14th March 2017 Important Daily Current Affairs

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Dear Great Ambitionists, here are today's (14th March 2017) Important Current Affairs updates. Happy Reading :)

Daily Current Affairs of 14th March 2017

International Current Affairs

• The world observed 'Pi Day' today to celebrate March 14 (3/14), which coincides with Mathematical constant Pi's value (3.14). 
• Pi denotes the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle in Mathematics.
  
• The UK Parliament today passed the Brexit bill, paving the way for the government to trigger Article 50 so that it can leave the European Union.
• The bill is expected to receive Royal Assent and become a law soon. 
• The passage of the bill allows UK Prime Minister Theresa May to begin talks on Britain's exit from the European Union.
• Pakistan is going to conduct its first national census in 19 years, starting tomorrow with the assistance of over 2 lakh troops and 1 lakh civilian enumerators. 
• The 70-day door-to-door campaign will conclude in two phases at a cost of over Pakistani Rupee 1,850 crore. 
• The census is aimed at helping appropriate allocation of funds and other resources for planning development programs.
• Scotland will hold a second referendum on independence from the United Kingdom, the country's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced today. 
• A second referendum was certain after the result of last June's Brexit vote, Sturgeon added.
• Note : Over 62% of Scottish voters had voted to remain in the European Union while the UK as a whole voted to leave.

National Current Affairs

• The Lok Sabha has passed the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill, 2016. 
• The Bill aims to establish uniform legal framework by consolidating the existing laws relating to admiralty jurisdiction of courts, admiralty proceedings on maritime claims, arrest of vessels and related issues. 
• It also aims to repeal five obsolete British statutes statutes (laws) on admiralty jurisdiction in civil matters which are 126 to 177 years old and were hindering efficient governance. 
• The five laws are :
• Admiralty Court Act, 1840
• Admiralty Court Act, 1861
• Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890
• Colonial Courts of Admiralty (India) Act, 1891
• Provisions of the Letters Patent, 1865

Science & Technology

• The US will retire its Predator drone MQ-1 from service in July after 22 years and will replace it with the more capable MQ-9 Reaper. 
• The remote-piloted drone entered service in 1995 as RQ-1, but was re-designated as MQ-1 in 1999 after it was fitted with Hellfire missiles. 
• The Predator drones' first strike reportedly took place in Afghanistan in 2002.

New Appointments

• Europe’s biggest bank HSBC Holdings Plc has appointed Mark Tucker as its Chairman. 
• He will replace Douglas Flint and would take over as group chairman designate from September 2017 and as non-executive group chairman on October 2017. T
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today took additional charge of the Defence Ministry, a dual position he had held for around six months in 2014.
• BJP minister Manohar Parrikar today took oath as the Chief Minister of Goa in Panaji. 
• Indian-American Seema Verma confirmed to head Trump government's health program for elderly, poor and disabled.
• She will be involved in overseeing health care reform efforts by the #Trump administration.
• Union Government has appointed Narendra Kumar as the new chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC).
• Prior to this appointment, he was member (river management) of CWC since October 2014.

Business & Economic Affairs

• The Indian rupee today hit an 11-month high against the US dollar as markets surged following Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in Uttar Pradesh. 
• The rupee touched a high of 66.18 during the day.
• State-run NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) Limited has installed India’s largest floating solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant (RGCCPP) at Kayamkulam in Kerala. 
• The 100 kWp (kilowatt peak) floating solar PV plant has been indigenously developed as a part of Union Government flagship ‘Make In India’ initiative.

Awards & Honors

• The Austrian capital of Vienna has been rated the city with the highest quality of life for the eighth consecutive year by consulting firm Mercer. 
• Top 5 in the List : 
• Vienna (Austria)
• Zurich (Switzerland)
• Auckland (New Zealand)
• Munich (Germany)
• Vancouver (Canada)
• While Singapore was the highest ranked Asian city, Baghdad ranked lowest in the world again.

Deaths

• British Formula One (F1) legend John Surtees (83) passed away toay.
• He was the only racer to have won world championships on motorbikes and in Formula One. 

Sports Current Affairs

• Punjab has won the 71st Santosh Trophy football tournament by defeating Railways by 2-1 goals. 
• Note : It was Punjab’s overall ninth Santosh Trophy after it had earlier won it in 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2006 and 2007.
• Odisha is going to host the Asian Athletics Championship to be held at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on the first week of July.
• The mega sports event of athletics, will be held for the first time in Kalinga Stadium. 

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