Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
Bengaluru-based Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) recently offered an indigenous multirole chopper to the Indian armed forces.
This new chopper is to replace its medium lift choppers such as MI-17s, Kamovs and Seakings. The company also announced that its Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) are ready for operational induction in the services.

Notes:
A national-level public health initiative, ‘Right To Protein’ has launched India’s first ‘Protein Day’ on February 27, 2020.
The day is observed to raise awareness about the nutritional benefits of protein. February 27 is celebrated as 1Protein Day by some other countries as well. This year, the theme of the day is selected as ‘Protein Mein Kya Hai?’, to create awareness about the protein consumption.

Notes:
The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is an array of radio telescopes, located in Pune. It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, under the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.
Recently, this is one of the four telescopes, through which the biggest explosion seen in the universe since the Big Bang, have recently been discovered. The newly discovered blast released five times more energy than the previous most massive explosion. The other telescopes are from NASA, Europe and Australia.

Notes:
Major General Dr. Madhuri Kanitkar is the first woman paediatrician to be elevated to the highest rank of Lieutenant General for Indian Army Doctors.
She is the former Dean of Armed Forces Medical College Pune and has been promoted to the second-highest rank of Lt. General in the Indian Army. She is also the only doctor on the Prime Minister’s STIAC (S&T) Innovation Advisory Committee.

Notes:
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recently launched “Suposhit Maa Abhiyan”, that aims to provide nutritional support to pregnant women and adolescent girls.
The scheme was launched in Kota, Rajasthan which is also the Speaker’s parliamentary constituency. Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani also attended the launch programme.

Notes:
The inaugural edition of the Khelo India University Games concluded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on March 1. The Panjab University was crowned as Champions with 17 Gold medals among a total of 46 medals.
The second position was bagged by the Savitribai Phule University, Pune with 37 overall medals. Punjabi University was placed in the third place. Famous athlete Dutee Chand set a new National University record in 100 m race and won the gold medal in both the 100m and the 200m races.

Notes:
Veteran athletics coach and Dronacharya awardee Joginder Singh Saini recently passed away at the age of 90.
He had served as the Chief national athletics coach for several years between 1970 and 1990. He had also been the chief coach of the then Amateur Athletics Federation of India. Saini received the prestigious Dronacharya Award in 1997 for his contribution to Indian athletics.

Notes:
World number one Novak Djokovic has recently won the Dubai Tennis Championships for the first time since 2013.
In the summit match of the men’s singles, the 32-year-old Serb star defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets and clinched the title. Novak has now won 21 matches consecutively. In 2010-11, he had won 43 matches consecutively.

Notes:
China-based consumer electronics firm and smartphone manufacturer OPPO recently announced its mutual fund platform named ‘KASH’.
The ‘OPPO Kash’ service, which will be pre-installed in all OPPO smartphones, will offer users to invest in mutual funds. The platform will also provide free credit reports, personal loans up to two lakh, business loans up to ₹2 crore and screen insurance.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Haryana recently announced during the budge session that the state government is to provide credit guarantee of loans for higher education, so that the students can avail loans without the collateral guarantee required by the banks.
The state has also created a separate Foreign Cooperation Department for the welfare of non-resident Indians and employment.