- Current Affairs March 2017
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Current Affairs Mar 2017 - Persons in NEWS
News 1 - Singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi sets a world record - plays Gayathri Veena for record five hours
Famous Malayalam playback singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi has set a world record by playing Gayathri Veena continuously for over 5 hours. She set the new world record by playing 67 songs continuously on the Gayatri Veena at an event in Kochi.
She has now become the first person to play Gayathri Veena, a single string musical instrument, continuously for the longest time ever. She has rendered songs in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films.
News 2 - Paddleboarder Chris Bertish makes world-first Atlantic crossing
Chris Bertish of South Africa became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a stand-up paddleboard after completing an epic 4,050-mile voyage alone at sea.
Chris crossed the ocean in a span of 93 days. He started from Morocco's Agadir Marina and ended his mission at the English Harbour on the island of Antigua. He has won the Maverick Big Wave Invitational, California 2010, set the world record for open ocean 12-hour nonstop SUP in South Africa, 2013, and set the fastest time crossing the English Channel on an SUP in 2013 (5 hours, 26 minutes).
News 3 - B P Kanungo appointed as the Deputy Governor of the (RBI)
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of B P Kanungo as a Deputy Governor in Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years. He has been appointed in place of R Gandhi.
Mr. Kanungo was appointed as an RBI executive director on 1 March 2016. The ACC has also named Dilip S Shanghvi, promoter of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, as member, Western Local Board of RBI.
News 4 - Jaitley gets the Additional Charge of the Defence Ministry
After Manohar Parrikar resigned to take on the new role of Goa Chief Minister, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was given the additional charge of the Defence Ministry.
This is the second time that Jaitley is holding the additional portfolio of Defence Ministry during the present NDA government.
Mr. Jaitley holds the portfolios of Finance Minister and Minister of Corporate Affairs in addition to the new role assigned.
News 5 - Manohar Parrikar appointed as the Chief Minister of Goa
Manohar Parrikar was appointed as the Chief Minister of Goa by Governor Mridula Sinha. Mr Parrikar resigned as the Union Minister of Defence.
The BJP had won 13 seats while the Congress had won 17 in the 40-member Goa Assembly. However, BJP managed to garner support from legislators of other parties and independents to reach the required support of 21 MLAs.
News 6 - OnePlus India signed Amitabh Bachchan as their New Brand Ambassador
Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has roped in Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador in India. Mr Bachchan was signed as its first-ever “OnePlus Star”. He was earlier the brand ambassador of Zen Mobiles and even helped LG to launch its G3 and G4 smartphones in the Indian market.
OnePlus also recently inaugurated its first ever experience store in Bengaluru. CEO and Founder of OnePlus is Pete Lau.
News 7 - ICC appointed Sachin Tendulkar as their Official Ambassador of Women's World Cup 2017
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar as the official ambassador of Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 on International Women's Day. The Women’s World Cup this year starts on June 24 at England and Wales. The 21-day tournament has 28 matches to be played at five different venues. The final will be played at Lord's.
Tendulkar played in six World Cups where he played 45 matches and scored 2278 runs at an average of 56.95.
News 8 - CAS tribunal upholds lifetime ban on Sergei Portugalov
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld a lifetime ban levied against Sergei Portugalov, former chief of the Russian Athletics Federation's Medical Commission, for his role in providing illicit substances to Russian athletes.
The arbitration involved the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the Russian Athletics Federation. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had reported that Portugalov supplied performance enhancing drugs to athletes and coaches.
News 9 - N Biren Singh sworn in as the CM of Manipur
Nongthombam Biren Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur. The oath of office was administered by Governor Najma Heptulla. This brought an end to the 15-year old Congress rule in the state.
Yumnan Joykumar Singh of the National People's Party (NPP) was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister. Biren had left Congress and joined BJP last year. Congress had emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the election while the BJP came in at second place with 21 seats.
News 10 - Pawan Goenka gets 2nd term as the IIT-Madras Board Chairman
The Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Pawan Goenka, will continue as Chairman, Board of Governors of IIT Madras for another three years. He had been serving as Chairman, BoG of IIT-Madras, since 9th June 2014.
Mr. Goenka is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and has a Ph.D. from The Cornell University, New York. He is also an alumnus of The Harvard Business School, Advanced Management Program.
News 11 - Captain Amarinder Singh sworn-in as CM of Punjab
Captain Amarinder Singh was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Punjab for second time. He became the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab.
Mr. Singh took the oath along with 9 ministers. The oath was administered by Governor V P Singh Badnore. Amarinder had led Congress to victory with 77 seats out of 117 seats.
The state can have a maximum of 18 ministers.
News 12 - Yogi Adityanath sworn in as the 21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Yogi Adityanath took oath as the 21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh along with Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma as Deputy Chief Ministers. 47 other ministers took oath as well. The oath-taking ceremony was administrated by governor Ram Naik at a function in Lucknow’s Kanshiram memorial ground.
Yogi Adityanath is a five-time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur. The BJP won 312 seats of the 403-seat assembly in Uttar Pradesh.
News 13 - ICMR Director Soumya Swaminathan named in the UN group on Antimicrobial Resistance
Indian Council of Medical Research director Soumya Swaminathan has been named to the ad hoc Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance to provide expertise on and coordinate the global fight against antimicrobial resistance. Swaminathan is clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis.
The high-level group is set up by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and will be co-chaired by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan.
News 14 - Gaurvi Singhvi became first girl to swim from Sea Link to Gateway of India
A 14-year-old Gaurvi Singhvi from Udaipur swam the Arabian Sea from the 36-km Bandra Worli Sea Link to the Gateway of India route in 6 hours and 30 minutes. She became the first girl to swim across that route while also breaking an earlier record.
Gaurvi is ranked 11th in the All Indian Ranking by the Sports Federation of India. She has also won the Gold medal at the State Level and has been a District champion for almost three years.
News 15 - Anil Ambani inducted into the Atlantic Council
Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has been inducted into The Atlantic Council - the international advisory board of global think-tank. Other notable members of the board include Thomas Enders, CEO, Airbus Group, Rupert Murdoch, CEO, 21 Century Fox and Stephen A. Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group.
The Atlantic Council is a foreign policy think tank head quartered in Washington, DC. It aims to shape policy choices and strategies and provide a forum for navigating the economic and political changes. The Atlantic Council is chaired by Jon Huntsman Jr.