Current Affairs 9th March 2017

Current Affairs 9th March 2017 - Important Points

• PM Narendra Modi presents Swachh Shakti Awards 2017 to - Women Sarpanch
• Aadhaar Payment App launched by - IDFC Bank
• Who has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Adidas ? - Harm Ohlmeyer 
• Ashwin and Jadeja rank Number One jointly - In ICC Test rankings
• Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan passed away on - 8th March 2017
• Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016 presented by - President Pranab Mukherjee
• International Women's Day 2017 observed globally on - 8th March 2017

Current Affairs 9th March 2017 - Details

PM Narendra Modi presents Swachh Shakti Awards 2017 to - Women Sarpanch

PM Narendra Modi presented Swachh Shakti Awards 2017 to women sarpanch in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 8th March 2017 who have contributed immensely to the movement towards a clean India.  The awardees were rewarded on the occasion of International Women's Day 2017.

Awardees

Awardees were Sumitra Kumari from Assam, Manju Maurya from UP, Kumari Neelam from Haryana, Shivani Dakoy from West Bengal, Uttara Thakur from Chhattisgarh, Asha Putri from Rajasthan, Ramila Ben Rai Singh Gavit from Gujarat, M. Malika from Tamil Nadu, Sushila Kurkute from Maharashtra and Akamma Harval from Karnataka. 

Important Highlights

• There were around 6000 women sarpanches across the country who participated in the Swachh Shakti Sammelan.
• A digital exposition was also displayed in the same occasion, where one could see how a clean village is transforming itself into being digital.
• There are around 25 villages out of 33 in Gujarat which have become Open Defecation Free.

Aadhaar Payment App launched by - IDFC Bank

IDFC Bank launched biometric-based Aadhaar Pay App on 8th March 2017, India’s first Aadhaar-linked application that uses shopkeeper's Android smartphone to enable cashless payments. The app can be downloaded only by the link sent to the merchant’s mobile number after e-KYC verification of merchant’s account number.  The merchants are required to visit the nearest branch of IDFC bank to get the app. Aadhar Pay App is developed by the IDFC Bank along with UIDAI and National Payments Corporation of India. 

Important details

• Merchants will be required to download the Aadhar Pay payment app on their android smartphone connected to a biometric reader costing Rs 2000. 
• While making the payment customer needs to enter his Aadhar Number in the app of the merchant 
• and select the bank from which the payment is to be made and use the biometric scan as the password for the transaction.
• Upon entering the Aadhar Number, the app will automatically fetch the bank accounts linked with your Aadhar number.
• Customers don't require any app or password to pay to merchants against any purchase. However, only the bank account holders whose Aadhar number is linked with their bank account can make payments through Aadhar Pay Payment app.
• The merchants will be required to connect their bank accounts and register themselves on the app.
• This app will help removing the long waiting period and hassle of getting a new PoS (Point of Sale) machine.
• Customers will not be required to carry debit or credit cards, or to download mobile applications. 

Did you know?

There are only 15 lakh PoS machines deployed by the banks across the country. SBI is ranking no. 1 with over 3 lakh PoS followed by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

Who has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Adidas ? - Harm Ohlmeyer 

Harm Ohlmeyer was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Adidas with effect from May 2017 on 7th March 2017. Presently, Ohlmeyer is the Head of the global eCommerce business of Adidas.

More about Harm Ohlmeyer

• Harm Ohlmeyer from Germany, joined Adidas in 1998 and gained experience in the area of Finance and Sales.
• He served various roles in Adidas including Head of finance for the core Adidas brand.
• He served as SVP Finance of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf from 2004 to 2006 in Carlsbad, California.
• He took over as the Head of eCommerce business of Adidas in 2011.
• He held additional responsibility as SVP Sales Strategy and Excellence from 2014 to 2016. 
• He also played a key role in efforts to make Adidas more digital, increasing ecommerce sales to USD 1.1 billion -.
• He is a passionate triathlete and loves football.

