Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
The recent research of the fossil of a fish called Elpistostege watsoni has revealed the evolutionary origin of human hands.
After the research on the fossil of the fish, which was believed to be in today’s Canada about 380 million years ago, scientists have found the evolutionary origins. This research represents a crucial stage in the history of life on Earth especially the transition of fish to land vertebrates.

Notes:
Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about sparrows around the world. It highlights the huge decrease in population of the bird as the house sparrow is on the verge of extinction.
The initiative was started by the India-based Nature Forever Society (NFS), founded by the conservationist Mohammed Dilawar. The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated in 2010 across the globe.

Notes:
The World Happiness Report is published by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network. This year, the report has ranked Finland as the happiest country for the third time in a row.
People in 156 countries were asked to evaluate their own levels of happiness while measures like GDP, social support, personal freedom and levels of corruption were also considered to arrive at a score. This year, the rankings are based on data collected in 2017-2019. India is ranked 144 in the list of 156 countries.

Notes:
The Border Roads Organisation opened a 360 feet long suspension bridge over the Teesta river near Chungthang town in North Sikkim.
Under Project Swastik the project of construction of the bridge commenced in October 2019 and completed it in January 2020. The bridge is expected to promote tourism in the state. It also enables the movement of logistics for the Armed Forces easier.

Notes:
As per the Lok Sabha’s Rules of Procedure, A Finance Bill is a bill introduced every year to give effect to the financial proposals of the Government for the following financial year. It also includes a bill to give effect to supplementary financial proposals for any period. Recently the Lok Sabha has passed the Finance Bill by voice vote without discussion.
An important type of Finance Bill is called Money Bill, which is defined by the Article 110 of Indian constitution. They are certified by the speaker.

Notes:
Canada became the first major country to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics over coronavirus fears. Australia has also directed its athletes to prepare for the 2021 games, as it could not be held this year.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe has announced for the first time that the Olympic Games might get postponed. The International Olympic Committee is expected to decide about the schedule of the games soon, which had been planned to commence from July 24 this year.

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:
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:
Ratings Agency Moody’s Investors Service has slashed India’s 2020 growth forecast to 2.5% within three weeks of its previous downgrade to 5.3%.
According to the Global Macro Outlook 2020-21 recently released by Moody’s, the 21-day lockdown announced by the Indian Prime Minister will result in a sharp loss in incomes. Domestic demand and the pace of recovery are also expected to slow down. Earlier it had reduced the growth rate to 5.3% from 5.4%.

Notes:
The Government of India has launched a mobile application to track the risk of coronavirus infection called ‘Corona Kavach’.
The application is jointly developed by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It uses the person’s location to assess if they are in the high risk geographical zone. It is now available in beta version in the Google Play Store.