 100m roller skating programme. 

    PCB pays compensation to - BCCI

    The Pakistan Cricket Board- PCB has paid around $1.6 million as compensation to the Board of Control for Cricket in India after losing a case in the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee. The news was shared by Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on March 18th, 2019.
    The Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman informed that the Pakistan Cricket Board had suffered costs of about $2.2 million on the compensation case which they had lost. Apart from the amount paid to India to cover the costs of the case, the other expenditures included legal fees and travel.
    Crucial Highlights

    • The Pakistan Cricket Board had filed a compensation case against the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2018 before the International Cricket Council’s Dispute Resolution Committee for an amount of approximately $70 million.
    • The cricket board had sought the massive amount as compensation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India for not honouring an agreement inked between the two boards.
    • As per to the agreement, India and Pakistan were supposed to play 6 bilateral series between 2015 and 2023, which the Board of Control for Cricket in India failed to honour.
    • The Pakistan Cricket Board requested the agreement to be a binding pact and informed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s failure to honour it had given rise to in losses running into millions of dollars.

    Who has won Windham-Campbell Award ? - Raghu Karnad

    Indian Writer Raghu Karnad has secured the Windham-Campbell Award $165000 Windham-Campbell
    Award in the non-fiction category for his debut book, The Farthest Field: An Indian Story of The Second
    World War. Karnad is one of the 8 winners selected across 4 categories including fiction, non-fiction, drama and poetry. The other awardee in the non-fiction category was American writer Rebecca Solnit for the diverse body of work she has produced over her career.
    Raghu Karnad is the 2nd Indian to get the award. Earlier in 2016, Jerry Pinto had secured the award for his novel, Em And The Big Hoom. Raghu Karnad is the son of legendary writer and the Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad.
    Windham-Campbell Award
    The Windham-Campbell Award is directed by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale
    University in the United States and was recognized in 2013.
    The award was established with the generous gift from writer Donald Windham in memory of his partner Sandy Campbell. The jury chooses 2 winners each for each of the category fiction, non-fiction, drama and  poetry.

    State Bank of India launches cardless ATM withdrawal with - YONO Cash

    India’s largest Bank State Bank of India has declared the launch of YONO Cash via which clients  can withdraw money from ATMs without using a debit card.
    This card-less cash withdrawal will tackle the worries over using debit cards at ATMs for cash withdrawals by removing the possible associated risks and also capitalize on convenience and
    enhances the banking experience for its clients.
    Cardless Cash Withdrawal

    • This Card-less Cash Withdrawal procedure works with 2-factor authentication and eradicates the
      risk of skimming and  cloning.
    • The clients have to set a 6 digits Yono PIN for withdrawing cash via the Yono app.
    • Once the process is started the customer will get a 6 digits reference code via SMS, which will
      then have to be put into a Yono Cash Point.
    • The cash withdrawal must be accomplished within the next 30 minutes at an ATM using both the
      PIN and the reference number.
    • ATMs empowered with this service will be termed as Yono Cash Point.

    Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose to be the-  First Lokpal

    The name of previous Supreme Court Judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose has been selected by the Lokpal Selection Committee led by the PM. The notification for the designation is believed to be released soon.
    Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose would be the 1st Lokpal of India.
    Salient features of the Lokpal Act 2013

    • The Lokpal Act delivers for forming an anti-corruption ombudsman termed Lokpal at the Centre and  Lokayukta at the State-level.
    • The Lokpal would contain a chairperson and a extreme of 8 members of which 50% shall be judicial
      members. 50% of members of Lokpal shall be from SC or ST or OBCs, minorities and females.
    • The ambit of Lokpal would cover all categories of public workers, including the PM with the exception of armed forces.
    • The Lokpal Act mandated the states to establish Lokayukta within 1 year of the commencement of the Act.
    • Lokpal will also have authorities of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases denoted to them by the Lokpal.
    • Lokpal is selected based on the approvals of the 5-member panel comprising the PM, the  Lok
      Sabha  Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, the CJI and an well-known jurist selected by the President.
    • President would assign the well-known jurist based on the approvals of the other members of the panel.