Did you know?

Adidas,the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest in the world after Nike  is Herzogenaurach, Bavaria based German Multinational Corporation that designs and manufactures sports shoes, clothing and accessories. Adidas Group also has its subsidiary in India as Adidas India.

Ashwin and Jadeja rank Number One jointly - In ICC Test rankings

India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja became the first pair of spinners to be jointly top-ranked in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers on 8th March 2017. The ranking was released a day after the second Test against Australia in Bengaluru. Jadeja took seven wickets in the match. It helped him move up one rank to reach the top position for the first time in his career. Dale Steyn and Muttiah Muralidaran shared the top spot in April 2008 before Ashwin and Jadeja.

Achievements

• Ravichandran Ashwin,a right-handed batsman, became the only Indian after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year award in 2016.
• Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja, a left-handed middle-order batsman and slow left-arm orthodox bowler, became the first Indian left arm spinner to take 150 ODI wickets on 22 January 2017.

Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan passed away on - 8th March 2017

Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan passed away on 8th March 2017 due to cardiac arrest. He was 49 at the time of his death.

Interesting Highlights

• Arvind Padmanabhan was born at Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu in 1967.
• His father was G. Padmanabhan,worked with the Press Institute of India and the Indian & Eastern Newspapers Society (IENS, now INS).
• Arvind was widely apprreciated for his work in reporting, writing and editing.
• He worked with the PTI, The Times of India and TV18 before joining the IANS.
• He joined the India Abroad Newspaper as in-charge of its Business Section in 1999.

Did you know?

Indo-Asian NewsService( IANS) is a private Indian news agency founded by Indian-American publisher Gopal Raju.

Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016 presented by - President Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016 at a ceremony in New Delhi on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2017. The Selection Committee, chaired by the Minister of Women & Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, unanimously agreed to increase the number of Awards to 31 this year as more nominees were found to be deserving and the age criteria was also relaxed. The Nari Shakti Puraskar gives a cash award of Rs 1 Lakh and a certificate for individuals and institutions.

More about Nari Shakti Puraskar

• Union Government observes Nari Shakti Puraskar every year on eminent women and institutions in recognition of their service towards the cause of women empowerment.
• The Nari Shakti Awards were started in the year 1999 and the guidelines were reframed in the year 2015.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development announces these national level awards.
• The award is open to all Indian Institutions, organisations and individuals. 
• Nominations are invited by the WCD Ministryfrom the State Governments, concerned Central Ministries, NGOs, universities, private and public sector undertakings (PSUs) working for empowerment of women. 
• The final selection of the awardees is made by the National Selection Committee with the recommendations of the Screening Committee.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wins Best Actress Award at IFFAA for - Sarbjit

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won Best Actress Award at the International Film Festival and Awards of Australia (IFFAA) in the first week of March 2017, for her role in 2016 film 'Sarbjit'. The movie Sarbjit directed by Omung Kumar, is a 2016 Indian biographical drama film. 

The film revolved around Sarabjit Singh, an Indian man, who was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1991. He consequently spent 22 years in prison.

More about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

• Born on 1st November 1973, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won the Miss World pageant in 1994.
• She started her film career in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar in 1997.
• In 1998, she delivered her first commercial success movie named Jeans.
• She won Best Actress awards at Filmfare for her performance in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas in 1999 and 2002 respectively.
• She became the first Indian actress to be a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.
• She was awarded with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009.
• She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS).

International Women's Day 2017 observed globally on - 8th March 2017

The 2017 International Women's Day ((IWD)) was observed globally on 8th March 2017 with the theme 'Planet 50-50 by 2030'. The theme focuses on new commitments under UN Women’s Step it Up initiative.

Highlights on 2030 Agenda:

• Ensuring that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes by 2030.
• Ensuring that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education by 2030.
• Eliminating all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
• Eradicating all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private places, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
• Eliminating all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.