CURRENT AFFAIR –CLAT 2018

BY SNEHA SINGH
LLB (HONS), LLM
TELEGRAM ACCOUNT: t.me/Studyiqeducation
• The Lok Sabha has passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016
by a voice vote to give more thrust to road safety, controlling pollution
and accidents. The bill seeks to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
that provides for legal standards for motor vehicles, granting of driving
licenses, and penalties for violation of these provisions.
• The Lok Sabha passed the Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill, 2017,
which seeks to give constitutional status to the National Commission
for Backward Classes.

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• In a quest to set a new world record, Air India has operated a flight
around the world with an all-woman crew ahead of International
Women’s Day. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200LR, flew over the Pacific
on its journey to San Francisco, while the return flight flew over the
Atlantic, encircling the globe. The cockpit and cabin crew, check-in
and ground handling staff, and the engineers who certified the
aircraft were all women. The Air Traffic Controllers who cleared the
departure and arrival of the aircraft were also women.
• The world’s longest serving warship INS Viraat was decommissioned
by the Indian Navy at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Maharashtra after
nearly six decades of service. INS Viraat holds Guinness Books of
record of being the longest serving warship in the world. It was also
the last British-built ship serving with the Indian Navy.
• The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority has partnered with the United
Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO) to promote sustainable
tourism across the state. The U.N. has declared 2017 as the
International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding between India and the United Nations Entity of
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).
Under this MoU, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and
UN-Women will work in collaboration with each other to promote
participation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• India’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, which was considered lost, is still
orbiting the moon, NASA scientists have found by using a new ground-
based radar. The ISRO lost communication with Chandrayaan-1 on August
29, 2009, almost a year after it was launched. Now, scientists at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California have located the spacecraft still
circling some 200 km above the lunar surface.
• NASA has announced that Saturn’s sixth-largest moon Enceladus and
Jupiter’s fourth largest moon Europa may be habitable as they have the
necessary ingredients required to sustain life. The key ingredients for
sustaining life are liquid water, a source of energy for metabolism, and
chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and
Sulphur. The findings were made by NASA with the help of the Cassini-
Huygens unmanned spacecraft and the Hubble Telescope. It was sent in
1997 to study Saturn, its rings, and its moons.
• The Commonwealth of Nations has launched the “Peace in the Home”
programme to help member states tackle domestic violence on
women. The programme was launched on Women’s Day (March 8) and
will continue through till 2018. The Commonwealth of Nations is a 52-
member international intergovernmental organization of countries
that were mostly former territories of the British Empire and
dependencies. It was established by the London Declaration in 1949.
Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth. She is also the
monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, known as
Commonwealth realms.
• Jwala Gutta was appointed as a member of Sports Authority of India
(SAI). Jwala Gutta is a 14-time national champion. Gutta has won the
bronze medal at the 2011 World Championship and she is a 2010
Delhi Commonwealth Games champion and a silver medalist at the
2014 Glasgow Games in women’s doubles. She was also honored with
Arjuna award by the Indian Government.
• Amitabh Bachchan launched the World’s first mobile Application for
breast cancer awareness, named ‘ABC of Breast Health’. Aim: To
educate the nation about every aspect of breast cancer and non-
cancer breast health issues. The App has been conceived, created and
designed by the Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, Hyderabad.
• The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women launched the
‘Women in Politics 2017 Map’ in New York. The Women in Politics
2017 Map is the visual representation of women’s political
empowerment in executive government and parliament as on January
1, 2017. The theme for 2017 CSW is Women’s Economic
Empowerment In The Changing World Of Work. As per the Map, India
ranked 148 out of 193 UN member nations in representing women in
the executive government.
• The first edition of the Haryana Sahitya Sangam began on March 17,
2017 in Haryana. The aim of the festival is to highlight the
contribution of Haryana in the field of literature and culture and to
provide a platform for young and budding writers to get genuine and
wide range of guidance. Chief Minister of Haryana- Manohar Lal
Khattar.
• Nobel laureate poet Derek Walcott died at his home after a long
illness. He was 87. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and
the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2011.
• The two day G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet
began in BadenBaden, Germany. The meeting focused on
strengthening economic resilience in finance, digitalization and
promote investment in Africa. The G20 is an international forum for
the governments and central bank governors from 20 major
economies. It was founded in 1999.
• India and Pakistan held meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission
in Islamabad. The Permanent Indus Commission is a bilateral
commission consisting of officials from India and Pakistan, created to
implement and manage the goals and objectives and outlines of the
Indus Waters Treaty.
• The Union Finance Ministry has merged Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMB)
and State Bank of India (SBI) to ensure better reach to a larger
number of women.
• The Union Ministry of Power has launched the URJA MITRA app for
empowering citizens by real time information sharing on power
supply.
• March 20 is celebrated as the World Sparrow day (WSD) every year to raise
awareness of the house sparrow and other common birds and the threat to
their survival.
• March 22 is celebrated as the World Water Day to raise awareness about
conserving water. The theme for 2017 is: ‘Why Waste Water?’ World Water
Day has been celebrated since 1993 after the Agenda 21 was accepted by
the UN in 1992.
• March 23 is celebrated as World Meteorological Day, commemorating the
establishment of World Meteorological Organisation. The theme for 2017
is ‘Understanding Clouds’ which aims to highlight the importance of clouds
for weather climate and water.
• March 23 is also celebrated in India as the Shaheed Diwas or the Martyr’s
Day to commemorate the death anniversary of India’s freedom struggle
fighters, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Hari Rajguru. March
23, 2017 is the 86thdeath anniversary.
• India was ranked 87th out of 127 countries in the Energy Architecture
Performance Index 2017 released by the World Economic Forum.
• India ranked 131 out of 188 countries in UN Development Program's
Human Development Index 2016. India was third amongst SAARC
Countries, after Sri Lanka (73) and Maldives (105). Norway was
ranked the first on the list, followed by Australia and Switzerland.
• According to the EY Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA)
Fraud Survey 2017, India ranks 9th among 41 surveyed countries in
bribery and corrupt practices in businesses.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has selected Nobel Peace
Prize winner Malala Yousafzai (19) as Messenger of Peace. With this,
she becomes UN’s youngest-ever Messenger of Peace, the highest
honour bestowed by the UN on a global citizen.
• The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine
Action is observed every year on April 4th to highlight the deadly
threat that mines pose to civilians’ lives and nations’ development.
The theme of this year was “Needs driven. People Centred”. The day
was constituted by the United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) by
passing a resolution in December 2005.
• The Madhya Pradesh government has launched the ‘MP e-
nagarpalika’ mobile application to provide various municipal services
online. The app will offer 378 services like online payment of property
tax, birth/ marriage/death certificates, building permission etc. It will
also register complaints related to water, garbage, streetlights etc. It
also has an online payment gateway.
• K. Prithika Yashini has become India’s first transgender person to
become a police official. She was appointed as the sub-inspector of
the Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu.
• Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli was honored as the Wisden’s
Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2016. He has also been
declared as the Wisden India Almanack’s Cricketer of the Year for the
second time in its 2017 edition.
• The World Health Day (WHD) is observed every year on 7 April to
mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health
Organization (WHO). The theme for 2017 is “Depression: Let’s talk”. It
seeks to encourage people to come forward for treatment.