Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
As per the recent data of the Government, Expenditure under MNREGA during 2017-18 to 2019-20 was Rs 1.83 lakh crore.
When compared to 2011-12 to 2013-14 period, the expenditure on MNREGA almost doubled to Rs 1.83 lakh crore from Rs 92,483 in the former period. It was also announced that 526.97 lakh households were provided employment in the current fiscal through the scheme.

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:
India has appealed against the closure of Ambedkar House memorial to the United Kingdom government. Recently the UK accepted the proposal and announced that the memorial in in north London will remain open to visitors.
Earlier, the memorial faced closure due to a breach of planning norms for residential area. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar lived in 1921-22 when he was studying at London School of Economics in Camden. The home was bought by the Maharashtra government and it was renovated into a memorial.

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:
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:
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:
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 Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Ravinder Singh Dhillon as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) Limited.
It is a Navratna PSU which functions under the aegis of Ministry of Power. Ravinder Singh Dhillon is currently serving as Director (Projects) in the same PSU. He had also served as Director (Public Grievances) in PFC earlier.

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.