Daily Current Affairs, 18th March 2019

1) Goa CM Manohar Parrikar Passes Away

•Manohar Parrikar, Goa Chief Minister and former defence minister, has passed away at the age of 63 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Parrikar was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in February 2018. He was an IIT Mumbai graduate in metallurgical engineering and among the first members of BJP in Goa.

2) Guinea PM Arrives In Delhi On 10-Day Visit To India

•Prime Minister of Guinea Dr. Ibrahima Kassory Fofana arrived in New Delhi on a ten-day official visit to India. During the visit, Mr Fofona called on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

•He also had a meeting with Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. Mr. Fofona addressed the inaugural session of 14th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Partnership Project in New Delhi.

3) EAM Sushma Swaraj Begins 2-Day Visit to Maldives

•External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj left to the Maldives on a two-day visit. She is accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and other officials.

•During her visit, Mrs Swaraj will call on the President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Parliament Speaker Qasim Ibrahim and meet with her Maldivian counterpart Abdullah Shahid.

4) ‘Vijit’ Becomes 1st Indian Coast Guard Ship To Visit Indonesia

•Highlighting the close maritime proximity between India and Indonesia, Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Vijit’ became the first-ever Coast Guard ship to visit Sabang, Indonesia. 

•During its maiden voyage, officers and crew of Vijit will hold interaction with officials of Bakamla (Indonesian Coast Guard), Indonesian Armed Forces and the civil administration at Sabang, read a press release from Indian embassy in Jakarta.

5) First BRICS Sherpa Meeting Under Presidency Of Brazil Held In Curitiba

•The first BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Sherpa meeting held in Curitiba, Brazil under the Presidency of Brazil. The Indian delegation was led by Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs T S Tirumurti. India conveyed its support for the priority areas started by Brazil which particularly take forward counterterrorism as a rising issue.

6) SBI Launches Cardless ATM Withdrawal With YONO Cash

•The State Bank of India has launched a new service called ‘YONO Cash’ for its customers using which customers can withdraw money from ATMs without using debit cards.

•This facility is available over 16,500 of its ATMs through the You Only Need One (YONO), mobile app platform for the first time in the country. The ATMs enabled for this service will be called as YONO Cash Point.

7) RBI Names SBI, ICICI and HDFC As Systemically Important Banks

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) named State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), which in other words mean banks that are too big to fail.

•As per the norms, these banks will have to set aside more capital for their continued operation. Inclusion in D-SIB indicates that failure of any of these banks would have a cascading effect on the Indian financial system.