Daily Current Affairs, 12th March 2019

1) India-Bangladesh Jointly Inaugurated 4 Development Projects

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh through video conferencing. This was the sixth such video conference between PM Modi and Prime Minister Hasina.

•Both the leaders launched the e-plaques for these projects in Bangladesh:

1.Supply of buses and trucks,

2.Inauguration of 36 community clinics,

3.Inauguration of 11 water treatment plants,

4.Extension of National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.

2) New Visa Agreement Between India, Maldives Comes Into Effect

•The new visa agreement between India and Maldives came into force. The new policy provides a liberal visa policy for Maldivian citizens seeking medical treatment as well as education and business opportunities in India.

•The agreement has come into effect after all formalities including information being provided to all immigration offices, border points and customs authorities have been completed.

3) Dr. A.K. Mohanty Takes Over As Director BARC

•Dr. A.K. Mohanty, Distinguished Scientist and Director, physics group of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata took over as Director, BARC from Mr. K.N. Vyas, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy.

•Dr. Mohanty graduated from the 26th batch of the BARC Training School and joined Nuclear Physics Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1983. Dr. Mohanty is the recipient of Young Scientists Award of Indian Physical Society (1988), Young Physicist Award by Indian National Science Academy (1991) and Department of Atomic EnergyHomi Bhabha Science & Technology Award (2001).

4) PINAKA Guided Weapons System Successfully Test Fired

•Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test fired the PINAKA guided WEAPON rocket system from Pokhran range in Rajasthan.

•The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of an advanced navigation and control system. The weapon systems impacted the intended targets with high precision and achieved desired accuracies.

5) India Now 2nd Largest Arms Importer In The World; Saudi On Top: SIPRI Report

•India is the second largest importer of weapons in the world, as per the annual report ‘Trends in International Arms Transfers-2018’ released by the think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Saudi Arabia is now the world’s largest weapons importer.

•After maintaining its position of world’s largest arms importer for about 8 years, India dropped down to be the second largest importer of weapons during 2014-18. India accounted for 9.5% of the global total imports during 2014-18, while Saudi Arabia accounted for 12% of the total imports during the period.

6) Dipa Karmakar Selected As Barbie Role Model

•Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar was selected as Barbie role model & was presented with a one-of-a-kind doll by Barbie as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary. She was part of the ‘Shero’ program launched in 2015 by the company.