Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
Veteran Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched the National 6-Red Snooker Championship with a 7-3 win over Ishpreet Singh. It is the 34th national title overall for Advani.
The National 6-Red Snooker Championship was held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In the summit clash, Pankaj trailed 1-3 in the beginning but defeated the young cueist Ishpreet Singh of Maharashtra to claim his 34th title.

Notes:
‘Hola Mohalla’ is a festival celebrated annually in Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib by the people from the Sikh community.
The festival is usually celebrated on the second day of lunar month of Chet, which will follow the day of Holi festival. This year, the ‘Hola Mohalla’ festival fell on March 10. It is celebrated to symbolise martial bravery and fighting prowess with music.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the single borrower and group exposure limit for Urban cooperative banks (UCBs) to 15% and 25% of tier I capital, respectively.
This reduction in limit is to mitigate concentration risks arising out of large loans. Existing norms allowed 15% for single borrowers and 40% to group exposures of a bank’s total capital (tier I and tier II capital). The banks will have to bring their existing exposures to the new limits by 31 March 2023.

Notes:
The Cabinet has recently approved building 780-km Green National Highway project at a cost of Rs 7,660 crore. It includes upgradation of various National Highways in four states – Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
The aim of the ‘Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification & Maintenance) Policy’ is to promote greening of Highway corridors with participation of the community. 1% of the total project cost of all highway projects will be kept aside for highway plantation and its maintenance.

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 Uttar Pradesh Cabinet recently passed the ‘Recovery of Damage to Public Properties Ordinance 2020’ for recovery of losses caused by damage to public property during violent protests.
The decision which was taken in a cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath aims to prevent loss of public property in the state. The damages in the violence shall be recovered from the rioters, as per the ordinance. This comes at the backdrop of several violent protests in the state against Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Notes:
Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh recently launched two new schemes named “Chief Ministers Akhannaba Sanaroisingi Tengbang (CMAST)” and “Chief Ministergi Artiste Singgi Tengbang (CMAT)” with an outlay of Rs 7.36 crore and Rs.5.7 crore respectively.
The CMAST scheme aims to provide suitable government job to sportspersons who win medals in international events. Incentive to local clubs, cash awards to medal winners, assistance for purchasing sports items are also included. CMAT scheme aims to support artistes in performing arts, literary arts and visual arts.

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’.