March 21 Current Affairs

State :

Tamilnadu :

Children adapt to digital learning, handle tablets with ease

• Children, who could outsmart elders in handling Android smart mobile phones, handled tablets with ease and surprised everyone when officials of Sarva Siksha Abiyan (SSA) test-launched digital learning under the new ‘pedagogy method’ here on March 21.

Kerala :

83% of open wells in State polluted

• As World Water Day is being observed on March 22, scientists claim that water in almost 83% of open wells and most of the rivers in Kerala is highly contaminated.

HC sets aside MGU order on fee for syllabi revision

• If the change in curricula or syllabi did not amount to any approval of the university under Section 118 of the Act, the university shall record the modifications of curricula and syllabi as proposed by the respondents without insisting on the payment of fees as charged in the order without delay.

Unrecognised schools on the radar

• The government will carry out a detailed assessment of unrecognised schools that have been served notice under the Right to Education Act, Education Minister C. Ravindranath informed the Assembly on Wednesday.

Karnataka :

From next year, PU question papers to be proofread

• To tackle complaints of errors in some question papers of the recently concluded II Pre-University examinations, the Department of the Pre-University Education (DPUE) has decided to introduce proofreading from next year’s examinations.

‘State Archaeology Department must have trained epigraphists’

• The former Director of the Epigraphy branch of the Archaeological Survey of India T.S. Ravishankar called for an exclusive epigraphy branch in the Department of Archaeology, Museum and Heritage.

Mysuru sees 30% rise in new vehicles since Jan. 10

• Regional Transport Officer Anwar Pasha said the process of expediting issuance of certificate of registration for new vehicles has been initiated with the staff being asked to work a couple of hours more to clear the pendency.

Andhra Pradesh :

Student police cadets at 10 schools in Nellore district

• SP P.H.D. Ramakrishna introduced the programme in over 10 schools in Nellore district. Officers from DSP to SI ranks would train the school children as part of this.

India :

SC/ST Act being used for blackmail, says Supreme Court

• The anti-atrocities law, which protects Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from casteist slurs and discrimination, has become an instrument to “blackmail” innocent citizens and public servants, the Supreme Court observed in a judgment.

Union Cabinet approves Ayushman Bharat health scheme

• The Union Cabinet on March 21 approved the launch of the Ayushman Bharat — National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), which was announced in the Budget.

Cambridge Analytica controversy: Urgent need for data protection laws, say experts

• With the ripple effects of the Cambridge Analytica controversy showing up on Indian shores, experts have called out the urgent need for data protection laws in India.

Aadhaar data safe behind five-feet thick walls, govt. affirms in Supreme Court

• The government has assured the Supreme Court that Aadhaar is not a “fly-by-night effort to score some brownie points” and personal data collected from millions of people is safe from breach in storage facilities barricaded behind five-feet thick walls.

‘Foreigners’ in Assam detention camp on hunger strike

• officials said, is a slew of demands that include bail leave to fight their cases in Supreme Court and creation of separate detention camps across districts

Maximum complaints against banks, telecom depts in last 3 years: Govt

• The banking division in the Department of Financial Services and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) received the maximum number of complaints in the last three years, the government informed the Lok Sabha .

World :

Chinese PM asks U.S. to avoid a trade war

• Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on the U.S. on March 21to not act “emotionally” and to avoid a trade war, as President Donald Trump considers new punitive measures against Beijing.

South Korea musicians to play first concert in North Korea since 2007

• K-pop stars will play the first concerts by South Korean artists in the North for more than a decade, officials said on Tuesday, as the dramatic thaw in relations kicked off by the recent Winter Olympics gathers pace.

Israeli military confirms it hit Syrian nuclear site in 2007

• The Israeli military confirmed on March 21 it carried out the 2007 airstrike in Syria that destroyed what was believed to be a nuclear reactor, lifting the veil of secrecy over one of its most daring and mysterious operations in recent memory.

H-1B application process to begin from April 2

Business :

ArcelorMittal, Numetal bids for Essar Steel rejected

• “ArcelorMittal and Numetal bids were ineligible under the amended Section 29 A of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC), that debars related parties from bidding,” a source in the know of the development told.

RCom gets bondholders’ nod for sale of assets to Jio

• Holders of the debt-laden telecom operator’s $300 million bonds have also approved the monetisation of other real-estate assets, RCom said in a statement

Securing lithium reserves need of the hour’

• “China securing its lithium ion reserves and India not doing as much in this area could be a big problem,” said Atul Arya, head, Energy Systems at Panasonic India. “There are two ways to do it. We can either do it in the way we are doing solar, where we are importing everything from China. There is no need to worry about anything, somebody else is making it, and we are only consuming.”

Sports :

Australia women beat India by 6 wkts in T20 tri-series opener

• Australian women’s cricket team comfortably beat India by six wickets in the opening encounter of the T20 Tri-series, in Mumbai.

Two-time champs West Indies qualify for 2019 ICC World Cup

• Two-time World Cup winners West Indies qualified for next year’s tournament after rain ended Scotland’s modest run chase and handed the Caribbean side victory by five runs on the Duckworth Lewis method in their qualifying match on March 21.

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