DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: March 1 & 2, 2020

Dear Bankersdaily Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (March 1 & 2, 2020) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

Also, Don’t forget to attend the Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 1 & 2, 2020 now @ our Bankersdaily Tests.

Current Affairs Quiz – March 1 & 2, 2020

Check Daily CA from Race Youtube Channel

Important Days

World Civil Defence Day

  • World civil Defence Day is observed on March 1 to raise awareness of public protection from natural & technogenic disasters and rescue service work.
  • World Civil Defence Day was instituted by the International Civil Defence Organization General Assembly in 1990.
  • ICDO was formed by French Surgeon-General George Saint Paul.

Zero Discrimination Day

  • Zero Discrimination Day celebrated on March 1 highlights how people can become informed about & promote inclusion, compassion, peace and a movement for change. It is helping to create a global movement of solidarity to end all forms of discrimination.
  • UNAIDS observes the Zero Discrimination Day annually.

National News

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates ‘Pension Adalat’ in Jammu:

 

  • Union Minister of State PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the ‘Pension Adalat’ and National Pension System (NPS) Awareness and Grievance Redressal Programme in Jammu. 

 

  • Inaugurating the Pension Adalat, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that this is the first time that Pension Adalat is being conducted outside Delhi.

Jammu and Kashmir

  • Capital: Srinagar (summer), Jammu (winter)

 

  • Governor: Girish Chandra Murmu

 

19th World Productivity Congress to be held in Bangalore:

  • World Productivity Congress, the world’s largest convention for productivity development, is back in India after a gap of 45 years. 
  • 19th edition of WPC will be held on May 6 to May 8, 2020 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, Bangalore.

Karnataka

  • Capital: Bengaluru
  • Chief Minister: B. S. Yeddyurappa
  • Governor: Vajubhai Vala

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla launches ‘Suposhit Maa Abhiyaan’ in Kota:

  • Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has said that society should also come forward to remove malnutrition problems in the country. Mr. Birla was addressing the program after launching the ‘Suposhit Maa Abhiyaan’ in his constituency Kota, Rajasthan. 
  • Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani was also present in the program. 
  • Newborn and pregnant women healthy is the main objective of the ‘Suposhit Maa Abhiyaan ‘.

Rajasthan

  • Capital: Jaipur
  • Chief Minister: Ashok Gehlot
  • Governor: Kalraj Mishra

Maharashtra to be single-use plastic-free by May 1

  • Maharashtra State government is set to become single-use plastic-free by 1 May 2020. The announcement was made by the Maharashtra environment minister Aaditya Thackeray. 
  • He said self-help groups (SHGs) will be given Rs 5 crore to procure cloth bags.

Anand Mahindra’s M&M launch a cab aggregator service named “Alyte”:

  • Auto manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra plans to enter the shared mobility services segment with the launch of a cab aggregator, called Alyte, for corporates. 
  • The introduction of the service will put M&M in direct competition with Ola and Uber. The company claims a quarter of Alyte’s fleet will be Electric vehicles in the next two-three years.

Products Worth Rs 22 Lakh Sold in State Level KVIC Exhibition Under Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme:

  • A sale of worth Rs 22 lakhs was recorded in an exhibition organised by Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) New Delhi state office under Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

GST collection crosses Rs one lakh crore mark in February

  • Government has collected over one lakh five thousand crore rupees as Goods and Services Tax in February this year which is eight percent more than the GST collected in the same month of last year.
  • Out of the total revenue, Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) is over 20 thousand crore rupees, State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) is over 27 thousand crore and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST) is over 48 thousand crore rupees.

Haryana’s Rakhigarhi to soon emerge as a major tourist destination:

  • Rakhigarhi, Haryana will soon emerge as a major tourist destination on the map of India. Rakhigarhi hit headlines after FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech placed it among 5 archaeological sites that the Centre proposes to develop as an iconic site.
  • It is the largest site of the Harappan civilization.

Haryana

  • Capital: Chandigarh
  • Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar
  • Governor: Satyadev Narayan Arya
  • National Parks (NP): Sultanpur NP, Kalesar NP
  • Dance: Phag, Dhamal, Loor, Khoria.

“Ekam Fest” to begin to promote craftsmanship & products of Divyang Artisans & Entrepreneurs:

  • Social Justice & Empowerment minister Thaawarchand Gehlot will inaugurate the Exhibition-cum-Fair ‘EKAM Fest’ organised by National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC) to promote craftsmanship & products of Divyang Artisans & Entrepreneurs.

