• Current Affairs 28th March 2019

    Updated : 28-Mar-2019

    Current Affairs 28th March 2019 - Important Points

    • China issues white paper on Tibet on - 26th March 2019
    • India becomes 4th largest space power on - 27th March 2019
    • IIT-Delhi developed AI-based system on - 26th March 2019
    • Pentagon authorises fund transfer to build - US-Mexico Border Wall
    • Who has been bestowed with highest civilian award of Croatia ? - President Ram Nath Kovind
    • RBI slaps penalty on PNB for violating - SWIFT norms
    • SC warns RBI of contempt on - 26th March 2019

    Current Affairs 28th March 2019 - Details

    China issues white paper on Tibet on - 26th March 2019

    China's State Council Information Office released a white paper on democratic reform and the leap of development in Tibet over the past 6 decades on March 26th, 2019. White paper titled ‘Democratic Reform in Tibet- Sixty Years On’ claims that democratic transformation in Tibet is the greatest and most thoughtful social transformation in the history of Tibet.
    Major Highlights

    • Paper elucidated that by abolishing serfdom, a grim and backward feudal system, Tibet was gifted to start a new social system that liberated the people and made them the masters of the country and society, thus making sure their civil rights in all matters.
    • 1st Session of the First People's Congress of Tibet was organised from September 1st to 9th, 1965. Tibet Autonomous Region was recognized in this session.
    • White paper renowned that since 1978, Tibet has organised 11 elections of deputies to the people's
      congresses at township level.
    • Presently, there are 35963 deputies to the people's congresses at all levels in Tibet.
    • At the end of 2018, there were 5756 community level workers unions with 497082 members are present in Tibet.

    India becomes 4th largest space power on - 27th March 2019

    PM Narendra Modi on March 27th, 2019 declared that India has recognized itself as the world's 4th largest space super power. The PM informed that the feat is historic, as till now, only 3 nations in the world including USA, Russia and China have accomplished this.
    The data of the address was shared by the PM via a tweet where he asked all the residents to stay tuned to television, radio/social media.
    Important Highlights

    • The PM declared the success of “Mission Shakti’, in which Indian scientists effectively targeted and shot down a live satellite on a Low Earth Orbit with an anti-satellite missile A-SAT within a matter of just 3 minutes.
    • He declared that India has united the elite league of space powers and the entire mission needed a lot of complex scientific maneuvers and techniques, which India was able to see through efficaciously. 
    • Simultaneously, the PM guaranteed that the newly acquired capability will not be utilised against anyone and  that it was morally for India's security.
    • The PM Modi demanded that the whole operation, called "Mission Shakti" was completely indigenous.

    Mission Shakti
    1. India is only the Fourth nation to obtain such a specialized and modern capability.
    2. The whole mission was indigenous, portentous India's scientific, security and economic development.
    3. The anti-satellite missile, A-SAT, is anticipated to give a sound, solid footing to India's space security.
    4. The mission is an imperative step towards securing India's safety, economic and technological
    advancement.

    IIT-Delhi developed AI-based system on - 26th March 2019

    IIT Delhi declared on 26th, 2019 that they have developed an Artificial Intelligence based electronic
    hardware system to notice malaria, TB, intestinal parasite, and cervical cancer in fractions of second in
    resource-constrained areas with partial access to human specialists.
    AI-based system
    The team led by Manan Suri, principal investigator at the Neuromorphic and NVM research group has utilised nanotechnology to progress a diagnostic support system which can read underdone information  from blood samples, patterns of a patient etc and can extract data.
    The system can notice patterns and give precise answers within fractions of second, hence automating the whole system.
    They utilised nanotechnology to limit the size of the device which do no require to connect information to the cloud/public storage instead of local and secure services are needed in healthcare.
    Advantages

    • Several Artificial Intelligence software occurs for healthcare and diagnostic applications, necessity of the hour is to efficiently map these models on transportable dedicated low-power, low-cost hardware to enable edge Artificial Intelligence systems accessible to all in low resource environment.
    • Microscopy is predominantly well adapted to low-resource, high disease burden areas.
    • In contrast to alternatives for instance, rapid diagnostic tests, however, microscopy-based diagnosis does depend on the availability of expert technicians.
    • As a result, diagnoses are often done on the basis of clinical symbols and symptoms alone, which is error-prone and leads to higher mortality, drug resistance, and the economic burden of buying needless medicines.

