17th March 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Pakistan today hanged 12 convicts, the largest number put to death in a single day since the country temporarily lifted a moratorium on the death penalty. 
• At least 27 convicts have been executed since Pakistan resumed executions on December 17 after a Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
• There are more than 8,000 death row prisoners in the country.
• India and Kyrgyzstan today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost up the cooperation in the textiles sector.
• Indian Minister of State (MoS) for Textiles : Santosh Kumar Gangwar
• Minister of Energy and Industry of Kyrgyzstan : Kubanychbek Turdubaev

National Affairs

• First Indian-American astronaut and First Indian woman in space, Kalpana Chawla's (17th March 1962  - 1st February 2003) birth anniversary today.
• In a major verdict, the Supreme Court today set aside Centre's notification to extend the benefit of reservations to the Jat community. 
• The previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had announced reservation for Jats just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
• Holding that politically-organised communities like Jats cannot be included in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the court also directed the government to recognise emerging socially and educationally backward groups like transgenders, who are among the most distressed.
• Parliament passes Rail Budget 2015-16
• Lok Sabha passes General Budget.
• Haryana Assembly passes Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill, 2015, which clamps a complete ban on cow slaughter in the state and provides for a rigorous imprisonment ranging from 3 years to 10 years for killing the animal.
• The cabinet has cleared the Black Money bill, which would give more powers to the tax department in tracking illicit wealth stashed abroad and provide for strict penal actions for such offence.
• The bill is likely to be introduced in the current session of Parliament.

New Appointments

• Credit rating agency Crisil today announced the appointment of Ashu Suyash as the next Managing Director and Chief executive Officer. 
• She will succeed Roopa Kudva, who has been the MD & CEO at Crisil since 2007.

Awards & Honors

• Minoti Apte, a 56-year-old Indian pancreatic cancer researcher in Australia has been named New South Wales (NSW) Woman of the year 2015 for her contributions to medical research, tertiary education and the Indian community.

Deaths

• Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer DK Ravikumar, who took on the sand mafia in Kolar district of Karnataka when he was the Deputy Commissioner (DC), was found dead at his official flat under mysterious circumstances.
• Veteran Malayalam singer and music composer Bombay S. Kamal (85), an active presence in the field of music for the past six decades, passed away.

Sports

• World Cup
• ICC Cricket World Cup enters knock-out stage; South Africa to take on Sri Lanka in the first quarter-final at Sydney tomorrow.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

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