 

  • “Ekam”-Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Awareness, Marketing.

 

‘Chintan Baithak’ – ports review meeting with Chairpersons of All Major Ports of India concludes:

  • Minister of State for Shipping (I/C)-Mansukh Mandaviya chaired 3-day Ports Review Meeting Chintan Baithak in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu which concluded on 1 March 2020. 
  • Ports to implement the best practices followed worldwide in the Maritime Sector.
  • Government has “Vision-2030” for Maritime Sector.

New explosive detection device, developed by DRDO & IISc Bangalore, unveiled in Pune:

  • RaIDer-X, a new explosive detection device, was unveiled at the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020) in Pune.
  • RaIDer-X has the capability to detect explosives from a stand-off distance. 

 

  • Bulk explosive in concealed condition can also be detected by the device. RaIDer-X has been co-developed by High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

 

Tamil Nadu to set up technical textiles park in Salem

  • Tamil Nadu state’s Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, said that govt has planned 2 textile parks, in Tuticorin & Salem. One in Salem would be for technical textiles, which are textile material/products used for their technical performance rather than as personal clothing
  • Govt approved a Rs 1,480-cr National Technical Textiles Mission.

Tamil Nadu

  • Capital: Chennai
  • Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami
  • Governor: Banwarilal Purohit

Prahlad Singh Patel to launch multilingual Incredible India website:

  • Prahlad Singh Patel will launch the multilingual Incredible India website in New Delhi. The website which was hosted in English & Hindi is now being launched in Chinese, Arabic & Spanish to project India as a ‘must-visit’ destination across the globe.
  • Prahlad Singh Patel is the Union Tourism Minister.

Memorandum of Understanding Between Indian Air Force and Savitribai Phule Pune University

  • Indian Air Force and Savitribai Phule Pune University entered into an academic collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a ‘Chair of Excellence’ at Department of Defence & Strategic Studies.
  • To pay tribute to the legend and commemorate the centenary birth year of the MIAF, the IAF has named it as “Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh Chair of Excellence”. 
  • The Chair will enable IAF officers to pursue Doctoral Research and higher studies in Defence & Strategic Studies and allied fields.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inaugurates “Hunar Haat” in Ranchi, Jharkhand

  • Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inaugurated “Hunar Haat” in Ranchi, Jharkhand. This is for the first time that “Hunar Haat” is being organised in Jharkhand. This is the 21st “Hunar Haat” of the Union Minority Affairs Ministry.
  • The next Hunar Haat will be organized in Chandigarh.

Jharkhand

  • Capital: Ranchi
  • Chief Minister: Hemant Soren
  • Governor: Draupadi Murmu

Indian Railways launched its First “Restaurant on Wheels” at Asansol Station, West Bengal:

  • Indian railways launched its First “Restaurant on Wheels” at Asansol Station (division of Eastern railway), West Bengal, for railway passengers and citizens of the city.

 

  • Shri Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoSEFCC) inaugurated the 1st “Restaurant on Wheels” at Asansol station, West Bengal.

 

SPMCIL contributes Rs 1 crore to National Sports Development Fund:

  • Under the CSR initiatives, Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India contributed Rs 1 Crore towards National Sports Development Fund under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme for the top athletes of the Country selected for Tokyo Olympics & beyond.
  • Chairman & Managing Director of SPMCIL- Tripti Patra Ghosh.

Shri Amit Shah inaugurates the campus of NSG Regional Hub at Kolkata

  • National Security Guard (NSG) Regional Hub campus at Kolkata, Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah termed this as an important step in the direction of giving adequate facilities to the brave NSG jawans, which are important for them to function unhindered in ensuring the security of the Nation. 
  • Home Minister presided over the inauguration and founding stone laying ceremony of various welfare projects for NSG, amounting to over Rs. 245 crores across Kolkata, Manesar, Chennai and Mumbai. 

West Bengal

  • Capital: Kolkata
  • Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee
  • Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar

International News

ADB to provide $4 million to member countries to contain coronavirus outbreak:

  • Asian Development Bank will provide a total of USD 4 million (about Rs 29 crore) to help developing countries in Asia and Pacific to fight the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The funds will be available for all ADB developing member countries.
  • ADB announced USD 4 million for this earlier in February.

Asian Development Bank:

 

  • Founded- 19 December 1966

 

  • Headquarters- Mandaluyong, Philippines.
  • President- Masatsugu Asakawa

Facebook launches new campaign ‘More Together’ in India

  • Social media company Facebook has launched a new consumer marketing campaign, called ‘More Together’, in India.
  • Focused on the Facebook app, a new consumer marketing campaign called ‘More Together’ shares stories that highlight the Power Of Connections on the platform. This is the first such campaign launched by Facebook in India.

