Daily GK Updates - 21st March, 2017

­­­­                     NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India ranks 122 in 2017 World Happiness Report:  India ranked at 122 out of 155 countries in the World Happiness Report 2017 published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network on the eve of International Day of Happiness (20 March). The rankings are based factors such as  inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita, public trust (i.e. a lack of corruption in government and business), and social support. Together they are used to generate a happiness score of country on a scale from 1 to 10.

2. Uttarakhand HC recognise Ganga and Yamuna Rivers as living entity:  The Uttarakhand High Court has recognized the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers as so-called living entities. It is for the first time any court in India has recognized a non-human as a living entity. The two rivers are sacred for the Hindus, sustain millions of people in the country but have seen years of damage at the hands of humans.

3. India’s first sign language dictionary to come up soon: Government:   The Union Government will soon launch country’s first-of-its-kind Indian Sign Language (ISL) dictionary which aims to bring uniformity in sign languages used by hearing and speech impaired people. It is being developed in both print and video format by the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC).  It will give uniform language to 50 lakh hearing-impaired and 20 lakh speech-impaired people in the country.

4. IIT-Madras inks pact with Tanstia-FNF Service: IIT-Madras and small scale industry body Tanstia-FNF Service Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) fortechnology transfer of water treatment analysis kits designed to treat drinking water mainly in rural areas. The research at IIT-Madras for developing the filter and the kit was funded by International Development Research Centre, Canada.

5. NBCC to execute social housing project in Mauritius: National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), a Navratna construction major under the Ministry of Urban Development will execute a US $ 20 million (Rs.130 crore) social housing project in Mauritius. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between NBCC and Mauritius.

6. “FICCI Frames-2017” starts in Mumbai: The 18th edition of Asia’s largest convention on the business of media and entertainment “FICCI Frames-2017” has started in Mumbai, Maharashtra from March 21.  The 3-day international convention will covers the entire spectrum of Media & Entertainment.  The theme of this year’s convention is “Digital-Divide or Dividend”. Canada is partnering the event.

7.  India home to 101 billionaires, Mukesh Ambani tops the list: Forbes India is home to world’s fourth highest number of billionaires with Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani (33rd position globally) leading the club of more than 100 super rich Indians. The list has been topped by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for the fourth year in a row. 

8. Five Indians in WEF’s 100 Young Global Leaders list: Five Indians have made it to the World Economic Forum's list of 100 Young Global Leaders under 40 years of age. These include Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Blippar app's Founder Ambarish Mitra, journalist in Fortune India Hindol Sengupta, Swaniti Initiative's Rwitwika Bhattacharya and The Tamara Coorg hospitality's Shruti Shibulal. All the people in the list are entitled to a five-year leadership journey.

Every batch of medicines would undergo testing before it is distributed.

                      INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.  International Day of Forests: 21st March: The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Forests 2017 is observed on 21st march, which promotes the importance of forests and trees in our lives. The theme for this year is 'Forests and energy'.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Roger Federer wins ATP Indian Wells Masters title: Swiss star Roger Federer (35-years) has won the ATP Indian wells Masters title in California, USA.

He defeated Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-4, 7-5. Federer joined Novak Djokovic as the only man to win five Indian Wells titles. Earlier, he has won his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. He had earlier won this title consecutively three times between 2004 and 2006 and in 2012.

2. Cheteshwar Pujara becomes first Indian to face 500 balls in Test innings: Cheteshwar Pujara has become the first Indian to face 500-plus balls in an innings, going past the mark against Australia. He broke past Rahul Dravid's record of 495 balls, which were the most faced by an Indian in one Test innings.

BANKING & FINANCE:

3. Bharatiya Mahila Bank to be merged with SBI: The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will be merged with the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) from 1^st April, 2017. The merger would mean 103 branches and business of Rs. 2,000 crores added to SBI. The bank employees, who had joined on deputation, would be transferred back to their previous banks.

4. Branches of SBBJ, SBH, SBM, SBP and SBT to operate as branches of SBI from April 1, 2017: All branches of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) will function as branches of State Bank of India from April 1, 2017. The Customers, including depositors of all the five Banks will be treated as customers of State Bank of India with effect from April 1, 2017.

5. Govt proposes to lower cash transaction limit to Rs 2 lakh: The government on Tuesday proposed to cap cash transactions at Rs 2 lakh instead of the proposed Rs 3 lakh.  The proposal was made in the finance bill. The bill proposes to levy a service charge on all cash transaction above Rs 2 lakh.

6. ICICI bank launched mobile banking app “Mera iMobile”: The ICICI bank has recently launched a mobile banking app “Mera iMobile” for rural customers that allow them to access banking services as well as information on agri services.