Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
According to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the largest exporter of arms during the past five years (2015-2019) was the United States, whose exports grew by 23 per cent and share in global arms exports grew to 36 per cent. Half of US arms exports are reported to have gone to the Middle East.
It is followed by Russia, France, Germany and China in the next places. Arms transfers from Russia, decreased by 18 percent, largely due to a drop in sales to India. From 2015 to 2019, international arms exports grew by 5.5 per cent from the previous 5 years.

Notes:
The Necurs is a botnet and is one of the largest networks in the spam-mail threat system. It has infected more than nine million computers worldwide. Botnet means a computer network which is infected with malware, through which cyber criminals gain access to computers.
It was seen in news recently as Microsoft and its partners across 35 countries took legal and technical steps to disrupt Necurs botnet.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath recently announced that one ‘Arogya Mitra’ each is to be deputed at all Primary health centres in the state to inform people about health-related schemes of the government.
The Chief Minister also ‘Kaushal Satrang’ programme of the Department of Vocational Education and Skill Development and Department of Labour and Employment Exchange. The programme is aimed at generating employment and self-employment opportunities for the youth of the state.

Notes:
As per the recent data of the Government, Expenditure under MNREGA during 2017-18 to 2019-20 was Rs 1.83 lakh crore.
When compared to 2011-12 to 2013-14 period, the expenditure on MNREGA almost doubled to Rs 1.83 lakh crore from Rs 92,483 in the former period. It was also announced that 526.97 lakh households were provided employment in the current fiscal through the scheme.

Notes:
Mumbai headquartered IDFC FIRST Bank recently announced that it has appointed veteran Bollywood celebrity Amitabh Bachchan as its first ever brand ambassador.
The IDFC bank was originally founded in 2015. It was founded as a new entity after the merger of IDFC Bank and Capital First in December 2018. At present, the bank has 424 bank branches with 104 asset branches and 272 ATMs.

Notes:
The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has recently launched its new website to make information about new schemes and projects presented in a better manner to the stakeholders.
The newly launched website includes optimized user interface and facilitates better access from various devices including mobile phones. The website has additional portals such as ‘Akshay Urja Portal’ and ‘India Renewable Idea Exchange’ (IRIX).

Notes:
According to the findings of the Gender Social Norms Index report, released recently by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), no country in the world has achieved gender equality.
The report also revealed that the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030 and it would take 257 years to close the gender gap in economic opportunity. Pakistan tops a list of countries of people holding biased views against women.

Notes:
A meeting of the heads of countries of the SAARC alliance was held via video conferencing recently. Last time the leaders had a meeting together in November 2014.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi proposed a “Covid-19 emergency fund” to which India would provide $10 million as an initial contribution. He offered the services of a rapid response team of doctors armed with testing kits. The Prime Minister also offered online training for health workers in SAARC countries for upgrading skills to tackle Covid-19.

Notes:
The Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2019 is to be presented jointly to two debutant film-makers for the first time since 23 years of its inception.
Aditya Dhar for the Hindi film ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ and Madhu C. Narayanan for the Malayalam movie ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ are selected as the winners. Both the filmmakers will be awarded at a ceremony in Chennai. The award was established in 1998 after Gollapudi Srinivas, a young director, who passed away tragically.

Notes:
After the state government of Haryana requested to rename its village in Kurukshetra district, the centre has given approval for renaming.
The decision has been taken by the Union Home Ministry after getting formal approval and a No objection certificate from a few central organisations including Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts and Survey of India.