‘Seventeen new planets, including one Earth-sized world discovered’

  • Astronomers have discovered 17 new planets, including a potentially habitable Earth-sized world, by combing through data gathered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which was launched in 2009. 
  • The smallest planet is only two- thirds the size of the Earth.
  • One such rare planet is named as KIC-7340288 b.

INSOFE ties up with CASE University for master’s course

 

  • The departments of biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering and civil engineering from CASE Western Reserve University, Cleveland, have tied up with International School of Engineering (INSOFE) in Hyderabad to offer a master’s degrees with dual specialisation in Core and Data Science/AI.

 

Accenture opens Innovation Hub in Pune

  • Accenture opened its third Innovation Hub in India, in Pune expanding its innovation capabilities for clients.

 

  • Accenture Innovation Hub will provide an immersive environment for clients to co-innovate with Accenture experts in a variety of industries and across a range of advanced technologies, including extended reality, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, blockchain and quantum computing. 

 

  • This will be the company’s second Nano Lab in the Asia-Pacific region.

Data Core launches R&D center in India; largest after Florida

  • US based software storage firm DataCore plans to set up a global R&D centre in Bangalore, which will its largest center gloablly after the US. 
  • The center in India, is expected to be ready in the next 12 months and willcater to clients across the US and EMEA region.
  • The centre in India will be led by Vani Sharma as Center Head India & Vice President – Products, DataCore. 

Banking and Technology

India’s unemployment rate rises to 7.78%, highest since Oct 2019:

  • India’s unemployment rate rose to 7.78% in February, the highest since October 2019, and up from 7.16% in January, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)
  • In rural areas, the unemployment rate increased to 7.37% in February from 5.97% in the previous month, while in urban areas, it fell to 8.65% from 9.70%, the data released by CMIE, a Mumbai-based private think-tank showed.

SBI Cards & Payment Services raise Rs 2,769 Cr ahead of its initial share sale

  • SBI Cards and Payment Services has raised Rs 2,769 Crore from 74 anchor investors, ahead of its initial share sale, starting on March 2. Anchor investors are institutional investors, who are offered shares in an Initial Public Offering, ahead of its opening.
  • Singapore government, Monetary Authority of Singapore, HDFC Mutual Fund, Government Pension Fund Global and Birla Mutual Fund, are among the anchor investors.

Bank credit growth dips to 8.5 % in January:

  • Bank credit growth declined to 8.5 per cent in January from 13.5 per cent in the year-ago period led by a sharp slowdown in loans to the services sector, according to RBI data. 
  • Growth in advances to the services sector decelerated to 8.9 per cent from 23.9 per cent in January 2019.
  • Bank loan growth to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) slowed to 32.2 per cent in the reporting month from a growth of 48.3 per cent a year-ago.

Allahabad Bank lowers interest rate on external benchmark-linked products

  • State-owned Allahabad Bank announced a cut of up to 40 basis points in interest rate on external benchmark-linked products.
  • Asset Liability Management Committee (ALCO) of the Bank has decided to revise interest rates for the products linked to External Benchmark with effect from 1st March 2020,”.

 

  • While the RBI’s repo rate remains unchanged at 5.15 per cent, the three-month MIBOR (Average) has reduced to 5.75 per cent from 6.15 per cent.

 

  • MIBOR refers to the Mumbai Interbank Offered Rate.

Appointments

Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as Malaysia’s new Prime Minister

  • Malaysia, the King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has appointed seasoned politician Muhyiddin Yassin, a former interior minister and president of the Bersatu party as the new Prime Minister

Malaysia

  • Currency: Malaysian ringgit
  • Capital: Kuala Lumpur

S C Garg appointed advisor to Andhra Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy:

  • Former Union finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has been appointed as advisor to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for resource mobilisation.
  • Garg has been assigned the rank of a Cabinet minister, according to an order issued by Principal Secretary (Political) Praveen Prakash.

Nokia appoints Pekka Lundmark as CEO and Rajeev Suri to step down:

  • The chief executive of Nokia, Rajeev Suri, is stepping down after just over half a decade at the helm of the Finnish network company.
  • Suri will be replaced by Pekka Lundmark, the outgoing CEO of Fortum Oyj
  • Suri, who has been at Nokia for 25 years, became CEO after running the Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture.

