Daily Current Affairs: 17 March 2015

1) SC quashed extension of OBC reservation to Jats:

--> Supreme Court on 17 March 2015 set aside the notification to include Jats in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) for according benefits of reservation to them.

--> The judgement, reserved on December 17, 2014, was pronounced by a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman.

--> The bench also found fault with the Centre's decision to overlook the findings of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), stating that Jats need not be included in the Central list of OBC as they don't form socio-economic backward class.

--> The decision to include Jats in OBC was taken by erstwhile UPA government.

2) Union Cabinet cleared new bill on black money:

--> Cabinet on 17 March 2015 cleared introduction of the black money bill later this week, including a provision to allow the government to launch a one-time compliance scheme for those with black money abroad to come clean before the new law kicks in.

--> The details of the compliance scheme, including the penalty, are expected to be announced as part of the rules.

3) Govt approved setting up of All India Yoga institute:

--> The government has approved setting up of an All India Institute of Ayurveda, the first referral-cum-teaching facility in the world's oldest health care system in Sarita Vihar, New Delhi.

--> "The Government has approved for establishment of All India Institute of Ayurveda at Sarita Vihar in New Delhi. The Institute has been conceived as an apex institute of Ayurveda with 200 bedded referral hospital for imparting education in the field of Ayurveda at MD and Ph.D levels," Minister of State, AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

4) Indian researcher won woman of the year 2015 in New South Wales:

--> A 56-year-old Indian pancreatic cancer researcher in Australia has been named New South Wales Woman of the year 2015 for her contributions to medical research, tertiary education and the Indian community.

--> Minoti Apate, researcher at University of New South Wales (UNSW) received the award from NSW Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Women Pru Goward during a reception at NSW Parliament House recently. 

5) HDFC Bank Launched Chillr Money Transfer App:

--> HDFC Bank on 17 March 2015 announced the launch of Chillr, a mobile app which allows users to instantly transfer money to any contact in their phone book.

--> HDFC has partnered with MobME, a Kochi-based technology firm to launch this app, the bank officials said.

--> Chillr is a first of its kind application that is linked directly to the customer's bank account, so there is no need to worry about filling up a prepaid wallet, they said, adding that no passwords are stored on the phone and it can be accessed only with M-PIN known to the customer alone.