Lattest Current Affairs – 5th March 2018

India’s 12th largest holder of US securities

• India’s exposure to U.S. government securities has increased rapidly to $ 144.7 billion at the end of 2017.
• In 2017, China was the largest holder of U.S. government securities with a holding of $ 1.18 trillion, followed by Japan at $ 1.06 billion.
• In BRIC countries, India was the third largest performance, while Russia was at the final position with $ 102.2 billion.

Organizing Defence Expo

• DFXPO 2018, for the first time, will showcase India’s defense manufacturing capabilities.
• DFXPO 2018 will launch India as a defense exporter of all the three armies – many defense systems and components of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
• Dafxpo is being organized from Chennai to Mahabalipuram on the coast of East Coast Road.

Robot to eliminate cleanliness by hand

• A stunted robot, developed by a start-up robotics in Kerala, is a semi-automated robot system for cleaning robot, manhole and sewer line.
• To find a solution for hand-to-hand cleaning, the project proposed by Zerobobotics was funded under the Kerala Government’s start-up incubator Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).
• Kerala will be the first state in India, which will be free from cleanliness by hand.

Odisha launches ‘Ama village, Ama Vikas’ program

• Odisha has launched ‘Ama village, Ama Vikas’ (our village, our development) to reach people in rural areas and to include them in development activities.
• The Chief Minister flagged the Wi-Fi enabled mobile video wall van through which people can send their complaints directly to CM’s office.
• With this initiative, the administration will solve the grievances of the people quickly.

Viswanathan Anand won a Rapid Event

• Viswanathan Anand won a Rapid Event at the 11th Taal Memorial chess in Moscow.
• Anand received six out of nine possible scores, which included four wins and four draws.
• Anand beat Russia’s Ian Nepomaniachchy Alexander Groshuk and Danil Dobov and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States to reach their final score.

Dhoni becomes the Brand Ambassador

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the gaming platform has become Dream 11’s brand ambassador.
• Dhoni will be the new face of the multi-channel marketing campaign and brand-related activities of the gaming platform.
• There is currently a user base of 2 million game fans on the gaming platform, which includes “Fantasy Cricket, Football, Kabaddi, and NBA”.

Committee for Dissemination of Finitech Complaints

• The Center has announced the formation of an operational committee to examine the issues faced by the FINTEC industry in India.
• A committee headed by the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Subhash Chandra Garg.
• This decision is in accordance with an announcement made by Arun Jaitley on the establishment of a group under the Ministry of Finance, which will help in the planning of institutional measures to promote the development of finest firms.

‘The Shape of Water’ won the Best Film Award

• The Shape of Water won an Oscar for Best Picture at the 90th Academy Awards.
• The Shape of Water is an American fantasy drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro, written by Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor.
• This story based in Baltimore in 1962 is a silent guardian in a high-security governmental laboratory, who becomes captive to a human-amphibious animal.

Silver jubilee of the loser festival

• Itanagar’s Buddhist community celebrated the Silver Jubilee of the Losher Festival.
• This festival was full of cultural presentations across the state, which included colorful Bhutani and Gurkha cultural programs.
• For locals, Looser gives them a nice harvesting year.
• For the Buddhist community, the festival is called ‘New Year’ according to their Buddhist calendar.

China keeps GDP target of 2018 at around 6.5%

• China has set its GDP growth target to around 6.5% in 2018, which is unchanged since 2017.
• Emphasizing the improvement in the effectiveness of quality and development, the estimated growth rate reflects China’s situation of not giving much emphasis on speed.
• The Chinese economy had expanded by 6.9 percent last year to overcome its annual growth target for the first time in seven years.

RBI tightens PSL norms for banks

• RBI has instructed foreign banks to set up sub-target criteria for priority sector lending, so that they can lend to small and marginal farmers as well as a part of their debt to MSME.
• This step is directed at foreign banks with more than 20 branches and will be applicable from next financial year.
• The PSL mandates foreign banks to give 40% of their total debt to the priority sector.

Manu Bhak won gold medal in ISSF

• Manu Bhakar of India won the gold medal in the 10 meter air pistol women’s event at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.
• He defeated domestic-choice Alejandra Jawala Vasquez by getting 237.5 points for achieving top honors in the current event.
• In this event, India has so far won 4 medals – two gold and two bronze.

Javed Abidi Dies

• Famous disability worker Javed Abidi died this afternoon due to chest infection.
  Abidi was the director of the National Center for Promotion of
• Employment for Disabled People and also a Global Chair of Disabled People International.
• He was in consultation with the government on policies to create an obstacle-free environment for everyone, including people with disabilities.

Shah Rizvi made a world record

• Shahzar Rizvi of India won Gold medal with world record points in his first ISSF World Cup.
• Rizvi won the top prize by defeating the Olympic champion Christian Ritz by making a world record 242.3 points in the 10-meter air pistol event final.
• The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup 2018 is being organized in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Conrad Sangma to be next Chief Minister of Meghalaya

• Conrad Sangma, president of National People’s Party (NPP), will be the new chief minister of Meghalaya.
• NPP has emerged as the second largest party with 19 seats in the recent elections, which has given a decisive decision in the state.
  Sarma has informed that there will be no Deputy Chief Minister in the new government.
• He will replace Congress leader Mukul Sangma.

Merkel secures the fourth term in power

Angela Merkel achieved her fourth term in power after the Social Democratic Party’s Orthodox Christian Democratic Union was ready to form a “grand alliance” with the government.
This decision ended the political uncertainty of nearly 6 months in Germany, for the longest time, the country has remained without any government after the history of the war.
This agreement will constitute their third grand alliance during their time as Chancellor.

Egyptian court transfers the transfer of the Red Sea Islands

• The Egyptian Supreme Court upheld the transfer of 2 red sea islands ‘Tirana’ and ‘Sanafir’ in Saudi Arabia.
• The court has canceled all the decisions of the previous court in the matter. He also turned down a second case on the issue filed by the government.
• Located between the two countries, the islands of Tirana and Sanafir are quite empty, but they are in a strategically important and politically sensitive area.

Hindu women were elected to the Senate of Pakistan

• Krishna Kumari Kohli has become the first Hindu Dalit woman senator from Sindh province of Pakistan.
• He is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
• Their election represents a major step towards women and minority rights in Pakistan.
• He has actively participated and worked for the rights of the underprivileged people of the marginalized communities living in Thar and other areas.