Ram Nair named World Vegetable Center regional head:

  • The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) has appointed Ramakrishnan (Ram) M Nair as the Regional Director for its South and Central Asia operations. 

 

  • He will work with donors and partners and develop new projects, besides promoting research and development.

 

  • Nair also leads the WorldVeg global legume breeding programme and the International Mungbean Improvement Network (IMIN).

Awards and Recognition

Rally driver Gaurav Gill feted at FMSCI Awards

  • Rally driver Gaurav Gill took home a special award at the Federation of Motor Sports Club of India Awards. 
  • FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India) is the only federation in Asia Pacific that organises 10 national championships in almost all verticals of 2-wheelers, 4-wheelers and karting
  • Gill is the 1st motorsport athlete to be awarded Arjuna Award.

Padma Shri Jadav Payeng honoured with 6th Swami Vivekananda Karmayogi Award 2020

  • Forest Man of India & environmentalist Padma Shri Jadav ‘Molai’ Payeng is honoured with the 6th annual Swami Vivekananda Karmayogi award 2020 for his consistent efforts in creating a manmade forest through afforestation.
  • The award comprises of a trophy, a recitation & a reward of Rs 1 Lakh. He is also a forest worker from the missing tribe from Jorhat, Assam.

Obituary News

Dronacharya awardee athletics coach Joginder Singh Saini passes away

  • Veteran athletics coach and Dronacharya awardee Joginder Singh Saini, who groomed some of India’s finest track and field stars, died in Patiala. He was 90.
  • Saini received the Dronacharya Award in 1997 for his contribution to Indian athletics. He was the chief coach of the Indian athletics team which won 18 medals, including eight golds, at the 1978 Asian Games.

Former India hockey star and Olympic bronze medallist Balbir Singh Kullar dies

  • Former India hockey player Balbir Singh Kullar, who was a part of the 1968 Olympics bronze-winning team, has died after suffering a heart attack at his home in Punjab. He was 77.

Sports News

First Khelo India University Games concludes in Bhubaneswar

  • Khelo India University Games concluded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Panjab University, Chandigarh took home the champions trophy-winning 46 medals including 17 gold, 19 silver, and 10 bronze.
  • Panjab University won a total of 46 medals while Savitribai Phule Pune University won 37 medals including 17 gold, 11 silver, and 9 bronze medals. 
  • Savitribai Phule Pune University claimed the second position and Punjabi University, Patiala declared as the second runners up.

Rafael Nadal wins Mexican Open title after beating Taylor Fritz

  • World Number 2 Rafael Nadal captured his first title of the year, defeating unseeded Taylor Fritz in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, in the final of the ATP Mexico Open.
  • Women’s final, seventh-seeded Heather Watson captured her first WTA title in three years by grinding out a 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 win over Canadian teen Leylah Fernandez.

Dutee Chand wins her 2nd gold in 200 meters race; Gurwinder Singh bags gold in boxing

 

  • Khelo India University Games in Odisha, India’s fastest woman Dutee Chand won her second gold after she bagged the top honours in the 200 meters final in Bhubaneswar. Dutee Chand also clinched gold in 100 meters dash.
  • The 24-year-old, who is representing Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, clinched the gold medal with a timing of 23.66 seconds.

 

  • Kirti Vijay Bhoite from the University of Mumbai settled for silver with a timing of 24.98 seconds while Deepali Mahapatra from Utkal University won the bronze, clocking 25.19 seconds.

Remaining rounds of 2020 UAE World Tour Cycle race get canceled due to COVID-19

  • Abu Dhabi Sports Council canceled the remaining rounds of the 2020 UAE Tour after 2 Italian participants were tested positive for the CIVID-19. 
  • This is the only World Tour Cycle race held in West Asia. The competition had started on the 23rd of February.

Can you score 15/ 15 in Today’s Current Affairs Quiz? Attempt the Current Affairs Quiz of February 29, 2020, now from the link given below. (It took topper to score 15/15 in 7 & 8 minutes 18 seconds, beat that if you can). 

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 1 & 2, 2020

Current Affairs Quiz – March 1 & 2, 2020

Buy the Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability & English Language Topic Wise Tests – Online Tests from the below-given links. 

Aspirants can get the test packages from our Official Bankersdaily Store (https://bankersdaily.testpress.in)

 If you have any doubts regarding the 4 new Topic Wise Test Packages, kindly mail your queries to virtualracetest@gmail.com.

 

Tweet
Pin
Share
+1
0 Shares