1. ECONOMY 1. Coronavirus: Impact on Trade 06 2. Pushing the Wrong Energy Buttons 08 3. RBI Guidelines to Regulate Payment Aggregators and Gateways 10 4. RBI to Infuse Rs. 10,000 Crore via OMO 11 5. Economic Relief Measures to Tackle Coronavirus Outbreak 13 6. RBI cuts Rates, Allows Loan Moratorium 14 7. Lockdown and the Agri Sector 16 1.1 ECONOMY SNIPPETS 1. Ajodhya Hills Hydel Project 18 2. Star Labelling Programme 18 3. Crop Diversification Programme (CDP) 19 4. Bhoomi Rashi Portal 20 5. Hubballi-Ankola Railway Link Project 21 6. Flexi Fare System 21 7. Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme 22 8. Government Raises Excise Duty Cap on Fuel 23 9. Teesta River 24 10. Invest India Business Immunity Platform 25 11. Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective 25 2. ENVIRONMENT 1. E-Waste Recycling has Doubled, says Centre 27 2. New Paddy Variety – “Sahyadri Megha” 29 3. Olive Ridley goes for daytime Nesting after 7 Years 30 4. Protecting peatlands can Help Attain Climate Goals 31 2.1. ENVIRONMENT SNIPPETS 1. Gir National Park 33 2. Fishing Cat and Otters 34 3. Whale Shark 35 4. Red Crowned Roofed Turtle 35 5. World Wildlife Day 36 6. Red Panda (Ailurus Fulgens) 36 7. Polar vortex and India’s Weather 37 8. White Giraffe 38 9. Hubli-Ankola Railway Line Project 38 10. Smallest Dinosaur 39 www.iasgatewayy.comwww. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com Daily044 Current-26265326/988442166 Affairs | Monthly Magazines6/9884472636 | Online Tests 1 | P a g e 11. Krishna Raja Sagar Dam 40 12. Zoji La 41 13. Radioactive Dumping in Fukushima 41 14. Uranium Contamination in Ground Water 42 15. GreenCo Rating System 43 16. Fish Fossil 44 17. Wild Berry of Assam 44 18. Carissa carandas (the Great Hedge of India) 45 19. Ozone Layer Healing 46 20. Microbes Beneath Ocean Floor 46 21. Legacy Waste 47 22. ‘Rapid Test’ to Identify COVID-19 Exposure 48 3. POLITY & GOVERNANCE 1. Sedition Cases – A Hindrance for Right to Dissent 50 2. Curative Petition 51 3. Supreme Court Ruling on Cryptocurrency 53 4. Godavari Cauvery Interlinking Project 54 5. Court Documents Accessibility to Third-party 56 6. Cabinet approves Companies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 57 7. Mines and Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill 58 8. Status of Government Schools in India 60 9. Epidemic Diseases Act 61 10. Revocation of Suspension of MPs in Lok Sabha 63 11. IBC (Amendment) Bill, 2020 65 12. Rajya Sabha nod for Vivad Se Vishwas Bill 67 13. Information Technology (IT) Act 69 14. National Clean Air Programme 71 15. Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 72 16. Maharashtra Tops in Organ Donation 74 17. Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 76 18. Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram 77 19. Supreme Court Invokes Special Powers in Defection Case 78 20. The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 80 21. Setting Up of National Technical Textile Mission 82 22. Land Encroachment & Religion 83 23. Large-scale Electronics Manufacturing in India 85 www.iasgatewayy.comwww. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com Daily044 Current-26265326/988442166 Affairs | Monthly Magazines6/9884472636 | Online Tests 2 | P a g e 24. Elections to 18 Rajya Sabha Polls Deferred due to Pandemic 87 25. Aircraft Amendment Bill, 2020 89 26. Section 188 IPC 90 27. MSP for Minor Forest Produce 91 28. Relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 93 29. “Operation Namaste” of Indian Army 95 30. Cantonment Boards Gear up to COVID-19 Challenge 96 3.1. POLITY & GOVERNANCE SNIPPETS 1. Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) 98 2. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference 2020 99 3. Dwar Praday Yojana (Door Delivery System) 99 4. National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) 100 5. ICGS Varad 101 6. Mission Purvodaya 102 7. Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 103 8. Apex body on River Linking 104 9. Solar Charkha Mission 105 10. Jeevan Kaushal Curriculum 106 11. North East Venture Fund 107 12. Open Data Portal 108 13. KIRAN-Women Scientist Scheme 108 14. Conference on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs 2020 109 15. New Textile Policy – 2020 110 16. Centre has decided to Increase Manpower at SFIO 111 17. Cri-MAC & NCTC 111 18. Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) 112 19. Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 113 20. Market Intelligence and Early Warning System (MIEWS) Web Portal 114 21. National Creche Scheme 115 22. Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 115 23. Uncertainity over NPR 116 24. Ibuprofen and COVID-19 117 25. National Commission for Homoeopathy Medicine Bill 2019 118 26. Indira Gandhi Matritva Poshan Yojana 119 27. National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019 119 28. AYUSH Health and Wellness Centre (AYUSH HWC) 120 www.iasgatewayy.comwww. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com Daily044 Current-26265326/988442166 Affairs | Monthly Magazines6/9884472636 | Online Tests 3 | P a g e 29. Domestic Manufacturing of Medical Devices 121 30. Digital e-Learning Platforms 121 31. Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) 122 32. