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 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 (). • 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. Awarded ● The prize is awarded by the Norwegian by ? Academy of Science and Letters. ● American-Israeli ● Russian- mathematician at American Hebrew mathematician. University of ● Born in Moscow Jerusalem. & settled at Yale ● Born in Berlin & in 1991. flee to the U.S. in ● known for his 1939. works on lattices. ● Finally went to ● He has received Israel, and the Fields medal, helped establish wolf prize and the country as a Hillel Gregory the Abel prize. world center for Furstenberg Margulis ● Becoming the mathematics. fifth person to ● He has won the receive all the Israel Prize and three prizes. the Wolf Prize. President Kovind confers 61st annual Lalit Kala Akademi awards ● 15 meritorious artists honoured today are : ➢ Anoop Kumar Manzukhi Gopi (Kerala), David Malakar (West Bengal), Devendra Kumar Khare (Gujarat), Dinesh Pandya (Maharashtra), Faruque Ahmed Halder ( West Bengal), Hari Ram Kumbhawat (Rajasthan), Keshari Nandan Prasad (Rajasthan), Mohan Kumar T ( Karnataka), Ratan Krishna Saha (Maharashtra) Sagar Vasant Kamble (Maharashtra) Satwinder Kaur (New Delhi), Sunil Thiruvayur (Kerala), Tejaswi Narayan Sonawane (Maharashtra), Singh (Delhi), Yashwant Singh (Delhi). ● Lalit Kala Akademi organises art exhibitions and award ceremonies every year to promote art as well as to honour talents. ● The exhibition brings together the works of brilliance from across the country and also encourages budding art talents to learn new tendencies and mediums in the world of painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, drawing, installation and multimedia etc. About Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art) :

● An institution which promotes and propagates the understanding of Indian art, in and outside the country. ● The youngest of the three Academies founded by the Government of India, the Lalit Kala Akademi was established in pursuance of the dream of the first Prime Minister of independent India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for cultural and national identity. ● Set up by the GoI as an autonomous body, on 5th August, 1954. ● It is funded by the Union Ministry of Culture. ● Chairman of Lalit Kala Academy Dr. Uttam Pacharne. Scientists from IIT Delhi and DRDO gets National Award ● Two Scientists Dr Shweta Rawat (DRDO) and Dr. Shalini Gupta (IIT-D), received the ‘National Award for Young Women Showing Excellence through Application of Technology for Societal Benefits’.

About Award

● By Dept. of Sc. & Tech (Ministry of Sc. & Tech). ● To recognize the contribution of institutions & individuals who have worked for women’s development through application of Science and Technology. ● Awarded in 3 categories :

○ Category I & II are for the applicants of any gender, who have contributed for Women’s development through application of Science & Technology;

○ Category III is for young woman applicants only who have contributed for societal benefit through application of Technology). ● Dr Shweta Rawat, DRDO, Delhi has developed a female-specific ● Dr. Shalini Gupta, Indian Institute Full Body Protector (प्रबला) to of Technology (IIT), Delhi, → safeguard the Female troops development of a technology deployed in riot control actions. SeptifloTM, which offers point- ● This gear has been developed in of-care diagnosis and treatment collaboration with the Rapid of bacterial septicemia. Action Force. ● This has led to the incubation of ● It has unique properties, including the start-up Nano DX Healthcare anti-stab, anti-puncture, flame Pvt. retardant and acid resistance. Animal Protection Index

• On March 12, 2020, Global Animal Protection Index 2020 was released by World Animal Protection, an international animal welfare charity ➢ The index ranks countries from A (being the highest score) to G (being the weakest score) according to their policy and legislation. ➢ Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Austria are rated with the highest scores ➢ India has attained a C ranking in the index, along with countries like New Zealand, Mexico, France, and Spain. ➢ According to the index, the countries that performed weakly included Iran, Morocco, Algeria and Belarus. SPORTS Australia defeats India at finals of Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 ● On the eve of Women’s Day, the final match of T20 (Twenty 20) was held at Melbourne, Australia. India lost the T20 world cup to Australia. ● Defending champions Australia claimed their fifth title following an 85- run triumph over first-time finalists India on Sunday in Melbourne.. ● Host : Australia ● Player of the series : Beth Mooney (Australia) Most Most Most Runs Most Wickets Dismissals Catches

