DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: March 21, 2020

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Daily Current Affairs (March 21, 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.

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Important Days

March 21: International Day of Forests

• Every year, the United Nations celebrate International Day of Forest on March 21. The Day is being celebrated since 2012. It aims to increase awareness and importance of forests. 
• Theme: “Forests and Biodiversity”.

French Language Day is observed on 20th March:

• French Language Day is observed on 20th March every year. Established in 2010 by the United Nations Department of Public Information, the UN’s goal was to honour multilingualism, cultural diversity, & supports equal usage of its 6 official languages.

World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People 2020:

• March 20, 2020, is celebrated as the world day of theatre for children and Young People. It is an ASSITEJ, the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People campaign & celebrates the performing arts for children & young people worldwide.
• For children, it is promoted & celebrated through the slogan ‘Take a Child to the Theatre Today’ which is a call to parents, grandparents & guardians to take the children in their care to the theatre on the day.

National News

Pilot shopping festival planned in FY21

• Textiles minister Smriti Irani said that a pilot shopping festival at Bengaluru is to be organized in 2020-21, which will subsequently be organized in other cities focusing on various sectors including gems & jewellery, textiles and Ayurvedic products.
• Government of India allotted Rs 1,480 Cr to National Technical Textiles Mission.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath steps down 

• Kamal Nath has resigned as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He has resigned ahead of the floor test which was scheduled to be held on 20th March 2020 in the state assembly. 
• He will submit his resignation to Lal Ji Tandon, governor of Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath sworn-in as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh after winning the state Assembly polls held in 2018.

J&K announces Rs 5 Lakhs free health insurance for residents:

• In a major relief to the people of J&K, Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of LG Girish Chander Murmu sanctioned to roll out the J&K Health Scheme to provide free of cost Health Coverage to all residents under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY.
• 1.25 crore residents of J&K will be provided the same benefits.

The government says Rs 6.16 lakh Crore investment approved under PMAY:

• An investment of Rs 6.16 lakh Crore has been approved so far under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) & the committed central assistance is Rs 1.65 lakh Cr, Hardeep Singh Puri. 
• Hardeep Singh Puri is the Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs & Civil Aviation.

Sanitary personnel in Tamil Nadu to be called as ‘cleanliness workers’: 

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palanisamy  a total of 64,583 sanitary personnel employed by urban and rural civic bodies in the State will be called as ”cleanliness workers” (Thooimai Paniyalargal in Tamil) to honour their work.

Tamil Nadu:

• Capital– Chennai
• Governor– Banwarilal Purohit
• Dance– Bharathanatyam

National Parks(NP)- Guindy NP,Gulf of Mannar Marine NP, Indira Gandhi (Annamalai) NP, Mudumalai NP, Mukurthi NP.

Uttarakhand govt abolishes quota in promotion for employees:

• Uttarakhand government abolished reservation in promotion in the state government jobs. Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat lead government took the major decision on completion of 3 years of their tenure. 
• The state government also issued orders regarding DPC (Departmental Promotion Committee).

Indian Navy installs Quarantine Facility at Visakhapatnam :

• Indian Navy has established a Quarantine Camp at INS Vishwakarma in Eastern Naval Command (ENC) for Indian nationals being evacuated from COVID-19 affected countries.
• The Quarantine Camp has the capacity to accommodate nearly 200 personnel with all appropriate facilities. 
• Indian nationals being evacuated from COVID-19 affected countries will be closely monitored by a team of naval personnel and medical professionals of ENC.

“Tech for Tribal”-Launched by TRIFED to develop Tribal Entrepreneurship:

• TRIFED, the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India launched “Tech for Tribal” initiative. The initiative aims at providing entrepreneurship skills to the tribal people. 
• The initiative is to benefit 3 lakh people. The TRIFED has launched the initiative along with Institutes of National Importance. 
• It includes IIT-Kanpur, IIM Indore, Institute of Social Science, Bhubaneshwar.

International News

United Nations launches the World Happiness Report, 2020: 

• United Nations released the World Happiness Report on the International Day of Happiness, 2020. 
• Finland ranked first in the report and India ranked 144. Around 156 countries were assessed under the ranking. This is the eighth World Happiness Report prepared by the organization.

