Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
The Department of Posts has introduced a free digital parcel locker service for the first time in India in Kolkata in the New Town and Nabadiganta IT Post Offices.
Under the service, customers collect their consignment from specified post offices at their convenience. People who cannot receive the parcel during the working hours can collect the parcel within seven days by using the OTP number sent to them through an SMS.

Notes:
Rajesh Chaplot, who received the highest Civilian Award (Golden Jubilee Medal-Civilians) of Uganda, is a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) businessman, hailing from Rajasthan.
The award was presented by the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni in a ceremony held in Kampala. The award is presented to him for his contribution towards developing India – Uganda ties through Business and Commerce. He was also a recipient of Pravasi Bharathiya Samman award.

Notes:
The US Congress approved a resolution to restrain the US President Donald Trump from attacking Iran. The House of Representatives joined the Senate in support of the resolution.
As per the resolution, no military action shall be taken against Iran without an explicit vote from the Congress. Earlier, a rocket fired on a military base north of Baghdad killed an American soldier, a British soldier and a US contractor. In January 2020, Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Iran’s military general, Qassem Soleimani, at the Baghdad airport of Iraq.

Notes:
Union Consumer Affairs Ministry announced that the government has declared face masks and hand sanitizers as essential commodities up to June 30, 2020, by amending the schedule of the Essential Commodities Act 1955.
This decision will enable the government and States/Union Territories to regulate the production, quality and distribution of masks and hand sanitizers. Hence these commodities would be made available to all common citizens in affordable prices without hoarding and black-marketing.

Notes:
All the states and union territories of India are advised by the government to invoke the provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act 1897. This Section empowers state governments/UTs to take special measures and formulate regulations to control any outbreak.
The 123-year old act also includes the detention of people or any vessel that come from international shores and are probable to spread the epidemic in the country. According to reports, the Act was invoked in 2018 to contain the spread of cholera in a village in Gujarat.

Notes:
The Saurashtra cricket team led by an inspiring skipper Jaydev Unadkat recently won the maiden Ranji trophy of the team.
At the final clash on the fifth and final day at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot, the team stopped Bengal cricket team from clinching the trophy. There were several outstanding performers in the tournament including Arpita Vasavada, who scored a hundred in both semi-final and final, all-rounder Chirag Jani and Sheldon Jackson, who scored over 800 runs for the second successive season.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has recently approved the proposal of Department of fertilizers to remove ambiguities in the Modified New Pricing Scheme -III (NPS-III) in determining the fixed costs for the urea units.
The Modified NPS-III was notified on 2nd April, 2014 but it has not been implemented. This approval will result in providing a grant of additional fixed cost of Rs 350 per tonne to 30 urea manufacturing units and will reduce import dependency.

Notes:
The US President Donald Trump recently announced that tech giant Google is engaged in the process of developing a website to help with coronavirus test.
He also revealed that more than 1700 engineers are working on the project to develop the website. It will determine whether a test is necessary and will also enable testing at a convenient location nearby. Donald Trump also declared national emergency in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

Notes:
Renowned poet and Malayalam scholar Puthussery Ramachandran recently passed away at the age of 91. He played an instrumental role in making Malayalam getting recognised as a classical language by the union government in 2013.
Ramachandran has won several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi award, the Ezhuthachchan Puraskaaram in 2015, Kerala Sahitya Akademi award among others. He was also associated with the Communist movement of Kerala.

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.