Important Current Affairs 26th March 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Indian-American Doctor Vivek Murthy appointed as US Surgeon General

•The US Senate has voted, 57-43, to confirm the appointment of Indian-American doctor Vivek Murthy as the Surgeon General under US President Biden’s administration.

•The 43-year-old Dr Murthy would occupy the position of America’s Surgeon General for the second time. Prior to this, Dr Murthy was appointed as surgeon general under the Obama administration in 2011 but was fired by former President Trump in 2017.

World’s first Ship Tunnel to be built in Norway

•The Norwegian Coastal Administration has received the green signal to start working on the construction of the world’s first tunnel, being built exclusively for ships. The tunnel is dubbed as “Stad Ship Tunnel” and would be built under the mountainous Stadhavet peninsula in northwestern Norway.

About the Tunnel:

•The 1.7 km tunnel will be able to handle ships of up to 16,000 tonnes and give ships a safer passage through the treacherous Stadhavet Sea.

•The tunnel will be 49 metres (161 ft) high and 36 metres (118 ft) wide.

•It is estimated to cost at least 2.8 billion Norwegian kroner (NZ$460 million) the construction of this ship tunnel.

•The construction would begin in 2022 and would take three to four years to complete.

NATIONAL

Nirmala Sitharaman launches Central Scrutiny Centre and IEPFA mobile App

•Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman virtually inaugurated Central Scrutiny Centre (CSC) and Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority’s (IEPFA) Mobile App. The two tech-enabled initiatives have been launched by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to leverage digital solutions to achieve the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Digitally empowered India.

About the Moblie App:

•The Mobile App will focus on financial literacy by spreading investors’ awareness, education, and protection among investors.

•The Mobile App has been developed for citizen engagement and information dissemination to promote awareness among investors.

Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurates Kurnool Airport in Andhra Pradesh

•Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri has inaugurated the Kurnool Airport, in Andhra Pradesh virtually. The flight operations at Kurnool airport will begin on 28 March 2021. This airport has been developed under the Regional Connectivity Scheme, Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN).

About the airport:

•Kurnool airport will bring the region closer to major hubs in South India by providing direct flight operations to Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai.

•Kurnool is the 6th airport in Andhra Pradesh to become functional after Kadapa, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Rajahmundry & Vijayawada.

SPORTS

ISSF World Cup: India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar Wins Gold

•India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won gold in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi. The 20-year-old became the youngest in history to win a shooting World Cup gold in the 3 Positions event. The two other Indian shooters in the final, Sanjeev Rajput finishing sixth and Niraj Kumar came at the last position.

•This was India’s 8th gold medal in the ongoing World Cup. India continues to dominate the medal tally with 15 so far. India has won three silver medals and four bronze to go with the eight gold medals.

OBITUARY

Acclaimed Polish Poet Adam Zagajewski passes away

•Renowned Polish poet Adam Zagajewski has passed away. He was a leading figure in Poland’s New Wave or Generation ’68, a literary movement of the late 1960s that called for a simple language to relate directly to reality.

•Zagajewski’s “Try to Praise the Mutilated World,” was translated into English by Clare Cavanaugh and published in The New Yorker.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Sanjeev Kumar appointed as Chairman of Airports Authority of India

•IAS Sanjeev Kumar has appointed as Chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

•Kumar is a 1993-batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved his appointment.

Principal Scientific Advisor K. VijayRaghavan gets extension

•The government has extended the term of Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) K. VijayRaghavan by a year. He was appointed PSA in 2018 after retiring as Secretary of, Department of Biotechnology. His contract ends on April 2 but has now been extended until April 2022.

•Since the pandemic began, the Office of the PSA has been among the key coordinating agencies with industry, research bodies, health and science ministries to accelerate the development of diagnostics, drugs and vaccines. The PSA office has also been instrumental in formulating the National Science Innovation and Technology Policy as well as the forthcoming National Research Foundation.

CJI SA Bobde recommends Justice NV Ramana as his successor

•Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde has recommended Justice NV Ramana’s name as his successor after he retires next month. CJI Bobde is set to retire on 23 April. In a letter to the Law Ministry, CJI SA Bobde recommended Justice Ramana as his successor. Justice NV Ramana is the most senior judge in the apex court after CJI Bobde. On appointment, Justice NV Ramana will be the 48th Chief Justice of India and he will have a long tenure as CJI for over 16 months.

•The Centre had last week asked CJI Bobde to recommend his successor. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had reportedly sent a letter to Justice Bobde, seeking his recommendation, as is the practice under the Memorandum of Procedure for Appointment of Chief Justice of India. The recommendation letter has to come around a month before the vacancy arises.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World TB Day 2021: Kerala's TB eradication programme bags national honour

•Kerala’s tuberculosis eradication programme had won national honour as the state bagged the Union government’s award for reducing the prevalence of the disease through various systematic initiatives. Kerala is the only state had chosen for recognition in the state category.

•The southern state has reduced the TB prevalence rate by 5 per cent in the last five years as part of achieving sustainable development goals. The nation has set an ambitious goal to achieve “End Tuberculosis” by reducing the incidence of new TB cases by 80% by 2025, five years ahead of UN Sustainable Development Goals.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Asha Bhosle to be honoured with ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’

•Legendary singer Asha Bhosle will be honoured with the prestigious Maharashtra Bhushan Award for the year 2020. A committee chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray decided to select Ms Bhosle for the award for the year 2020. Ms Bhosle, whose sister Lata Mangeshkar won the award for 1997, said she got to know from Mr Thackeray that she has been selected for the award for 2020. Ms Bhosle received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2000.

•The award, instituted in 1996 by the State government to recognise distinguished work and achievements of eminent persons from the State, representing different walks of life, carries a cash prize of Rs.10 lakh and a citation.

•The first Maharashtra Bhushan awardee was Marathi writer P.L. Deshpande and the last winner of this award was historian Babasaheb Purandare who got it for the year 2015.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

A book titled ‘My Experiments with Silence’ authored by Samir Soni

•The book “My Experiments with Silence” is authored by Samir Soni on anxiety and self -discovery. Soni’s book aims to be a personal account of his dialogues with himself during his growing-up years in Delhi, his stint at Wall Street and his time in Bollywood.

•The book will be published by OM Books International. Soni said his book will be an “ode to anyone who has fought or is fighting their inner demons”.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

Indian Overseas Bank launches ‘IOB Trendy’ savings account

•Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has launched ‘IOB Trendy’, a savings account customised for the growing millennial population in the country by keeping their banking preferences in mind. IOB Trendy is a Savings Bank Account Scheme introduced by the bank towards this endeavour.

About the IOB Trendy account

•For opening an IOB Trendy account, a customer needs to be within the age bracket of 21 – 38 years.

•The account may be self or jointly operated. In the case of a joint account, the primary holder has to be a millennial at the time of account opening.

•There is no ‘Opening Balance’ requirement for IOB Trendy. So, no charges will be levied for the first month for non-maintenance of balance.

•However, IOB Trendy customers need to maintain a daily minimum balance of Rs.10,000 or a daily minimum balance of Rs.5,000 and a digital turnover (transactions using IOB ATM / CDM / IOB Mobile Banking or Internet Banking fund transfer / IOB UPI transactions or IOB Debit card POS transactions) of a minimum of Rs.20,000 per month.

•The millennial-focused account also offers features like an online application submission facility, free personalised accident (death) insurance cover of Rs.5 lakh if the quarterly average balance is Rs.1 lakh and above, auto-sweep facility when the balance exceeds Rs.50,000 among others.