    Pentagon authorises fund transfer to build - US-Mexico Border Wall

    The Pentagon has informed the United States Congress that it has authorised the transfer of USD One
    billion to start building a new wall along the United States-Mexico border. This transfer of capital is 1st
    under the  national emergency announced by President Trump  to bypass Congress and construct the
    border wall President Trump had pledged during his 2016 election campaign.
    Reason

    • United States-Mexico Border Wall was on one of the crucial promises done by President Trump when he was campaigning to become president. With 2 years into the presidency, President Trump needs to deliver on his promise.
    • This projected border wall between United States and Mexico is intended to prevent illegitimate migrants from entering the United States via the porous borders. Presently, there is 650 miles of barrier along the border which is 1900 miles long.
    • Thus, President Trump devices to construct a 1000 miles steel wall to avoid people from crossing the United States-Mexico border.
    • Even though he had originally stated that Mexico would be enforced to pay for the building of the wall, the United States is now enforced to pay for the edifice from its own pocket. Mexico has categorically excluded paying for the wall.

    Who has been bestowed with highest civilian award of Croatia ? - President Ram Nath Kovind

    President Ram Nath Kovind has been bestowed with Croatia’s highest civilian award the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav. The Indian President was bestowed during his visit to Croatia to toughen the
    bilateral relationships.
    Croatia’s highest civilian award the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav is bestowed to heads of state for their significant contribution towards the progress of state ties between Croatia and their respective nations. President Kovind is the 1st-ever Indian head of state to visit Croatia.
    Croatia Croatia is situated in the north-western part of the Balkan Peninsula and its capital is Zagreb. Croatia was fundamental of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Croatia acknowledged independence from Yugoslavia on 25th June 1991.
    Croatia is a republic ruled under a parliamentary system is a member of the European Union, the United
    Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, and the Union for the
    Mediterranean.

    RBI slaps penalty on PNB for violating - SWIFT norms

    The RBI has fined Punjab National Bank Rupees 2 crore for violation of compliance with regulatory
    guidelines regarding SWIFT operations.
    The Reserve Bank of India has stringent the stance against banks on all type of regulatory guidelines post Punjab National Bank scam which put it to question the ability of the central bank. Earlier in March 2019, Reserve Bank of India had forced a total monetary fine of Rupees 8 crore on 3 banks including Karnataka Bank, United Bank of India and Karur Vysya Bank for not obeying with the guideines on Swift messaging software.
    SWIFT
    SWIFT which stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications is a messaging
    network that banking institutions utilise to securely transmit data and instructions via standardized system of codes.
    Under SWIFT, each banking organization has an inimitable code which is utilised for sending as well as
    receiving payments across various banking institutions.
    SWIFT code is utilised when the transfer between 2 banks happens internationally as we utilise IFSC
    codes for the domestic transfers i.e. financial transactions within the geographical territory of India.

    SC warns RBI of contempt on - 26th March 2019

    The Supreme Court of India on March 26th, 2019 took a strong note of non-disclosure of the yearly
    inspection report of banks by the RBI under the Right to Information Act. The supreme court endangered to slap punitive order against Reserve Bank of India for not following to its earlier order on making its bank inspection report public. 
    The Supreme Court bench encompassing justices L.N.Rao and M.R Shah specified that it may initiate
    contempt reports against the bank for not unveiling the yearly inspection report of various banks under
    the transparency law. The bench issued the bank a week’s time to comply.

    Important Highlights

    • The Supreme Court bench was hearing 3 petitions filed by parties, including Right to Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, alleging non-compliance of the law by Reserve Bank of India.
    • The supreme court and the Central Information Commission had earlier apprehended that the Reserve Bank of India cannot disallow to put the inspection information in the public domain under the transparency law. 
    • The bench advised the Reserve Bank of India counsel that it will punish the Bank for contempt and gave it single week’s time to take a decision on the same, before the court passes an order against it. 
    • The Reserve Bank of India counsel contended that the reports comprise confidential data on banking operations and it was not practicable to make the complete report public.
    • The counsel on behalf of the bank informed that the Supreme Court judgement did not direct to disclose the complete report and that the judgement should be re-examined.T
    • he council also discovered that a fresh policy has been framed by Reserve Bank of India after the Supreme Court verdict.