Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
The ‘11th Bengaluru INDIA Nano conference and exhibition’ was recently organised by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), in association with other state-owned Institutions and industries.
It was inaugurated by the veteran scientist Professor CNR Rao. The three-day event showcased technologies and products developed by academic institutions and companies in nanotechnology.

Notes:
The state government of Haryana has declared the contagious coronavirus infection an epidemic.
As many as 270 isolation wards with 1200 beds have been set up in government and private hospitals to deal with any contingency related to the outbreak. The state government has also issued several regulations under ‘The Haryana Epidemic Disease, COVID-19 Regulations, 2020’, to control the spread of the virus.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved the Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP). It is a scheme for exporters to reimburse taxes and duties paid, like value added tax, coal cess and electricity duties which are not exempted or refunded under existing mechanism.
Last year, the RoDTEP scheme was announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore, to incentivise exporters. It will replace the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) which will be phased out.

Notes:
The 1952 javelin champion of Helsinki Olympics, Dana Zatopkova recently passed away at the age of 97. She belonged to and represented Czech Republic.
Her husband Emil Zatopek is also a four-time Olympic running champion. Zatopkova also won the Olympic silver in Rome in 1960. In 1958, the champion set the world record of 55.73 metres at the age of 35. She also became the European champion in 1954 and 1958.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement from Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh, there shall be a common eligibility test (CET) from 2021 for applicants for jobs in railways, banks and lower levels of Central government jobs.
The Centre is to set up an autonomous National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to conduct this online test. The CET is expected to replace the first level tests conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).

Notes:
In the recently concluded All England Open Badminton Championships, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen won his first singles title. He defeated Taiwanese top seed Chou Tien-chen in straight sets in the summit clash. Last year, Axelsen was the runner-up in the tournament after losing to Kento Momota.
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying is the women’s champion for the third time in four years, after defeating Chinese world number one Chen Yu Fei.

Notes:
E-commerce firm Flipkart recently partnered with Aegon Life Insurance, to sell wide-ranging insurance solutions.
It aims to provide solutions for customers who are looking for instant digital policies with a sum assured of up to Rs 10 lakh. This agreement is aimed at making life insurance available to customers in a convenient and transparent manner.

Notes:
The former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi has been nominated to Rajya Sabha by the President Ram Nath Kovind, as per the notification of the Union Home Ministry
The nomination is done to fill the vacancy arising due to retirement of one of the members. The maximum strength of Rajya Sabha is 250 members out of which 12 are nominated by the President of India. Gogoi was the 46th Chief Justice in India and was known for his several landmark judgments.

Notes:
The Central bank of the United States-the Federal Reserve has recently cut its benchmark interest rate to almost zero.
The Fed Reserve also announced that it would buy $700 billion in bonds to ease the economic activities. The bank also said that it shall maintain this target range until the economy is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goal.

Notes:
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Bangabandhu was the Founder President of independent nation of Bangladesh. He led the movement against the Pakistani rulers in the then East Pakistan, which led to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.
His birth centenary was celebrated on March 17, this year in Bangladesh and across the world. The year-long celebration has been named as ‘Mujib Barsho’.