Daily Current Affairs, 20th March 2018

1)  International Day Of Happiness- 20 March

•Since 2013, the United Nations has celebrated the International Day of Happiness (on 20th March) as a way to recognise the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world. The theme for IDH 2018 is "Share Happiness" - focusing on the importance of relationships, kindness and helping each other.

•The World Happiness Report 2018 was also released recently that ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants. Finland was ranked as the happiest country in the list and Burundi in East Africa is the unhappiest place in the world. India ranks 133rd in the report after Pakistan (75th), China (86th) and Nepal (101st).

2)  World Sparrow Day- 20 March

•World Sparrow Day is observed on 20 March every year globally to create awareness about the protection of sparrows. The theme for this year's WSD is 'I Love Sparrows'.

•The first World Sparrow Day was observed in 2010 across the globe. The theme has been inspired by the hope that more and more of us will celebrate the relationship between people and Sparrows.

3)  1st National Workshop On POSHAN Abhiyan Held In New Delhi

•The first National workshop on POSHAN Abhiyan involving all the states and union territories was held at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is organising the day-long workshop with participation from all the states/UTs.

•It is been organized to provide a complete orientation on the POSHAN Abhiyan, to explain the key components of the Abhiyaan and to provide handholding in using the software involved. The Ministry of WCD is also launching five e-ILA (e-Incremental Learning Approach) courses and two ECCE(Early Childhood Care and Education) software modules.

4)  Government Approves Plastic Park To Be Set Up In Deoghar, Jharkhand

•Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Ananthkumar announced that the Government of India has approved the setting up of a Plastic Park in Deoghar District, Jharkhand.

•The project would be set up at a cost of Rs. 120 crores in an area of 150 acres. Mr. Ananthkumar also announced the setting up of Rs. 3.5 crore Plastic Recycling unit at Deoghar to tackle the menace of plastic waste being generated due to the place being a tourist attraction.

5)  NCAA Becomes World’s 1st Trusted Digital Repository

•National Cultural Audiovisual Archives (NCAA) project of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, implemented by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been certified as the world’s first Trusted Digital Repository as per ISO standard, granted by Primary Trustworthy Digital Repository Authorisation Body Ltd. (PTAB), United Kingdom.

•The primary objective of the NCAA is to identify and preserve the cultural heritage of India available in audiovisual form through a process of digitization and making it accessible to the people.

6)  Yi Gang Named Head Of People's Bank Of China

•US-educated economist Yi Gang has been named the next governor of China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC). Mr Yi has been deputy governor of the bank since 2008.

•It was one of a raft of appointments as the annual sitting of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, draws to a close.