Daily Current Affairs, 27th March 2018

1)  World Theatre Day- 27 March

•The World Theatre Day has been celebrated annually on the 27th March by ITI Centres and the international theatre community. Various national and international theatre events are organized to mark this occasion.

•World Theatre Day was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute ITI. The first World Theatre Day Message was written by Jean Cocteau in 1962. 

2)  Surat Becomes 1st District To Have 100% Solar Powered Health Centres

•Gujarat's Surat district has become the first district in the country to have 100 percent solar powered Primary Health Centers (PHC). 

•There are a total of 52 PHCs in the district and all of them are now powered by the solar system. This initiative will not only bring down the electricity bill by 40 percent but also help fight global warming.

3)  Government Guarantee For IRFC Bonds

•The Ministry of Finance has approved a proposal to provide government guarantee of Rs5,000 crore in the current financial year for Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) bonds to be subscribed by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

•The guarantee fee for the amount has also been waived by the Ministry. The decision will ease the flow of borrowed funds for Ministry of Railways to undertake projects.

4)  Asia’s Largest Tulip Garden In Srinagar Opens For Visitors

•Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden was opened for visitors in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. It is recognized as the Asia's largest tulip garden.

•This year, 12.5 lakh tulip bulbs of 48 varieties were sown in the garden by the floriculture department. Apart from the tulips, 40,000 hyacinth bulbs have also been planted.

5)  AAI Signs MoU With Assam Government

•The Airport Authority of India (AAI) signed an MoU with Assam government under its Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) initiative for the sustainable development of human settlements at villages in Kamrup district.

•AAI would provide financial assistance under its CSR initiative of 4.58 crore Rupees for the Kamrup district as per the estimates prepared by the UNDP to improve the resilience of communities around Guwahati Airport.

6)  SWIFT Introduces Universal Real-Time Payment Tracking

•SWIFT announces the extension of its GPI Tracker to cover all payment instructions sent across the network, enabling GPI banks to track all their SWIFT payment instructions at all times, and giving them full visibility over all their payments activity.

•The Tracker, which has been available since May 2017, enables banks that have signed up to the service to track their GPI payments in real-time.