March 17 & 18 Current Affairs

State :

Tamilnadu :

AIADMK appoints new office-bearers

• The much-awaited appointment of office-bearers for various posts in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was announced on Friday night. 19 organising secretaries picked from camps of Palaniswami, Panneerselvam.

Special passport mela

• The Regional Passport Office, Chennai, will hold a special passport mela at the Passport Seva Kendra here on March 17 to facilitate submission of applications by frequent travellers facing hardships such as waiting to get appointments.

Ultra modern cameras soon to nail road racers

• Alarmed over the spate of road accidents due to illegal racing during night hours, the Chenai City Police has planned to install high resolution cameras on arterial roads.Police likely to seal deal with equipment provider from Kerala.

Kerala :

FMFL sale only from May

• The public will have to wait at least till May to legally purchase internationally best selling liquor and wine in Kerala. Excise officials said they could amend the liquor rules to facilitate the domestic sale of Foreign Made Foreign Liquor (FMFL) only after the Assembly passed the Finance Bill this month end .

5% land quota for NoRKS

• “The policy will be accorded Cabinet approval this month and the reservation of land will come into effect accordingly. The reservation of land for NoRKs is aimed at serving twin objectives – rehabilitation of returning expatriates and as an inducement to attract investments from NoRKs,” Industries Minister A.C. Moideen told .

Naval Chetak helicopter makes precautionary landing in open field

• A Chetak helicopter of the Southern Naval Command was forced to make ‘precautionary landing’ in an open field at Muhamma near Alappuzha on Saturday after the pilots spotted a warning signal suggesting low oil pressure.

Karnataka :

CM to inaugurate mega water project in Gadag

• The ambitious drinking water supply project worth ₹1,049 crore aimed at covering 343 villages in Gadag district has been completed and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate it on March 22, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H.K. Patil has said.

 Career guidance for 30,000 II pre-university girl students

• Nearly 30,000 girls from 50 government pre-university colleges will finally get professional guidance on choosing careers and courses they wish to enrol in after graduation.United Nations Development Programme to conduct training sessions.

Andhra Pradesh :

Old water pipelines in State will be replaced: Narayana

• Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on March 17 morning, civic officials from Guntur and Vijayawada supervised the operation of desilting of all clogged drains in One Town. Mr. Naidu is believed to have given his piece of mind to officials.

Students stage Jala Deeksha for Ramayapatnam port

• Students under the aegis of the Andhra Pradesh Students and Youth Joint Action Committee staged ‘Jala Deeksha’ at the sleepy coastal village of Ramayapatnam urging the Centre that an announcement should be made in the ongoing Budget session changing the location of the Central port sanctioned to the State from Dugarajapatnam to Ramayapatnam

RIMS launches super-speciality services on Ugadi

• Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here as it started super-speciality surgeries on Ugadi on March 18 by roping in noted joint replacement surgeon B.Narendra Reddy.

India :

India sends one more note verbale to Pakistan

•  India on March 18 hit out at Pakistan for denying its diplomats normal working conditions in Islamabad and sent another note verbale. Sunday’s note of protest is the 13th that Delhi has sent this year to Pakistan over harassment of its staffers and diplomats based at the High Commission in the Pakistani capital.

Army to buy air defence system

• “The activities relating to the Contract Negotiation Committee for the deal started in mid-February. The bids will be opened shortly to select the lowest bidder so as to begin cost negotiations,” a defence official said.

Bilaspur’s stone age tools link Sivalik cultures

• Researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) have discovered a number of Acheulian artefacts (dated to about 1, 500,000–1,50,000 years ago) along with contemporary Soanian ones from an unexplored site at Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh.

President Kovind tells IITians to create jobs

• President Ram Nath Kovind on March 18 called upon students of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to turn entrepreneurs to create jobs and give back to society in their own way.

World :

Turkey-led forces seize control of Afrin

• Turkey’s flag was flying in Syria’s Afrin on March 18 after Turkish troops and Ankara-backed rebels chased out Kurdish militia forces to seize control of the city.

Stephen Hawking’s deathbed paper could prove multi-universes

• Stephen Hawking may have left behind clues to detect other universes in the cosmos besides our own in a final research paper submitted just weeks before his death earlier this week, a media report said on March 18. Final research paper, submitted just weeks before his death, sets out to prove the idea that our cosmos is only one of many universes.

Wins Russian presidency again

• Putin - who won a fourth term, which will keep him in power until 2024 - declared victory. And “Thank you," he told the crowd. "That we have such a powerful, many-million strong team. It’s very important that you preserve this unity.”

China’s annual parliament reappoints Xi Jinping

• China’s annual parliament has appointed Xi Jinping to a second term as leader and Li Keqiang as premier, while naming a senior official to head a new anti-corruption agency.

UK could stay in EU beyond March 2019, Brexit committee says

• The UK should consider remaining in the European Union beyond March 2019 to allow more time to resolve issues such as the future of the Border, the House of Commons Brexit committee has proposed.

Business :

DP World, NIIF JV picks Continental for first investment

• Hindustan Infralog Pvt Ltd. (HIPL), a joint venture between DP World and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India, has announced the acquisition of 90% stake in Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Seva) Ltd. (CWCNSL), an integrated multimodal logistics player in India for an unspecified amount.

IOC, BPCL eye 26% stake each in GAIL

• A top source said since the government was not looking at actual merger of oil companies but only transfer of its ownership to a cash rich PSU, the best option would be to split the 54.89% holding in GAIL equally between IOC and BPCL.

Corporate Affairs Ministry mulls proposal to collect passports details of directors

• Ministry of Corporate Affairs is considering a proposal to seek passport details of all individuals, who have been permitted to serve as directors on the board of companies in a bid to prevent loan defaulters like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi leaving the country.

Sports :

Karthik’s final-ball six dashes Bangladesh’s dreams

• Twenty20 tri-series after Dinesh Karthik smashed the final ball for a six to secure their thrilling four-wicket victory against a gallant Bangladesh side on March 18. With India needing 34 runs off the last two overs, Karthik hammered 29 not out off just eight deliveries, his third six sealing India's third, and the most hard-earned, victory over Bangladesh in the tournament.

Alves double lifts Chennaiyin FC to ISL title

• Chennaiyin FC lifted their game to a level befitting the occasion and sent fancied Bengaluru FC crushing to a painful 2-3 defeat, clinching the Indian Super League title in style, in Bangalore, on March 17.

PDF Download