Daily GK Updates - 18th March, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.   ‘Sajibu Nongma Panba Cheiraoba’ the New Year of Manipuri lunar calendar: It was celebrated in Manipur on 18th March. The festival was celebrated on the first day of the Manipuri month, Sajibu, which usually falls in the month of March end or early part of April. Sanamahi, the domestic deity of the people of Manipur is worshipped on this day.

2.   The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will set up India’s first offshore wind turbines at Arichamunai near Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu:  This region was selected on the basis of the quality and speed of the wind which was found to be good. The MNRE will install 4 to 5 wind turbines, each with the capacity to generate a minimum of 6 MW of power.

 INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.    Indo-French Naval exercise Varuna 2018: The first phase of Indo-French joint naval exercise Varuna 2018 began on March 19, 2018, at the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) in Vasco da Gama, Goa. The exercise is being held in the Arabian Sea, off the Goa coast. The second and third phases of the exercise will be held at the Chennai coast in April 2018 and in La Reunion Island in May 2018, respectively.

2.  Global Recycling Day – 18^th March: To promote action on recycling, recycling associations across the globe are observing the first Global Recycling Day on 18th March. By 2025, India’s waste management sector is expected to be worth US$13.62 billion with an annual growth rate of 7.17 percent. Polyethylene Terephthalate is a food grade plastic which is used for food and pharma packaging has the highest rate of recycling.

3.      Disaster Risk Reduction workshop help between India and Japan: It was inaugurated on 19th March. The two-day workshop is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Government of Japan. The workshop’s aim is to develop a specific bilateral Action Plan on areas of cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction.

4.    Victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 4^th term: Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing victory in the presidential elections held on 18th March. Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, won more than 75% of the vote. He was well ahead of his nearest rival Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1.   Israel Junior 2018 -  Purva Barve: Purva Barve won the women’s singles (Under-19) title at the Israel Junior badminton tournament 2018 held in Rishon LeZion. The title is her first in 2018 and third overall. Earlier she won the Israel Junior 2017, Italian Junior International 2017 apart from a bronze at the Russian Junior White Nights 2017.

2.  Ranji winner Vidarbha clinched maiden Irani Cup title: Vidarbha has lifted their maiden Irani Trophy at Nagpur on 18th March after they beat ‘Rest of India’ by virtue of their massive first innings lead. It is their second title in the domestic cricket season after they won Ranji Trophy. Rest of India were bowled out for 390, falling short of Vidarbha’s first-innings total by 410 runs.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1.   WTO ministerial meet in Delhi - 50 nations to take up global trade issues: The meeting would be more of an "ice-breaker" as it is being held after the collapse of talks at the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial in December. The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues. It further said that safeguarding and strengthening the multilateral trading system was never as important as it is today, and the WTO is also facing systemic challenges, particularly its dispute settlement arm.

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY:

1.   ‘HAMMER’ Spacecraft: NASA is up to build a huge nuclear spacecraft that is capable of shunting or blowing up dangerous space rocks and safeguarding life on Earth. The spacecraft named Hammer (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response) is an eight-tonne spaceship which could deflect a giant space rock. The 1,600-foot-wide asteroid Bennu is circling the sun at 63,000 mph.