Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
World Meteorological Day is celebrated on 23rd March of every year, which commemorates the inception of the Convention which established the World Meteorological Organization on the same day in 1950.
Since 1961, the Geneva headquartered World Meteorological Organization has been celebrating World Meteorological Day with a unique theme. “Climate and Water” is the theme of this year’s World Meteorological Day.

Notes:
The United Kingdom has been recently confirmed as the first co-chair of the Governing Council on the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). The Governing Council is the highest policy-making body of the CDRI, which is led by India.
In September 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 held in New York. It is a voluntary group which links governments, UN Agencies and other members in the field of climate change and disaster management.

Notes:
The national task force for COVID-19 constituted by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended hydroxy-chloroquine as a preventive drug for high-risk cases, who are infected by coronavirus.
The medication should be given to the asymptomatic healthcare workers, who are under high risk by serving the infected patients. It is also recommended to asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases. The protocol recommended by the National Task Force is approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for use in emergency situations.

Notes:
The country’s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) announced that it will provide 0.25% of its annual profit for the year 2019-20 to support health care for underprivileged people and fight the coronavirus pandemic.
As per the statement of the bank, the contribution will be made from CSR funds. The government has recently notified spending by companies for tackling the coronavirus outbreak as corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity under the Companies law. Recently SBI opened an emergency credit line to meet any liquidity mismatch for its borrowers.

Notes:
One of India’s leading private sector banks, IndusInd Bank has appointed Sumant Kathpalia as the Managing Director and CEO for a period of three years.
As the previous MD & CEO of the bank Romesh Sobti retired, after holding the top position for 12 years, this appointment has been approved. Sumant Kathpalia has more than three decades of experience in multi-national banks such as Citibank and Bank of America. He had previously served as the Head of Consumer Banking in the same bank.

Notes:
Invest India is India’s national Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency, which comes under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
It was seen in news recently as Invest India has launched the ‘Invest India Business Immunity Platform’. This platform is hosted on the Invest India website and it provides real-time updates on the latest initiatives of the government of India to tackle Covid-19.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently approved the signing and ratification of an extradition treaty between India and Belgium.
This ratification will enable the two countries to repatriate any person who is accused or convicted in an extraditable offence. An offence punishable under the laws of both the countries with imprisonment for one year or more is called an extraditable offence. The treaty would give a legal framework for extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals from and to Belgium.

Notes:
Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik launched ‘Mo Jeeban’ programme and advised people to take a pledge for staying indoors to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
The Chief Minister asked people to take oaths of staying indoors and send him those videos. He also asked the people to paste a sticker on the gate of their houses to show their determination to follow this direction.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the construction of 22 km-long railway flyover between Aligarh-Harduaganj in Uttar Pradesh.
The project entails an estimated cost of ₹1,285 crore to remove traffic jam in the area. This project is expected to curb the delays and detention of trains at Aligarh junction. The flyover project is expected to be completed by 2024-25.

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.