Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Russia recently announced that the country will create a $4 billion (300-billion rouble) anti-crisis fund with an aim of protecting its economy from the coronavirus attack.
He also announced that Russia may miss its growth targets this year and international markets have been crashed by the impact of the virus. Huge drop in the price of Russia’s main export, Oil has made its economy dip and made its currency rouble being pegged at four-year lows against the dollar. The country is set to unveil new support measures would include tax breaks for tourism companies and airlines.

Notes:
As per the recent information from the Union Defence Ministry, the share of Indian companies in contracts awarded by the Union Defence Ministry for procurement of defence equipment is 75.03 per cent in 2019-20.
The share has increased from 39.06 per cent in 2015-16 to 75.03 per cent in 2019-20 as the Ministry tries to procure indigenously manufactured equipment to the maximum extent. In the last five years 158 contracts were signed with Indian vendors against 100 foreign contracts.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has recently launched a re-skilling programme for women called ‘Career Back 2 Women’.
The programme aims at offering 150 hours of training to re-skill women who have taken a break from their career. The certification course comprises of artificial intelligence, machine learning, cyber security data science and big data. This programme is done through the Institute’s Digital Skills Academy.

Notes:
Phool Dei is the harvest festival celebrated in the state of Uttarakhand. The cultural festival is celebrated to mark the beginning of spring season.
It is usually celebrated in the month of Chaitra (March-April) in the Hindu calendar. The people of the state decorate their houses with flowers as a part of the celebration. Children shower flowers at the doorsteps of houses wishing prosperity.

Notes:
A bill that seeks to convert three existing regulatory bodies under the Civil Aviation Ministry into statutory bodies was passed by Lok Sabha. The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed by a voice vote and the bill seeks to amend Aircraft Act, 1934.
The regulatory institutions, which are mentioned in the bill are DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) and AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau).

Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) said that it will launch Swavalamban Express Train on June 5 this year for budding entrepreneurs.
The Swavalamban Express will travel to 11 cities covering 7,000 km in 15 days. This is a part of its umbrella mission Swavalamban. Under this mission, youths will board the train with an idea and they shall get down with effective business plan after a series of experimental learning

Notes:
Legendary India footballer P.K. Banerjee recently passed away at the age of 83. He was a member of the 1962 Asian Games gold-medal winning India football team.
The veteran football player scored 65 international goals in a total of 84 appearances for the national team. Banerjee represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and led India in the 1960 Rome Olympics. The international governing body of Football game, FIFA awarded him the Centennial Order of Merit in 2004.

Notes:
Fitch Ratings has recently cut India growth forecast to 5.1 per cent for FY 2020-21. Fitch had projected India to grow at 5.6 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.5 per cent in the following year, in its previous report released in December 2019.
In its Global Economic Outlook 2020, Fitch also estimated that India will witness increased number of people affected by coronavirus, in the coming weeks. It also announced that the outbreak will remain contained amidst the downside risks to this scenario.

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 Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is to organise the first Global AI Summit in India (RAISE 2020).
This was in news recently, as the AI summit was postponed to October 5-6, 2020 due to the rising number of cases of Covid-19. It was initially scheduled to be held in the month of April. The summit is to be attended by academics, AI start-ups and big tech firms.