Daily Current Affairs 22-March-2017

1. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) (chairman A S Kiran Kumar )created history by commissioning the world’s third-largest (after United States and Russia.) hypersonic wind tunnel at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. 



2.The GRAPES-3 experiment at TIFR’s (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) Cosmic Ray Laboratory in Ootacamund in Tamil Nadu is getting upgraded to detect solar storms.
GRAPES-3 (Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV EnergieS phase-3) experiment had detected the effect of a solar storm that hit the earth in June 2015.

3.Upendra Tripathy, an IAS officer of Karnataka Cadre, has been appointed as the full-time Interim Director General (IDG) of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

4.The 12th edition of Special Olympics World Winter Games has started at Graz and Schladming in Austria from March 14 and will continue till March 25, 2017.

5.Ankur Khanna has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of International Cricket Council (ICC) and will join the ICC headquarters in Dubai at the end of March 2017

6.The 23rd Conference of Auditors General of Commonwealth Countries and British Overseas Territories has held in New Delhi from 21-23 March, 2017.

7.The 5th edition of ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) – 2017’ has started at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh

It is organized by the Union Ministry of Culture.

8.The Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal has recently launched initiatives to develop Majuli as India’s first carbon neutral district and as a biodiversity heritage

9.NASA is planning to send Clock  for a deep space mission in late 2017

10.Madhabi Puri Buch became the first woman belonging to private sector to be appointed as the Full-Time Member of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

11.Private sector lender Yes Bank has partnered with Payjo, an artificial intelligence banking platform based out of Silicon Valley, California to adopt its intelligence products. 

12.India's Vidya Pillai produced a spirited performance before settling for silver in the World Women Snooker Championship in Singapore.

13. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has unseated his actor Shah Rukh Khan to become the top earning celebrity of 2016 in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List with an estimated income of Rs. 270.33 crore

14.The RBI proposed to fix the upper limit for Pre-paid Payment Instruments (PPIs) at Rs 1 lakh in view of growing usage of PPIs for a purchase of goods and services.

15.The second India-UAE conference on globalization held at Dubai with an aim to promote cooperation between the two countries, organized by All India Management Association (AIMA).

16.Russian bank VTB has decided to close its only office in New Delhi, India to cut costs but will continue to work in India.

17.ABB India has restored and modernized the critical 1,035 MW Sharavathi hydropower plant in Karnataka that accounts for 25% of Karnataka Power Corporation’s generation.

18.Four Indian cities are among the cheapest to live in globally, while Singapore (last in the list) has been ranked as the most expensive for the fourth consecutive year, according to a 'Worldwide Cost of Living 2017' report by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Bengaluru (3rd place), Chennai (6th), Mumbai (7th) and New Delhi (10th) have been ranked by EIU among the 10 cheapest cities in the world.

Almaty in Kazakhstan has been ranked as the cheapest city in the world.