• Indian Bank, a Public Sector Bank (PSB), Headquarters at Chennai, has bagged the Best Bank Award by the Tamil Nadu government for successfully meeting the needs of women's self-help group (SHGs).

• The award was given to MK Bhattacharya, the executive director o f Indian Bank by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu E.K. Palaniswami at Salem, Tamil Nadu.

Important Points

Tamil Nadu

Capital - Chennai

Chief Minister - Edappadi K. Palaniswami

Governor - Banwarilal Purohit

• India ranked first in the Confidence Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey which was conducted in collaboration with a global performance management company Nielsen Holdings.

• India had a Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) score of 133 in the 4th quarter of 2018 edging past the Philippines (131) and Indonesia (127). India maintains its 1st position from 3rd quarter when it scored 130 on the index whereas the Philippines and Indonesia were joint 4th in Q3 of 2018 with a score of 126.

• CCI Confidence Board measured optimism towards job prospects, the health of personal finances and spending intentions in the next 12 months for the survey.

• India has signed a deal with a Russian firm to manufacture 7.5 lakh AK-203 rifles.

• The AK-203 Rifles, the latest derivative of the AK-47 rifles, will be produced at the Indian Ordnance Factory at Amethi's Korwa.

• The new rifles will replace the indigenous INSAS rifles in the Army, Air Force, and Navy.

• AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova.

Important Points

Russia

Capital - Moscow

Currency - Russian ruble

President - Vladimir Putin

Prime Minister - Dmitry Medvedev

• Former Indian captain and leg spinner, Anil Kumble has been re-appointed as the Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee for a final 3 years term.

• Kumble has been the chairman of the committee since 2012.

• The committee headed by Anil Kumble has further decided to stick to the coin toss as an "integral part" of the Test match narrative. 

Important Points

ICC (International Cricket Council)

Headquarters - Dubai, UAE

• The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a total penalty of Rs 11 crores on four banks-

• Karnataka Bank - Rs 4 crores
• United Bank of India - Rs 3 crores
• Indian Overseas Bank - Rs 3 crores
• Karur Vysya Bank - Rs 1 crore

• The penalty has been imposed for the delay caused in following the guidelines mentioned in 'Time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT-related controls' issued by the Reserve Bank of India on 20th February 2018.

Important Points

Karnataka Bank

Tagline - Your Family Bank, Across India

Headquarters - Mangalore

CEO - Mahabaleshwara M S

United Bank of India 

Tagline - Good people to bank with

Headquarters - Kolkata

CEO - Ashok Kumar Pradhan

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)

Tagline - Good people to grow with

Headquarters - Chennai

CEO - R. Subramaniakumar

Karur Vysya Bank

Tagline - Smart Way to Bank

Headquarters - Karur

RBI

Headquarters - Mumbai

Governor - Shaktikanta Das

• Prayagraj Kumbh Mela has secured a place in the Genious Book of World Records in three sectors.

These sectors are:

• The largest traffic and crowd management plan.
• The biggest painting exercise of public sites under "Paint My City" scheme.
• The biggest sanitation and waste disposal mechanism.

• These exercises were performed from February 28 to March 3.

• Prayagraj Kumbh Mela organized from 15th January 2019 to 4th March 2019 in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh.

Important Points

Uttar Pradesh

Capital - Lucknow

Chief Minister - Yogi Adityanath

Governor - Ram Naik

National Park

• Dudhwa National Park

• Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been re-elected as president of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for an eight-term.

• Sheikh Ahmad, who is considered a major power broker in the sports world, has won a new five-year term until 2024.

• An IOC member, stepped down from his position in the global Olympic body in November because of his forgery accusation in a criminal court against the Kuwaiti and four others.

• Indian-American teenager, Kavya Kopparapu, 19, residing in Herndon, Virginia has been conferred with the 2019 National STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Education Award.

• She received an award of $10,000.

• She has been awarded for her significant invention in enhancing treatments of glioblastoma-which is the deadliest form of brain cancer.

• She is a student of computer science and biology at Harvard University.

• She has developed GlioVision, which is a high accuracy medicine platform powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). It performs prediction of brain tumor characteristics by using a scanned image of a biopsy rather than a DNA sample, in lesser time and at lower costs.

• Kopparapu is also a social business visionary. She is the founder and CEO of Girls Computing League-a non-profit organization which has raised more than $100,000 for computer science programming and has impacted more than 3,800 American students.

• State Health Minister, Vijaya Bhaskar stated that Tamil Nadu has become the first state in the country to introduce Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) in the government hospitals.

• TAVI was launched at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital (TNGMSSH), Omandurar Estate, in November 2018 and two people underwent the surgery free of cost.

• An MoU (Memorandum of Understanding with HeartTeam India to perform the procedure for patients at TNGMSSH.

Important Points

Tamil Nadu

Capital - Chennai

Chief Minister - Edappadi K. Palaniswami

Governor - Banwarilal Purohit

National Park

• Mudumalai National Park
• Mukurthi National Park
• Indira Gandhi National Park
• Guindy National Park
• Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park

Click Here to Read Daily Current Affairs

Click Here to Attempt Daily Current Affairs Quiz