Notes:
The 18th edition of Asia’s largest convention on the business of media and entertainment “FICCI Frames-2017” has started in Mumbai, Maharashtra from March 21. The 3-day international convention will covers the entire spectrum of Media & Entertainment like Films, Broadcast (TV & Radio), Digital Entertainment, Animation, Gaming, Visual Effects, etc. with nearly 2000 Indian and 800 foreign delegates encompassing the entire universe of media and entertainment expected to attend the event. The theme of this year’s convention is “Digital-Divide or Dividend”. Canada is partnering the event for the first time this year.

Notes:
The ICICI bank has recently launched a mobile banking app “Mera iMobile” for rural customers that allow them to access banking services as well as information on agri services. The app is open for both bank customers as well as others and is available in 11 different languages. The list of banking services includes Kisan Credit Card, Gold Loan, Farm Equipment Loan and loans to Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The app also enables them to undertake an array of frequently used banking services from their smartphone, without using mobile internet services. Additionally, it is the first banking app to offer agriculture related information like crop-wise mandi prices of nearly 230 crop varieties across 460 mandis. It also displays taluka-wise weather update for close to 3700 talukas across and over 300 districts, aiding farmers to plan their sowing and harvesting activities conveniently and in an informed manner.

Notes:
Vidya Pillai from India has won silver medal in the 2017 Eden World Women Snooker Championship at Safra Toa Payoh in Singapore. With this feat, Vidya secured India’s first international medal in 2017. Ng On Yee from Hong Kong won gold in the Championship.

Notes:
Anshumali Shrivastava, an Indian-American Computer Scientist, has won the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s prestigious 2017 CAREER award for his research on redesigning current machine-learning processes. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science at William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, which is a private research university located in Houston, Texas.

Notes:
Chinu Modi (78), the noted Gujarati poet and ghazal writer, has recently passed away in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He has made a great contribution to Gujarati literature with his poetry, plays, novels and stories. Approx 50 books of poetry, drama, novel, stories, critics, biography, collection, songs and translation has been written by him. He worked as script writer in Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) during 1975- 1977. His body will be donated to the medical college as per his last wish.

Notes:
Roger Federer has won the 2017 ATP Indian Wells Masters title by defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final by 6-4, 7-5. With this win, Federer joined Novak Djokovic as the only man to win five Indian Wells titles. Earlier, he won this title consecutively three times between 2004 and 2006 and in 2012. At 35, Federer is the oldest ATP player to win one of the elite Masters titles, supplanting Andre Agassi who was 34 when he won in Cincinnati in 2004.

Notes:
The International Day of Forests is observed every year on March 21 to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests for the benefit of current and future generations. The 2017 theme is ‘Forests and Energy’. The theme highlights the importance of wood energy in improving people’s lives, powering sustainable development and mitigating climate change.

Notes:
Karnataka won the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Notes:
India has been ranked at 122nd out of 155 countries in the 2017 United Nations’s World Happiness Index (WHI), as per recently released World Happiness Report (WHR) 2017. Among the 8 SAARC nations, Pakistan is at 80th position, Nepal stood at 99, Bhutan at 97, Bangladesh at 110 while Sri Lanka is at 120. The list is topped by Norway, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland. The rankings are based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person, healthy life expectancy with four factors from global surveys. In those surveys, people give scores from 1 to 10 on how much social support they feel they have if something goes wrong, their freedom to make their own life choices, their sense of how corrupt their society is and how generous they are.

Notes:
Italy has been ranked first in the latest 2017 Bloomberg Global Health Index of 163 countries. According to the study, the average life expectancy in the country is 80-89 years. Iceland stood at 2nd position followed by Switzerland, Singapore and Australia. Each country in the index was graded based on variables such as life expectancy, causes of death and health risks ranging from high blood pressure and tobacco use to malnutrition and the availability of clean water.