Beth Mooney Megan Schutt - Taniya Bhatia - Beth Mooney - (Australia, 259 Australia (13) India (10) Australia (5) runs)

Alyssa Healy - Poonam Yadav - Alyssa Healy - Amelia Kerr - New Australia (236) India (10) Australia (7) Zealand (4)

Natalie Sciver - Jess Jonassen - Trisha Chetty - Nicola Carey - England (202) Australia (10) South Africa (4) Australia (4)

Heather Knight Sophie Ecclestone Amy Jones - Meg Lanning - - England (193) - England (8) England (4) Australia (4)

Shafali Verma - Anya Shrubsole - Nigar Sultana - Lauren Winfield - India (163) England (8) Bangladesh (4) England (3) 1. Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav was the lone Indian to make the ICC Women's T20 playing XI of the World Cup, which featured teenage sensation Shafali Verma as the 12th player and was dominated by champions Australia. 2. Highest team totals - a. South Africa - 195/3 (20 overs) vs Thailand b. Australia - 189/1 (20 overs) vs Bangladesh 3. Lowest Team Totals - a. Bangladesh 74 (19.5 overs) vs New Zealand b. Thailand 78/9 (20 overs) vs West Indies 4. With an astonishing 1.1 billion total video views, making it the most- watched ICC women’s event ever and the second most successful ICC event after the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. PERSONALITIES Sunil Chhetri- • Indian Football team Captain named for FIFA’s COVID-19 Campaign. • It include 28 players.

Founded 21 May, 1904 Headquarters Zurich,Switzerland President Gianni Infantino IMPORTANT DAYS March 3 - World Wildlife Day

● Celebrated by United Nations General Assembly, CITES and other regional and non-governmental organizations.

● Resolution to mark world wildlife day was passed by United Theme this year : Sustaining all Nations General Assembly on Life on Earth. 20th December, 2013. March 4 - National Security Day

● To honour the work of Indian Security Forces. This includes every security personnel, policemen, para military forces, guards, commandos, army officers, etc.

Why ? The Day reminds the citizens ● The National Security Council about their fundamental duties was established on this day. towards the country. ● It was established in 1998. March 8 - International Women’s Day

● The first International Women’s Day was marked first in 1909.

● The United Nations began This year’s theme :‘An Equal celebrating Women’s Day in 1975. World is an Enabled World’. March 20 - International Day of Happiness

● The day is observed by the United Nations.

● The day was first proposed in 2006. This year’s theme :‘Happiness for ● UN adopted International Day of All, Together’. Happiness in 2008 March 21 - International Day of Forests

● United Nations celebrate International Day of Forest on March 21.

● The Day is being celebrated since 2012. ● It aims to increase awareness This year’s theme : Forests and and importance of forests, also Biodiversity focuses on trees outside the forests. March 22 - World Water Day

● About focusing attention on the importance of water.

The idea goes back to 1992, the year of United Nations Conference on This year’s theme :‘Water and Environment and Development in Rio Climate Change’ de Janeiro. March 23 - Shaheed Diwas or Martyr’s Day

● On 23 March 1931, three Indian freedom fighters namely , , and were hanged by the British rulers in jail in the Lahore conspiracy case.

To commemorate the courage and heroism Why ? of three great young leaders Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. March 24: World Tuberculosis Day

● The idea was proposed by International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD). Theme (2020) : It’s Time ● To Scale up prevention and Why this day? treatments ● Discovery of the bacterium ● To build accountability causing Tuberculosis was ● To build financial announced by Dr Robert sustainability towards Koch on this day. research ● To put an end to discrimination and stigma Earth Hour- • The event was first started from 2007 in Sydney, Australia. • The main aim of the marking Earth Hour is to call attention towards global warming, loss of biodiversity and climate change. • During the one-hour campaign, businesses and people all over the world switch off unnecessary lights and electronic items between 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM. • The Earth Hour is held ever year on the last Saturday of March. • It was Started by WWF and partners