Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

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:
Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who recently sworn in, is the first female president of Greece. She was a former High court judge.
Before two months, she was unanimously elected as the President of the country by the Greece Parliament. The swearing-in ceremony took place before selected lawmakers and journalists without public participation, as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Notes:
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the founder of e-commerce major Alibaba Group, Jack Ma gained the top position in Asia, replacing Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Mukesh Ambani gave up $5.8 billion from his net worth due to the recent freefall in oil prices. The severe impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and the recent crash in the oil markets made him follow the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. Ambani’s current net worth amounts to $41.8 billion whereas that of Jack Ma amounts to $44.5 billion.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has approved the Khatua panel’s recommendation to slash the fare prices of auto-rickshaws by 15 per cent between 12 pm and 4 pm.
This discount in fare is called as implementation of “happy hour” for auto-rickshaws by the state government. However, this is not applicable to app-based taxis and local cabs. This will help the senior citizens of the state but the auto-rickshaw unions expressed their displeasure at the government’s step.

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:
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:
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 37-year-old Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal recently won the ITTF Challenger plus Oman Open held in Muscat. Sharath Kamal beat top-seeded Portugal’s Marcos Freitas in the final.
This was his international title after 2010 when Sharath had bagged at Egypt Open. Sharath is the only Indian paddler to become Senior National Champion for nine times. He was presented with the prestigious ‘Padma Shri’ award in 2019.

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:
Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, have developed a material called ‘Hemostat’.
It is a starch-based ‘hemostat’ developed to stop rapid blood loss during accidents, as it physically absorbs excess fluid and concentrates the natural clotting factors in blood. The product possesses increased absorption capacity, improved absorption, inexpensive and biodegradable.