Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
The first Indian-origin Finance Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak unveiled a 330-Billion Pound Rescue Package, which aims to help the businesses of the country to survive the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The £330 billion of loan guarantees will help them meet their day to day needs during the lock-down. He also extended a business rates holiday and cash grant to all businesses in the retail and hospitality sector for 12 months.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the validity of authorization issued to IT service management company Vakrangee, to setup, own and operate the White Label ATMs (WLA) in India.
The validity of authorization has been extended till 31 March 2021. RBI has assigned a target of minimum 1,000 ATMS to be deployed by Vakrangee for three years starting from 2020, with the stipulated ratio in Metro & Urban, Semi-Urban and Rural regions.

Notes:
Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has launched an initiative called ‘Tech for Tribals’ in partnership with Institutes of National Importance (INIs) to promote entrepreneurship among tribal people.
The initiative, which is supported by Ministry of MSME, aims to impart entrepreneurship skills to tribal forest produce gatherers who are enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri VanDhan Yojana (PMVDY). The programme will be conducted for 30 days.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is to organise the first Global AI Summit in India (RAISE 2020).
This was in news recently, as the AI summit was postponed to October 5-6, 2020 due to the rising number of cases of Covid-19. It was initially scheduled to be held in the month of April. The summit is to be attended by academics, AI start-ups and big tech firms.

Notes:
World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on March 21 every year, across the world. The United Nations General Assembly declared the day in the year 2011.
Down syndrome occurs when a person has an extra partial or whole copy of chromosome 21. The day is celebrated to raise public awareness of Down syndrome. On World Down Syndrome Day 2020, the forum-Down Syndrome International focuses on the theme “We Decide”.

Notes:
The birth anniversary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, was recently observed on March 23. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to the leader.
Ram Manohar Lohia was born on 23 March 1910 and was one of the founders of the Congress Socialist Party. He was also the editor of the Congress Socialist journal. He had also as the secretary of the Foreign Department of the All India Congress Committee (A.I.C.C)

Notes:
One of the founders of bacteriology, German physician Robert Koch, discovered the anthrax disease cycle and the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis and cholera. He received the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1905 for his research on tuberculosis. To commemorate the day of his discovery, World Tuberculosis day is being celebrated on March 24.
Government of India has committed to eliminate prevalence of TB by 2025, by formulating National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Tuberculosis Elimination (2017-2025) and campaigns like “TB Harega Desh Jeetega”.

Notes:
Hillel Furstenberg of Israel and Russian-American Gregory Margulis are the recipients of the prestigious Abel Prize for the year 2020, one of the highest awards in the field of Mathematics.
The two mathematicians were selected for introducing the use of methods from probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics. They were the first to use randomness to make the certainties of mathematics easily understandable by the people.

Notes:
Bollywood film-maker Zoya Akhter was presented the IIFTC Tourism Impact Award 2020, at the Asia’s largest film tourism event, 8th India International Film Tourism Conclave (IIFTC), held recently in Mumbai.
The Director was selected for her outstanding contribution to the world tourism through her films which were shot in Spain and Turkey.

Notes:
The United Nations has recently launched a USD 2 billion global humanitarian response plan to fund the poorest countries and help them fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
This global response plan is to be coordinated by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The plan will also integrate the existing appeals from the World Health Organisation and other UN partners. This fund is expected to provide laboratory supplies for testing to NGOs and medical equipment to protect health care workers.