Current Affairs for 11th to 17th March 2017

Current Affairs for 11^th to 17^th March 2017

1. Parliament has passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 with the Lok Sabha approving it on 9^th March. The Rajya Sabha has already cleared it. The bill seeks to enhance paid maternity leave for women engaged in organized sector from 12 wees to 26 weeks for two surviving children. It will be applicable to mines, factories and all establishments employing 10 or more people. In his reply to the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Minister of Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattaryera said the amendment has job, wages and social security aspects as its integral parts. He said violation of the provisions of the amendment bill would attract 3 to 6 months of imprisonment and a penalty of upto Rs. 5000.
    
2. Indian Navy has commissioned INS Tillanchang at Karwar, Karnataka. It is a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft. It is the third ship of four follow-on WJFAC built by the Kolkata based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers. The first two ships INS Tarmugli and INS Tihayu which were commissioned in 2016.
    
3. The world’s longest serving warship INS Viraat was decommissioned by the Indian Navy at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Maharashtra after nearly six decades of service. This marks the end of an era of Viraat being the flagship of the Indian Navy as it had provided utmost protection to the country during many tense situations.
    
4. Eminent Konkani writer Mahabaleshwar Sail was selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman 2016 for his novel Hawthan. His novel was shortlisted out of 22 books written in as many languages. He will receive cash prized of Rs. 15 lakh and a citation.
    
5. The newly constructed Tezu airport will be the first civilian airport of Arunachal Pradesh. Tezu will smoothen transport to several high-altitude districts near the Indian-China border. Tezu is the nearest town to Walong, where a legendary battle between India and Chinese soldiers took place in October 1962.
    
6. The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Leaders’ Summit was held from March 5 to 7, 2017 in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. The theme of the summit was ‘Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean’. It was attended by leaders from 21 member states of IORA. Vice President Hamid Ansari attended the two-day summit.
    
7. Pakistan National Assembly has passed the Hindu Marriage Bill 2016, after amendments made by the Senate, to regulate marriages of Hindus in Pakistan. Minister of Human Rights, Kamran Michael said there was no law to regulate the registration of Hindu marriages and ancillary matters in Pakistan.
    
8. European Space Agency successfully launched Sentinel-2B satellite, fifth of its Sentinel Earth observation satellites part of its multi-billion-euro Copernicus observation program.
    
9. The GST Council meeting headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has approved the final draft of Central GST (CGST) and Inter-State GST (IGST) laws. The approval of CGST and IGST laws is considered as significant step towards meeting the July 1, 2017 deadline for rolling out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
    
10. India is expected to replicate the record Rabi crop production following record Kharif crop production output following a good monsoon in 2016. This was stated in a study conducted by economic think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
     
11. India beat Australia by 75 runs in the second Test and leveled the series 1-1. Captain Virat Kohli remained unchanged at third to be the best-placed Indian batsman in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued in Dubai. Rohit Sharma (12^th) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13^th) follow Kohli. Both of them also remained static on their previous positions. Opener Shikhar Dhawan, however, dropped a rung to be 15^th. Among the bowlers, Akshar Patel was the best-placed Indian at the 11^th position.
     
12. Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has launched the web portal for obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone clearances. The portal is a web-based system for obtaining clearances required from the Ministry under by the Project proponents for ease of doing business.
     
13. The Union Government has launched the first ever across-the-river survey in River Ganga to determine the population of aquatic life, including that of the endangered Gangetic dolphin. The survey will create a baseline scientific data for the government to take suitable measures to improve quality of the Ganga’s water.