8th March 2017 Important Daily Current Affairs

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Dear Great Ambitionists, here are today's (8th March 2017) Important Current Affairs updates. Happy Reading :)

Daily Current Affairs of 8th March 2017

International Current Affairs

• Today (8th March) is International Women’s Day.
• This day is observed to recognise women for their achievements without regard to divisions. 
• The first National Women's Day was observed by the American Socialist Party on February 28, 1909. 
• International Women’s Day 2017 Theme :  "Women in the Changing World of Work : Planet 50-50 by 2030“
• Promotional Theme : "#Be bold for change”
  
• The 11 edition of joint military exercise between India and Nepal titled ‘Surya Kiran 2017‘ was began at Pithoragarh area of Uttarakhand. 
• This two-week long battalion level joint exercise will focus on skills required for natural disaster management, counter-insurgency and jungle warfare.
• The joint military exercise between India and Oman titled Al-Nagah-II 2017 was began in the Dhauladhar Ranges in Bakloh belt of Himachal Pradesh.
• This is the second edition of the exercise in continuation of a series of joint exercises between the armies of the two countries. 
• Aim of this 14 day long exercise is to strengthen the military ties between the two countries. 
• The first edition of the exercise was held at Muscat, Oman in 2015.
• The Philippine House of Representatives today passed a controversial bill that restores the death penalty in the country.
• The bill seeks to punish the perpetrators of 8 drug offences with either life imprisonment or death.
• China is going to build a 1,000-kilometer pipeline connecting the drought-hit city of Lanzhou to Russia's Lake Baikal (the deepest freshwater lake on earth). 
• The project will help pump water to Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province which experienced just 380 millimetres of rain last year. 
• Note : China has 20% of the world's population but just 7% of fresh water.
• The US today started deploying Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea following North Korea's test of four ballistic missiles which were positioned to strike US bases in Japan. 
• North Korea's test launch was reportedly in retaliation to US-South Korea joint military drills which it considers as preparations for an invasion.
• The Commonwealth of Nations has launched “Peace in the home” programme to help member states tackle domestic violence which still remains a “stubborn stain” on communities, disproportionately impacting women. 
• The programme was launched on Women’s Day (March 8) and will continue through till 2018 when there is expected to be an accord on ending domestic violence in the Commonwealth.
• India had highest bribery rate among the 16 Asia-Pacific countries surveyed between July 2015 and January 2017. 
• A survey conducted by the Transparency International (TI) has revealed this.

National Current Affairs

• The 2-day International Yoga Festival organised by Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga in association with the Indian Yoga associations, was recently held at Talkatora stadium in New Delhi. 
• This fest was inaugurated by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu. 
• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched the web portal for obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearances. 
• The portal is a web-based system for obtaining clearances required from the Ministry under the (CRZ) by the Project proponents for ease of doing business.
• The National Conference on Jal Kranti Abhiyan organized by the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, was held in New Delhi. 
• Objective : to strengthen grass root involvement of all stakeholders including Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) and local bodies for Participatory Irrigation Management. 
• 4 important components of Jal Kranti Abhiyan :
• Development of Model Command Area, 
• Jal Gram Yojana,
• Pollution Abatement 
• Mass Awareness Programme

Business & Economic Affairs

• The government today launched the Aadhaar Pay service that allows people to do away with debit and credit cards and make payments through their fingerprints. 
• Under the service, biometric devices are attached to merchants' smartphones to allow people with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts to make payments via fingerprints.
• Important Note : IDFC Bank has become the first bank to launch Aadhaar Pay service.
• The Delhi government today presented its Budget for the financial year 2017-18 and announced the national capital’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) rose to ₹6,22,385 crore from ₹5,51,963 crore last year. 
• The government also proposed an expenditure of ₹5,736 crore for the health sector and ₹11,300 crore, which is about 24% of the total budget, for the education sector.
• According to recently released Hurun Global Rich List, India has 100 billionaires led by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $26 billion. 
• Hinduja Group's SP Hinduja and family, and Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi are country's second and third most richest people respectively.
• Lakshmi N Mittal, Shiv Nadar and Azim Premji are also among India's top 10 richest people.
• To enable employees to work while at home using mobile devices, the State Bank of India (SBI) today launched a 'work from home' facility. 
• SBI will centrally control all the work from home-enabled devices to secure their data and applications. 
• Services like cross-sell, marketing and complaints management will also be enabled to be worked from home.
• Mexico has canceled existing sugar export permits to the US to avoid penalties in a dispute over the pace of shipments. 
• This comes while US President Donald Trump has been seeking to renegotiate the North American Free Trade agreement, claiming that the deal favoured Mexico more. 
• Note : Mexico is the United States' top foreign supplier of sugar.
• The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has announced new Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) for oil and gas exploration. 
• The new policy will allow bidders to carve out areas where they want to drill.
• It will help energy hungry India and world’s third-largest oil consumer to attract greater foreign investment to boost output.

Science & Technology

• European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched Sentinel-2B satellite, 5th of its Sentinel Earth observation satellites part of its multi-billion-euro Copernicus observation program. 
• The optical imaging satellite was launched on board of a Vega rocket from ESA’s spaceport in French Guiana. 
• It marks overall ninth successful launch of the Vega launcher since its debut in 2012.

Awards & Honors

• The state-run Animal and Fishery Sciences University is going to award RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat with an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree during its convocation ceremony in Nagpur on April 10. 
• This will be the first honorary degree to be bestowed upon any individual by the university since its inception.
• PM Narendra Modi has emerged as the most popular Indian leader on Facebook, followed by UP CM Akhilesh Yadav. 
• BJP has emerged as the most-discussed political party. 
• The rankings are based on the number of unique people engaging in conversation related to leaders.

New Appointments

• Odisha Government has appointed K Srinath Reddy as an adviser to the state government on health matters with cabinet minister’s rank.
• He will advise the state government in proper implementation and smooth delivery of various ongoing government health programmes and improve key health indicators of the state.

Sports Current Affairs

• Ashwin and Jadeja become first spinners to be jointly ranked number one in ICC Test rankings for bowlers.
• Australian cricketer-turned-tennis player Ashleigh Barty won her first Women's Tennis Association singles title, the WTA Malaysian Open, in Kuala Lumpur today.

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