Monthly Current TitleAffairs Capsule & Quiz March 2020 Title The month-long Ekushey book fair ended in Dhaka. Large crowds gathered at the exhibition ground in Dhaka to visit the fair and buy books on the concluding day of the largest and longest book fair of Bangladesh. US, Taliban sign peace deal for phased Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had withdrawal of American troops from inaugurated the book fair on February 2. Afghanistan The organising committee of the book fair said that this year a total of 4919 new titles were released. Kotha Prakash publications received the Chittaranjan Saha Memorial Award for publishing the highest number of quality books. On the birth centenary year of the country's founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Bangabandhu, this year’s fair The US signed a historic peace deal with the was dedicated to him. Taliban in Doha to end America’s presence in Afghanistan in a phased manner. Training of Nepal’s Judicial Officers begins in India India attended the historic event as Observer. India has been an important stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. The landmark peace deal will see a phased withdrawal of thousands of US soldiers from Afghanistan. It was more than 18 years ago that the United States had ordered an attack on the Judicial Officers from Supreme Court of Nepal have Taliban following the tragic 9/11 happening started their training program at the National Law in America. University, Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Ahead of the signing of the deal, the US and the Taliban had agreed to a seven-day The first batch of 30 Judicial Officers will be cooling-off period which passed off trained on “Case Management and Court peacefully. Management“. The course on “Case Management and Court Month long Ekushey book fair ends in Dhaka Management” tailored for the Nepalese judicial officers is fully backed by the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs’ Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme. Prime minister of Nepal: KP Sharma Oli President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari Capital of Nepal: Kathmandu Currency: Nepalese rupee World Wildlife Day: 03 March Russian and Polish firms were also in the race to bad the mega-deal. The deal is for supplying four Swathi weapon locating radars developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to Armenia in Europe. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claims victory in general elections World Wildlife Day, also known as WWD, is celebrated annually across the world on 03 March. The aim of World Wildlife Day is to acknowledge the importance of wildlife species in maintaining the ecological balance on earth. It also aims to create awareness among humans about the importance of wildlife and tries to curb the various dangers directed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has towards the flora and fauna. claimed victory in the general elections held. The theme for World Wildlife Day 2020 will be “Sustaining All Life on Earth” With 90% of votes counted, his Likud party and its right-wing allies were on course to India beats Poland And Russia to $40 million win 59 seats. defence deal with Armenia This election was Israel's third in less than a year. Neither of the two main party leaders was able to command a majority in the 120-seat parliament following the last two rounds. Mr Netanyahu, 70, is Israel's longest-serving prime minister. He is seeking a record fifth term, having been in office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009. In a major win, India has managed to bag a $40 Israel parliament: Knesset Million defence export deal. Luxembourg becomes first country to make public transport free Under the $40 Million contract, India is required to supply four Swathi weapons- locating radars. The radars provide fast, automatic, and accurate location of enemy weapons like mortars, shells, and rockets in its 50-km range. It can also simultaneously handle multiple projectiles fired from different weapons at different locations. Luxembourg has become the first country with a free Bangladesh was mandated to lead Trade, public transport system, with all fares for trams, Investment and Development, Bhutan – trains and buses abolished as of February 29 2020. Environment and Climate Change, Myanmar – Agriculture and Food Security, India – The one exception is first-class train travel, Security (Counter Terrorism and which will cost £2.60 (€3) per journey. Transnational Crime, Disaster Management The scheme was originally announced in & Energy), Nepal – People to people contact 2018, with a summer 2019 launch planned, (culture, tourism, forums of Think Thanks, but delays pushed the move back to this year. Media etc) and Thailand – Connectivity. Luxembourg has just over 600,000 inhabitants, but 214,000 more travel in for Google announces its plans to open Delhi Cloud work every day from neighbouring Germany, Region Belgium and France, causing heavy traffic jams as the majority of workers commute by car. Points to Remember Luxembourg Capital: Luxembourg Currency: Euro Google announced its plans to open a Delhi Cloud Sri Lanka to lead science, technology and Region. innovation sector in BIMSTEC This will be the company's second cloud region in India since it launched one in Mumbai three years ago in 2017. The new cloud region will expand Google's existing network which stands at 8 regions in the Asia Pacific and 22 regions globally. Google cloud regions bring Google Cloud Platform services to global organisations in Sri Lanka will lead the science, technology and industries like media and entertainment, innovation sector in the BIMSTEC and a facility for retail and manufacturing. technology transfer is planned to be opened in the Projected to be launched in 2021, the Delhi future. cloud region will have three zones to protect against service disruptions. This was agreed during the 20th Session of the senior officials’ meeting chaired by Sri India, US sign Rs 1200 crore deal for protection Lankan Foreign Secretary Ravinatha system of new VVIP aircraft Aryasinha in Colombo. Sri Lanka,will also appoint a Director to the India and the United States have signed a Rs 1200 BIMSTEC secretariat in June. crore deal for acquiring missile protection suites for Sri Lanka is mandated to lead the sector on the new Boeing VVIP planes that India is acquiring Science, Technology and Innovation under for the President and the Prime Minister. which cooperation in Technology, health and human resource development is also The new aircraft will be used for both included. international and domestic visits of the President and Prime Minister. The missile protection suites on the two Boeing-777 Extended Range planes will provide it the capability to fend off any missile attacks. A new 28-acre facility will also be created at the Indira Gandhi International Airport for housing the new Boeing 777 aircraft. The aircraft will be flown by Indian Air Force pilots who are getting trained in India by Air Sri Lanka will host the next Bay of Bengal Initiative India which already operates the Boeing 777 for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic in its fleet. Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in September this The two planes are expected to arrive in India year. by the middle of 2020 to begin the VVIP duties. Sri Lanka is the Chair of BIMSTEC from 2018 to 2020. International Women's Day: 08 March Under the rationalizing of the sector, Sri Lanka will be the lead country for Science, Technology and Innovation. Bangladesh will lead Trade and Investment, Bhutan on Environment and Climate Change, Myanmar on Agriculture and Food Security, India on Security, Nepal on People-to-People Contact and Thailand on Connectivity. Sri Lanka will lead the science, technology International Women's Day is celebrated on the 8th and innovation sector in the BIMSTEC and a of March every year to help forge a gender equal facility for technology transfer is planned to world, celebrate women's achievements and be opened in the future. increasing visibility. World Health Organization declares Covid-19 as The theme this year is “I am Generation a pandemic Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights". Women world over are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, and are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative in 2015 to ensure survival, protection and empowerment of the girl child. The objectives of this initiative are to prevent World Health Organization (WHO) has of gender biased sex selective elimination, characterised the new coronavirus outbreak as a and to ensure survival and protection of the pandemic. girl child. After the launch of the scheme, the sex ratio WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at birth has improved from 923 to 931. told reporters in Geneva that he is alarmed by the spread and severity of the outbreak, Sri Lanka to host 5th BIMSTEC Summit in along with a lack of action taken to combat September it. WHO chief said the number of cases and Celebrating the day is a chance to demand deaths are likely to rise in the coming days that the rights of all consumers are respected and weeks. and protected and to protest against market UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged world abuses and social injustices which undermine governments to urgently scale up their those rights. response to the novel coronavirus if they are Government has taken various steps to to stand a chance of stemming its spread. protect the rights of the consumers and early The declaration of a coronavirus outbreak as redressal of their grievances. a pandemic is a call to action - for everyone, Consumer Affairs Ministry is also running everywhere.