Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
A passenger ferry service called ‘Ropax’ was launched between Mumbai and Mandwa of Maharashtra by the Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya.
The vessel which can carry as many as 200 cars and 1,000 passengers was built in Greece. The Ropax jetty and terminal at Mandwa has been built by Maharashtra Maritime Board while the jetty facilities at Mumbai were set up by Mumbai Port Trust.

Notes:
World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated every year on March 15 across the world to spread awareness about the rights and needs of a consumer. Several awareness programmes are held across the world on this day.
This year, the theme of the World Consumer Rights Day, according to the Consumers International organisation is – “Sustainable Consumer”. In India, 24th December is observed as National Consumer Day every year.

Notes:
The city of Kishangarh in Ajmer district of Rajasthan is called the ‘Marble city of India’. Recently the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) today flagged off the first-ever thrice-weekly flight from Indore to Kishangarh, under the RCS-UDAN scheme.
Star Air has been awarded the Indore-Kishangarh route during the UDAN 3 bidding process. With this route, the Civil Aviation Ministry has operationalised 268 routes under the UDAN scheme.

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:
Business application Khatabook entered into a strategic partnership with former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
M.S.Dhoni is set to invest in the firm and also serve as their brand ambassador. Khatabook is an application which helps MSMEs to streamline their business transactions online. The start-up firm has recently crossed 2 crore registered merchants on its app.

Notes:
The United Kingdom recently announced that it will start charging a 2% tax on digital services from 1st April this year.
The tax is to be imposed on revenue from digital services such as search and advertising. This tax will apply to firms with global sales of more than £500 million with at least £25 million from UK users. This decision of the government has been facing continuous opposition from the US government and top technological firms.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is conducting Open Market Operations (OMO) in the form of purchase of Rs 10,000 crore worth government securities.
This important step of the central bank has been announced at the backdrop of the increased risks of COVID-19 pandemic. The operation would increase the liquidity in the Indian economy and would help the financial market segments which are affected by the economic risks.

Notes:
Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about sparrows around the world. It highlights the huge decrease in population of the bird as the house sparrow is on the verge of extinction.
The initiative was started by the India-based Nature Forever Society (NFS), founded by the conservationist Mohammed Dilawar. The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated in 2010 across the globe.

Notes:
The World Happiness Report is published by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network. This year, the report has ranked Finland as the happiest country for the third time in a row.
People in 156 countries were asked to evaluate their own levels of happiness while measures like GDP, social support, personal freedom and levels of corruption were also considered to arrive at a score. This year, the rankings are based on data collected in 2017-2019. India is ranked 144 in the list of 156 countries.

Notes:
The International Day of Happiness is celebrated on March 20 all over the world. The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 20 March the International Day of Happiness in 2012.
The day is celebrated to highlight the relevance of happiness as universal goal in the lives of human beings and to reflect it in public policy objectives. The resolution to the United Nations was initiated by Bhutan, the country which adopted the goal of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product.