21 March 2018 Current Affairs
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Nanda Bahadur Pun elected Nepal’s Vice President
Nanda Bahadur Pun has been re-elected as the Vice-President of Nepal for the second term unopposed. Pun has filed candidacy for the post of the Vice President and his candidacy remained unopposed as no candidate came forward to contest with him for the post.
USA bans use of Venezuelan Cryptocurrency-Petro
The Donald Trump administration banned all use by Americans of Venezuelan cryptocurrency (Petro) that its introduction is intended to skirt U.S. sanctions. The prohibition applies to all people and companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Indian Army releases book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees
General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff released a book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees – ‘Paramveer Parwane’. The book is written by Dr Prabhakiran Jain and is published by Medha Books. The book illustrates the bravery of Paramveer Chakra Awardees from 1947 to 1965.
Vijay Sankar is honorary Consul General
Vijay Sankar, deputy chairman of The Sanmar Group, has been appointed the Honorary Consul General for Denmark in Chennai. His consular district consists of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry.
Myanmar President, Htin Kyaw resigns
Myanmar’s President and Aung San Suu Kyi’s right-hand man Htin Kyaw stepped down after two years in the position. He has resigned due to ill health. Htin Kyaw, 71, was sworn in as Myanmar’s official president in 2016 after Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won landmark elections.
1st G20 Ministerial meeting held in Argentina
The first G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors began in Buenos Aires, Argentina with the presence of 57 delegations from countries and institutions.
Gulf Shield 1 military exercise of 23 countries held in Saudi Arabia
The Gulf Shield-1 military exercise of 23 countries including Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states was held in Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. The one month exercise was largest military drill in region as it saw participation of participation of ground, naval and air forces of participating countries.
President Ram Nath Kovind confers Padma Awards
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind presented the Padma awards to 43 eminent personalities at a Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Following is the full list of awardees:
Padma Vibhushan
| S. No | Name | Field | State |
| 1. | Shri Illaiyaraja | Art-Music | Tamil Nadu |
| 2. | Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan | Art-Music | Maharashtra |
| 3. | Shri P. Parameswaran | Literature and Education | Kerala |
Padma Bhushan
| S. No | Name | Field | State |
| 1. | Shri Philipose Mar Chrysostom | Others- Spiritualism | Kerala |
| 2. | Dr. Ramachandran Nagaswamy | Others- Archaeology | Tamil Nadu |
| 3. | Prof. Ved Prakash Nanda (OCI) | Literature and Education | USA |
| 4. | Pandit Arvind Parikh | Art-Music | Maharashtra |
Padma Shri
| S.No | Name | Field | State |
| 1. | Shri Anwar Jalalpuri (Posthumous) | Literature and Education | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2. | Ms. Nouf Almarwaai (Foreigner) | Others- Yoga | Saudi Arabia |
| 3. | Dr. Rani Bang | Medicine | Maharashtra |
| 4. | Dr. Abhay Bang | Medicine | Maharashtra |
| 5. | Shri Mohan Swaroop Bhatia | Art-Folk Music | Uttar Pradesh |
| 6. | Shri Narayan Das Maharaj | Others-Spiritualism | Rajasthan |
| 7. | Shri Somdev Devvarman | Sports-Tennis | Tripura |
| 8. | Dr. Yeshi Dhoden | Medicine | Himachal Pradesh |
| 9. | Shri Arup Kumar Dutta | Literature and Education | Assam |
| 10. | Shri Arvind Kumar Gupta | Literature and Education | Maharashtra |
| 11. | Shri Digamber Hansda | Literature and Education | Jharkhand |
| 12. | Shri Piyong Temjen Jamir | Literature and Education | Nagaland |
| 13. | Ms. Malti Joshi | Literature and Education | Madhya Pradesh |
| 14. | Shri Pran Kishore Kaul | Art | Jammu&Kashmir |
| 15. | Ms. Lakshmikutty | Medicine-Traditional | Kerala |
| 16. | Dr. Joyshree Goswami Mahanta | Literature and Education | Assam |
| 17. | Shri Pravakara Maharana | Art-Sculpture | Odisha |
| 18. | Shri Krishna Bihari Mishra | Literature and Education | West Bengal |
| 19. | Ms. Subhasini Mistry | Social Work | West Bengal |
| 20. | Ms. V Nanammal | Others-Yoga | Tamil Nadu |
| 21. | Ms. Sulagitti Narasamma | Social Work | Karnataka |
| 22. | Shri Gobaradhan Panika | Art-Weaving | Odisha |
| 23. | Shri Murlikant Petkar | Sports-Swimming | Maharashtra |
| 24. | Shri Sampat Tukaram Ramteke (Posthumous) | Social Work | Maharashtra |
| 25. | Shri S S Rathore | Civil Service | Gujarat |
| 26. | Shri Amitava Roy | Science and Engineering | West Bengal |
| 27. | Shri R Sathyanarayana | Art-Music | Karnataka |
| 28. | Shri Bhajju Shyam | Art-Painting | Madhya Pradesh |
| 29. | Shri Maharao Raghuveer Singh | Literature and Education | Rajasthan |
| 30. | Shri Kidambi Srikanth | Sports-Badminton | Andhra Pradesh |
| 31. | Ms. Lentina Ao Thakkar | Social Work | Nagaland |
| 32. | Shri Rudrapatnam Narayanaswamy Tharanathan | Art-Music | Karnataka |
| 33. | Shri Rudrapatnam Narayanaswamy Tharanathan | Art-Music | Karnataka |
| 34. | Shri Rajagopalan Vasudevan | Science and Engineering | Tamil Nadu |
| 35. | Shri Manas Bihari Verma | Science and Engineering | Bihar |
| 36. | Shri Baba Yogendra | Art | Madhya Pradesh |