India becomes third largest electricity producer in the world

• India has become the third-largest electricity producer in the world, as its power generation has increased to 34% by 2017 compared to seven years ago. 
• Now, the country produces more energy than Japan and Russia seven years ago, compared to India, which were installing 27% and 8.77% more power generation capacity respectively.
• According to a report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a trust set up by the Ministry of Commerce, electricity generation stood at 1,003.525 billion units from April 2017 to January 2018.

India extends Covid assistance worth $ 1 million under SAARC emergency fund:

• India, within days of Modi’s announcement of creation of $10 million SAARC Emergency Fund to fight Covid-19, has supplied various medical supplies, testing equipment and other items to Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
• MEA has a team of 75 officials working in HQ for Covid cell.

Banking and Finance

15th Finance Commission constitutes committee to review fiscal consolidation roadmap:

• 15th Finance Commission has constituted a committee to review the fiscal consolidation roadmap of the general government. 
• The committee, to be headed by chairman of the Finance Commission, NK Singh, will recommend a debt & fiscal consolidation roadmap for FY 2021-25 for the government.

Fitch Ratings cuts India’s growth forecast to 5.1% for FY’21 from 5.6%:

• Fitch Ratings in its Global Economic Outlook 2020 has declined India’s growth forecast to 5.1% for FY 2020-21 due to the coronavirus outbreak which is likely to impact business investment and exports. For FY 2021-22, Fitch has projected India’s growth at 6.4%.

SIDBI launches “Swavalamban Express” to promote business aspirants:

• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is to start Swavalamban Express on 5 June 2020. The aim is to promote budding business aspirants and entrepreneurs. 
• SIDBI will start a special train based on the opinions and suggestions of various stakeholders. The Train is to visit 11 entrepreneurial cities. The train has been launched to fulfil India’s goal of 5 trillion USD by 2024-25.

Science and Technology

10 earth-observing satellites among 36 missions lined up by ISRO for FY21:

• ISRO lined up 36 missions including 10 earth observation satellites in 2020-21. Besides 10 earth observation satellites, the space agency lined up 3 communication satellites, 3 space science satellite, 2 navigation satellite and 1 technology demonstration.
• Gaganyaan (unmanned) is also part of ISRO’s mission for 2020-21.

Appointments

RBI names R Gandhi, Ananth Gopalkrishnan additional directors on YES Bank Board:

• Reserve Bank of India has appointed R Gandhi and Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan as additional directors to the board of private sector lender YES Bank for a period of two years. 
• Prashant Kumar was earlier appointed as CEO & MD of Yes Bank
• SBI is biggest investor in YES Bank via reconstruction scheme.

A. Ajay Kumar becomes India’s next High Commissioner to Republic of Uganda:  

• Ajay Kumar has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Uganda. 
• Ajay Kumar is currently posted as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. Ajay Kumar is a 2001 batch IFS officer.

Awards & Recognitions

Indian mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta enters ‘Limca Book of Records:

• Indian mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta hails from Kolkata, West Bengal, 37 years old, entered ‘Limca Book of Records’ (LBR) for his extraordinary achievements, as the first Indian to climb the highest volcanoes of each of the 7 continents. 
• He also holds the record as the youngest mountaineer in the world to climb both 7 peaks and 7 volcanic summits.

Books & Authors

A new book entitled ‘Messiah Modi: A Great tale of expectations’ penned by Tavleen singh released:

• A new book entitled ‘Messiah Modi: A Great Tale of Expectations’ written by senior journalist & author Tavleen Singh has been released. 
• The book, published by HarperCollins India, narrates the early support for Modi the candidate by the author, once a great supporter of the government.

Obituary News

Indian football legend P.K. Banerjee passed away at 83:

• Indian football player Pradip Kumar Banerjee passed away at the age of 83 in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was born on June 23, 1936, in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.

Sports News

Athletics Federation of India cancels Indian GP Grand Prix

• Athletics Federation of India cancelled the Indian Grand Prix hours before it was to begin today in view of the COVID 19 outbreak. The event was scheduled to be held at National Institute of Sports, Patiala.
• Next month’s Federation Cup National Senior Championships scheduled from April 10th to 13th, a qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics, has been postponed to a later date.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 21, 2020

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