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) 123 33. Telemedicine Guidelines 123 34. District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Funds 124 35. Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) 125 36. COVID-19 National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC) 125 37. Employees Provident Fund Scheme, 2020 126 4. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 1. National Interlinking of Rivers Authority 128 2. COVID-19 now a Pandemic, says WHO 130 3. Curing HIV Using Stem Cell Therapy 132 4. South India's Vulture 133 5. Bird Flu - Avian Influenza 134 4.1 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY SNIPPETS 1. RaIDer-X 136 2. Rare Disease Day 136 3. MILAN 2020 137 4. ICONSAT 2020 137 5. Solar Cycle/ Cycle 25 139 6. Kyasanur Forest Disease 140 7. ARI-516-Hybrid Variety of Grapes 141 8. Herd Immunity 142 9. SEPSIS 142 10. ExoMars 143 11. Superhydrophobic Coating 144 12. ISRO’s Assistance in Fishing 145 13. Tejas Aircraft 146 14. Hydroxychloroquinine for COVID-19 Treatment 146 15. ANOSMIA – AGEUSIA 147 16. New signs of COVID-19 - Anosmia and Ageusia 147 17. Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) 148 18. Laser Surface Micro-Texturing 149 19. Red Flag- US 149 20. NASA’s Mission to study Giant Solar Particle Storms 150 www.iasgatewayy.comwww. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com Daily044 Current-26265326/988442166 Affairs | Monthly Magazines6/9884472636 | Online Tests 4 | P a g e 5. ART AND CULTURE & MISCELLANEOUS 1. #SheInspiresUs 151 5.1 ART AND CULTURE & MISCELLANEOUS SNIPPETS 1. Lesbos 153 2. Gairsain 153 3. Attukal Pongala Festival 154 4. Pyramid of Djoser 155 5. Chaitra Jatra Festival 156 6. Yakshagana 156 7. Lockdown: Arr-Rinam 156 8. Gond Tribals 157 6. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. India Invited for US-Taliban Talks in Qatar 158 2. India is host to 457 Migratory Fauna, says CMS 159 3. USA-Taliban Peace Deal 161 4. Nominations for World Heritage List for the year 2020 164 5. Visit of UN Delegation on Palestine to India 167 6. ICC probe on Afghanistan Alleged War Crimes 169 7. Foreigners Tribunals 171 8. ODF+ and ODF++ 172 9. India Not Obligated to implement WTO’s Dispute Panel 173 10. UN World Happiness Report- 2020 174 11. Controlling COVID-19 through South Korean Model 175 6.1. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SNIPPETS 1. Indian Ocean Commission 176 2. Gender Social Norms Index 177 3. Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit 178 4. Biological Weapons Convention 179 5. VIX (Volatility Index) 180 www.iasgatewayy.comwww. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com Daily044 Current-26265326/988442166 Affairs | Monthly Magazines6/9884472636 | Online Tests 5 | P a g e 1. ECONOMY 1. Coronavirus: Impact on Trade Context: • Recently, the OECD in its Interim Economic Outlook, has warned that the coronavirus presents "greatest danger" to the world economy since the times of the financial crisis. Businesses are dealing with lost revenue and disrupted supply chains due to China’s factory shutdowns, lockdown in dozens of cities and other countries extending travel restrictions. Impact on Trade and Commerce: • With many companies and countries depending on the health of China’s economy, here are a few ways the outbreak is sending ripples around the world. • Predicted slump ✓ China is the world’s second-largest economy and leading trading nation, so economic fallout from coronavirus also threatens global growth. ✓ Experts predicted China's economic growth to slump to 4.5% in the first quarter of 2020, down from 6% in the previous quarter – the slowest pace since the financial crisis. However, the economists were optimistic China’s economy would recover quickly if the virus could be contained. • Falling oil demand ✓ China is the world’s biggest oil importer. ✓ With coronavirus hitting manufacturing and travel, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted the first drop in global oil demand in a decade. • Disruption to Commerce ✓ The shortage of products and parts from China is affecting companies around the world. Apple’s manufacturing partner in China, Foxconn, is facing a production delay. Some carmakers including Nissan and Hyundai temporarily closed factories outside China because they couldn’t get parts. ✓ The pharmaceutical industry is also bracing for disruption to global production. ✓ Many trade shows and sporting events in China, Asia and across the world have been cancelled or postponed. • Travel and Tourism ✓ The travel and tourism industries were hit early on by economic disruption from the outbreak. www.iasgatewayy.comwww. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com Daily044 Current-26265326/988442166 Affairs | Monthly Magazines6/9884472636 | Online Tests 6 | P a g e ✓ Global airline revenues are expected to fall by $4-5 billion in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of flight cancellations, according to a report from the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ✓ ICAO also forecasts that Japan could lose $1.29 billion of tourism revenue in the first quarter due to the drop in Chinese travellers while Thailand could lose $1.15 billion.