Current Affairs in Short: 16 March 2021

Deb Haaland confirmed as first-ever Native American Cabinet Secretary

•The US Senate voted to confirm Deb Haaland as US President Joe Biden's Interior Secretary on March 15, 2021. Haaland has become the first-ever Native American Cabinet secretary.
•Haaland was confirmed for the post with a 51-40 vote, with most of the Republicans voting against her after her views on public land use and fossil fuels were called extreme. Four Republicans, however, joined all Democrats to vote for her. 
•Deb Haaland was first elected as one of the two first female Native Americans in Congress in 2018. She will now be a part of President Biden's plans to tackle the climate crisis and reduce carbon emissions.

WCD Ministry plans to merge all women helplines

•The Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry stated on March 15, 2021 that it is looking to merge all women helplines in the country. 
•WCD Minister Smriti Irani said that the Ministry is looking to merge all women helplines across the country so that women do not have to remember multiple numbers as they travel through states. 
•The Ministry is in touch with the Home Ministry regarding the same, informed the WCD Minister. She added saying that helpline for children will remain separate.  
•The Minister further stated that about 54 lakh women were assisted through women helplines across the country.

Adani Ports-led consortium to develop Colombo's West Container Terminal

•Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd (APSEZ), which is a key subsidiary of the diversified Adani Group, received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from Sri Lankan authorities to develop the West Container Terminal (WCT) in Colombo.
•Adani Ports will be partnering with Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and John Keells Holdings PLC, which is Sri Lanka's largest diversified conglomerate, for the development of the terminal.
•The West Container Terminal will be developed as a public-private partnership on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis for 35 years. 
•The project will boost WCT's container handling capacity, thereby making it a prime transhipment cargo destination to handle Ultra Large Container Carriers.

India's Annu Rani scripts new national record in javelin throw, misses Olympic qualification mark

•Indian Javelin thrower Annu Rani created a new national record with a 63.24m effort on March 15, 2021 during the opening day of the 24th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports complex.  
•Despite an amazing performance, Annu Rani failed to cross the Olympic qualification mark of 64.00m. 
•The 27-year-old is world no. 12 in javelin thrown and with three throws beyond 61m, she won three gold medals for Uttar Pradesh in four finals. 

RBI directs banks to implement image-based Cheque Truncation System by September 30th

•The Reserve Bank of India has directed all banks to implement the image-based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) in all their branches by September 30, 2021. 
•The apex bank had announced pan-India coverage of the Cheque Truncation System last month by bringing all bank branches under the image-based clearing mechanism.
•The move aims to enable faster settlement of cheques resulting in better customer service.
•The RBI said that it was decided to extend CTS across all bank branches in the country to leverage the availability of CTS and provide a uniform customer experience irrespective of the location of her/his bank branch.