14th March 2020 Current Affairs in Tamil & English

14th March 2020 Current Affairs in Tamil & English

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14th March 2020 Current Affairs Tamil

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1. Which Indian public sector bank waived the minimum balance requirement for all savings bank (SB) accounts?

State Bank of India

• The Largest lender of India, State Bank of India (SBI) recently announced that the penalty charges for non–maintenance of average monthly balance (AMB) for all its savings bank accounts are to be waived.
• At present, the customers shall have to maintain average monthly balance of ₹3000, ₹2000 and ₹1000 in metro, semi urban and rural areas respectively.
• The Bank levies a penalty of ₹5 to ₹15 plus taxes when average monthly balance is not maintained. Now the penalty has been waived for all its 44.51 Crore savings bank account holders. The bank also lowered interest rate on all SB accounts to 3%.

2. World Economic Forum (WEF) released its new list of 115 Young Global Leaders. How many Indians are included in the list?

5

• World Economic Forum (WEF) released its new list of 115 Young Global Leaders. As per the report, these young global leaders from 52 countries under the age of forty are working in their respective fields to change the world and are called ‘change–makers’.
• Five Indians are named in the coveted list including Byju Classes’ founder Byju Raveendran, Zomato’s co–founder Gaurav Gupta, Tara Singh Vachani (CEO of Antara Senior Living), Vinati Mutreja (Managing Director and CEO, Vinati Organics Limited), and Swapan Mehra (CEO, IORA Ecological Solutions).

3. According to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which country is the largest exporter of arms during the past five years?

United States

• According to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the largest exporter of arms during the past five years (2015 – 2019) was the United States, whose exports grew by 23% and share in global arms exports grew to 36%.
• Half of US arms exports are reported to have gone to the Middle East. It is followed by Russia, France, Germany and China in the next places.
• Arms transfers from Russia, decreased by 18%, largely due to a drop in sales to India. From 2015 to 2019, international arms exports grew by 5.5% from the previous 5 years.

4. Which global organisation has launched the, “COVID Action Platform” to convene the business community to support for COVID–19?

World Economic Forum

• The World Economic Forum recently launched a new platform with the support of the World Health Organisation to convene the global business community for a collective support for the COVID–19 outbreak.
• The newly formed platform is called, “COVID Action Platform” and is open to all businesses and industry groups and other stakeholders including the governments around the globe.
• This first of its kind platform will integrate the efforts of all the entities in tackling the outbreak together.

5. S.S.Deswal has been appointed as the Director General (DG) of which Indian para–military force?

Border Security Force

• The incumbent Director General of Indo–Tibetan Border Police S S Deswal has been given the additional charge of the DG Border Security Force (BSF).
• This appointment has been approved after the DG BSF Vivek Johri was posted to his parent cadre Madhya Pradesh. He is set to hold the additional charge till the appointment and joining of the successor or until further order, as per the Ministry of Home Affairs notification.

6. Which is the venue of the main national event for the sixth International Day of Yoga, 2020?

Leh

• The main national event for the sixth International Day of Yoga (IDY) 2020 will be held on June 21 at Leh in Ladakh. This national event is expected to be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• This is the first time the event is taking place in such a high altitude location like Leh. Last year, the Yoga Day event was organised in Ranchi, Jharkhand and the Prime Minister participated in the programme.
• The first International Day of Yoga was observed all over the world on June 21, 2015.

7. The Parliament of which country passed a bill to allow the President to contest in Presidential elections after 2024?

Russia

• The Federation Council, the Upper House of the Russian parliament approved the presidential bill on amending the national Constitution, after the Lower house passed it.
• The bill changes the powers of the parliament and allows President Vladimir Putin to run for the presidency again in 2024, which may extend his rule to two more terms.
• The bill will be considered after two–thirds of the regional parliaments back it and after the all–Russia vote. The bill also seeks to give additional powers to the President to fire judges in the country’s higher courts and to reject laws passed by Parliament.

8. Which Indian cueist was the runner–up of the National 6–Red Snooker Championship, at which Pankaj Advani won his 34^th national title?

Ishpreet Singh

• Veteran Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched the National 6–Red Snooker Championship with a 7–3 win over Ishpreet Singh. It is the 34^th national title overall for Advani.
• The National 6–Red Snooker Championship was held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In the summit clash, Pankaj trailed 1–3 in the beginning but defeated the young cueist Ishpreet Singh of Maharashtra to claim his 34^th title.

9. World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid–19 as a pandemic. Which disease was previously declared as pandemic by WHO?

H1N1 influenza

• World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid–19 as a pandemic. The last time the WHO declared a pandemic was for the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009.
• Pandemic is the term when epidemics are growing in multiple countries and continents at the same time, whereas an endemic describes the outbreak that has grown out of control yet is limited to just one country or location.

10. World Bank signed an $80 million loan agreement with which Indian state to increase agricultural productivity in its Gram Panchayats?

Himachal Pradesh

• The Government of India, state government of Himachal Pradesh and the World Bank recently signed an $80 million loan agreement to improve water management practices and increase agricultural productivity in certain Gram Panchayats in Himachal Pradesh.
• ‘The Integrated project for source sustainability and climate resilient rain–fed Agriculture’ project in Himachal Pradesh will be implemented in 428 Gram Panchayats, which is expected to benefit over 4 lakh smallholder farmers.