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CURRENT AFFAIRS (MARCH,2020) NATIONAL NEWS PM-CARES Fund • Prime Minister’S Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM- CARES) Fund

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CURRENT AFFAIRS (MARCH,2020) NATIONAL NEWS PM-CARES Fund • Prime Minister’S Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM- CARES) Fund CURRENT AFFAIRS (MARCH,2020) NATIONAL NEWS PM-CARES Fund • Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM- CARES) fund. • It is a dedicated fund with the primary objective to deal with threats like COVID-19. • Prime Minister of India is the Chairman of the trust. The other members of the trust include Finance Minister, Home Minister and Defence Minister. • Funds being donated to the PM-CARES is to be exempted from tax under Section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement • In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to advance its meeting scheduled for 31st March, 1st and 3rd April 2020. • It met on 24th, 26th and 27th March Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting on March 27, 2020 decided following changes- • Reduce the policy Repo Rate by 75 basis points to 4.40% from 5.15%; • Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate stand reduced to 4.65% from 5.40%; • Reverse Repo Rate reduced by 90 basis points to 4.0 % from 4.9%. • The Cash Reserve Ratio was cut by 100 bps to 3% of NTDL (Net Time and Demand Liabilities). Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) ❖ On 26th March,2020,Rs 1.70 Lakh Crore relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana was announced • Healthcare Workers: Insurance cover of ₹50 lakh • Food grains to Poor: 80 crore poor people under National Food Security Act will receive five kg extra wheat or rice and 1 kg of pulses • MGNREGA workers (13.63 crore): Wage increased from ₹182/day to ₹202/day • Jan Dhan Women Account holders (20.4 crore): DBT of ₹500/ month for next three months • Senior Citizens, disabled & Poor widows (3 crore): Ex-gratia of ₹1000 (through existing pension schemes) • Farmers (8.7 crore): Front loading of ₹2000 to them under existing PM Kisan Yojana • Ujjwala Beneficiaries (8.3 crore): Free cylinders for next three months • Wage earners: Those earning below ₹15000/month in firms having less than 100 workers will receive 24% of their monthly wages into their PF accounts for next three months • Construction workers: Centre has directed States to use Construction worker’s welfare fund to give relief to 3.5 crore registered workers • The State Government will be asked to utilise the funds available under District Mineral Fund (DMF) for supplementing and augmenting facilities of medical testing, screening and other requirements in connection with preventing the spread of CVID- 19 pandemic as well as treating the patients affected with this pandemic. India goes on Complete LOCKDOWN • The Prime Minister had announced complete lock down of the country for 21 days from 24th March,2020. • It had invoked the Disaster Management Act, 2005. • The COVID-19 was listed as “notified Disaster”. • Also, the Epidemics Diseases Act, 1897 was invoked. RaIDer-X • An explosive detection device, RaIDer-X, was unveiled at the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020) in Pune (Maharashtra). • The Workshop was organized by the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune. • RaIDer-X has the capability to detect 20 explosives within a distance of about 2 metres • RaIDer-X has been co-developed by HEMRL, Pune and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. • HEMRL Pune is a premier laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO.) • DRDO was established in 1958 . National Chambal Sanctuary declared as Eco-Sensitive Zone • The Sanctuary begins in the Vindhyan Ranges, extends along the Chambal river and ends in Yamuna river. It is spread across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. • The Sanctuary is home to naturally living Gharials and fresh water Gangetic Dolphins primarily. • They are governed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change India-Armenia defence deal • India and Armenia signed deals on DRDO built “Swathi” weapon locating radars. • In this deal 4 indigenously built will be delivered to Armenia. • The deal was worth 40 million USD. In-flight Wi-Fi services • The Central Government permitted airlines operating in India to provide in-flight Wi-Fi services to passengers • The Pilot-in-Command may permit the access of Internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight, through Wi-Fi on board, when laptop, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, e-reader or a point of sale device is used in flight mode or airplane mode ✓ Vistara would be the first airlines in India to provide in-flight Wi-Fi services (Through Boeing 787-9 plane). The Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 • Through this bill deemed Sanskrit universities will be converted in to central Sanskrit Universities. ❖ They are- ✓ Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, ✓ Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati and ✓ Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi Suposhit Maa Abhiyan – • Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla launched "Suposhit Maa Abhiyan" to provide nutritional support to pregnant women and adolescent girls in Kota on 1st March,2020. • Keeping newborn and pregnant women healthy is the main objective of the 'Suposhit Maa Abhiyaan '. • Under this Abhiyan, 1,000 women would be given food items for one month. • At the same time, the health of the child, including medical examination, blood tests, medicines, delivery, would be covered. • The identified women would be required to register on a website for adoption. • Only one pregnant woman would be adopted from a family. • In the first phase of the campaign, 1,000 kits of 17 kg balanced diet each were provided to 1,000 pregnant women. India nominates 2 sites to be included in World Heritage Sites List • The Government of India submitted two nomination for their inclusion in World Heritage List for the year 2020. They are as follows- Dholavira: • A Harappan City,it is an archaeological site in Gujarat. • It consists of ruins of ancient Indus Valley Civilization • It was excavated by R.S Bisht in 1985. • The water conservation methods of Dholavira are unique and measures as one of the most efficient systems of the ancient world. Monuments and Forts of Deccan Sultanate • The Deccan Sultanates were 5 major kingdoms. • They ruled between Vindhya Range and Krishna river in the Deccan Plateau. • Their architecture was Indo-Islamic and greatly influenced by the Mughal architecture. ❖ It include following four monuments- ✓ Bahmani Monuments at Gulbarga, Karnataka ✓ Bahmani and Barid Shahi Monuments at Bidar, Karnataka ✓ Adil Shahi Monuments at Bijapur, Karnataka ✓ Qutb Shahi Monuments at Hyderabad ,Telangana. UNESCO World Heritage List • China have maximum sites in this list ✓ Cultural-37,Natural-14,Mixed-4 Google Cloud Region • Google announced that it will open its next cloud region of India at Delhi by 2021. • This is the second cloud region of Google after Mumbai, that was launched in 2017 BHOG of FSSAI • BHOG is Blissful Hygiene Offering to God. • These are certificates issued by FSSAI. • The BHOG certificates ensure quality of food offered to devotees and deities as well. Founded: August 2011 Sector: Food safety Jurisdiction: India Headquarters: New Delhi Agency executive: Rita Teaotia Major Port at Vadhvan, Maharashtra • Government has approved the development of major port at Vadhvan, Maharashtra. Gujarat has highest number of Solar Rooftop Installations • There are more than 50,915 rooftop solar plants set up in the state. INTERNATIONAL NEWS NASA SUNRISE Mission • NASA will launch Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SUNRISE) mission. • The mission is to study about how sun creates Giant Solar Particle Storms. NASA- • On July 29, 1958 ,NASA was established and began operations on October 1, 1958 Headquarters Washington (D.C.) G20 Summit Vedio SUMMIT – • It was chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia • At the video conference, the G20 leaders vowed to inject $5 trillion into the global economy as part of a targeted fiscal policy to counteract the social, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic. G20- • Originated in 1999 at the level of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. • In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the G20 was elevated to include the leaders of member countries. • The first G20 Leaders’ Summit took place in Washington D.C. in November 2008 • G20 members represent around 80% of the world’s economic output, two-thirds of global population and three-quarters of international trade. UN launches Global Humanitarian Response Plan to fight against COVID-19- • The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 25 March launched a US$2 billion coordinated global humanitarian response plan to fund the fight against COVID-19 in 51 countries across South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Luxembourg: The First Country in the World to provide Free Public Transport • Luxembourg has become the first country in the world to offer free public transport The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) • It recently released its report on “Trends in International arms transfers 2019”. ❖ The top 3 arms importers in the world (period 2015-19) include 1. Saudi Arabia, 2. India, 3. Egypt Russia being the largest supplier to India The report placed India 23rd among the world’s 25 largest arms exporters, with its main clients being Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mauritius The top 3 arms exporters in the world (period 2015-19) include 1. USA 2. Russia 3. France WHO declares Corona Virus as GLOBAL PANDEMIC • On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Corona Virus as Global Pandemic as it is rapidly spreading across the world. AWARDS Hillel Furstenberg and Gregory Margulis to share the Abel Prize ● Invented random walk techniques ● Pioneering the use of methods from What for ? probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics. ● The Abel Prize was established on 1 January 2002. About ● The purpose is to award the Abel Prize for Award outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics.
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