Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
American actor-singer Kenny Rogers recently passed away at the age of 81. He was a three-time Grammy-winning singer.
The singer was famous for various genres of his music albums including jazz, folk, country and pop. Some of his popular musical works includes ‘Lucille,’ ‘Lady’ and ‘Islands in the Stream’. He was celebrated as a Superstar by his fans during 1970’s and 80’s.

Notes:
The Cabinet recently approved the relaunch of a scheme called ‘Bulk drug park scheme’. The approval aims to set up three bulk drug parks and four medical device parks for a total outlay of ₹3,400 crore over the next five years.
Under the bulk drug park scheme, the government will give grant to states with a maximum limit of ₹1,000 crore per bulk drug park, up to ₹3,000 crore in total. A similar scheme has been launched for medical devices, with a maximum grant of ₹100 crore per park.

Notes:
The United States announced that it has successfully tested a hypersonic missile on March 20, 2020. This is a follow-up exercise of the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment conducted in 2017.
The hypersonic missile can travel faster than the current nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles. They travel at low altitudes and switch direction in flight and as they do not follow a predictable arc like traditional missiles, it is harder to track and intercept them.

Notes:
International ratings agency S&P Global Ratings has recently estimated the cost of COVID-19 outbreak for 14 Asia-Pacific countries at $620 billion.
Though a country-wise break-up was not provided for its estimate, it said that the total and permanent income loss will affect the balance-sheets of government, banks, corporates and households. Last week, S&P cut India’s growth rate to 5.2% in 2020-21.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently announced various relief measures amid lock-down of the country due to coronavirus scare.
As per the measures, the deadline for filing belated income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2018-19 and for filing goods and services tax (GST) returns for March, April and May has been extended to June 30, 2020. She also announced waiver of minimum balance maintenance charge and ATM withdrawal charge for next 3 months. Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme has been extended from April 1 to June 30.

Notes:
During the International Olympic Committee’s session in Peru, Paris was selected as the host of 2024 Summer Olympics. It also simultaneously selected Los Angeles to host the games in 2028.
Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was scheduled for July 24-August 9, has been postponed and would be held before the summer of 2021, as per the recent announcement from the International Olympic Committee. Paris Olympics organisers notified that this delay will not affect the 2024 games.

Notes:
The government recently approved to continue the scheme for Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) on export of garments beyond March 31.
It is to be continued till it is merged with the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products scheme (RoDTEP), which was introduced in last September. By continuing RoSCTL scheme, all taxes and levies in the textile sector which are not rebated under other mechanisms will be rebated.

Notes:
Renowned photographer Nemai Ghosh passed away recently at Kolkata at the age of 86. He was known for his long and close association with the legendary film-maker Satyajit Ray.
He worked in several movies of Satyajit Ray as a still photographer. Associated in the photography field for nearly 50 years, he was also the recipient of the Padma Shri award in 2010. He was the author of several books including ‘Satyajit Ray at 70’, ‘Satyajit Ray: A Vision of Cinema’ and ‘Manik-Da: Memories of Satyajit Ray’.

Notes:
Under the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, those drugs classified under Schedule H1 should not be sold over the counter. The schedule was introduced in the year 2013.
Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommended the drug for front line medical workers and high risk-people who were in contact with the coronavirus infected patient. As common people rushed to buy this medicine in large numbers, there were reports of hoarding and shortage of this medicine.

Notes:
National Book Trust of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has launched a campaign called ‘StayHomeIndiaWithBooks’, to encourage people to stay home amid the Covid 19 pandemic.
As a part of this initiative, NBT is making its select and best-selling books available for free Download. More than 100 books are made available in PDF format and can be downloaded from the website of NBT.