Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

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 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:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister of India has recently approved financial assistance to the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC2.0) Scheme.
The scheme aims at developing world class infrastructure along with common facilities and amenities through Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs). The scheme seeks to set up Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) and Common Facility Centers (CFCs). The total outlay of the EMC 2.0 Scheme is Rs. 3,762.25 crore.

Notes:
On the World Water Day, which falls on March 22, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that between 3.5 and 4.4 billion people in the world will live with limited access to water.
He also announced that out of the people with limited access, more than 1 billion of them would be in major cities. He revealed that the world’s water resources are under threat and 2.2 billion people and 4.2 billion people lack safe drinking water and sanitation facilities respectively.

Notes:
Debut novelist Ruchika Tomar has been selected as the winner of the 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel ‘A Prayer for Travelers’.
PEN America was founded in 1922, in New York City. The prize is backed by the Hemingway family and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. The PEN/Hemingway Award includes a $25,000 prize, which is proposed to allow significant time and resources to pursue a subsequent work of fiction.

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:
Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has set up a dedicated COVID-19 centre at Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai.
The 100 bedded hospital will serve patients, who are checked positive for COVID-19. It is fully funded by Reliance Foundation and has been set up in 2 weeks. It also includes a negative pressure room which prevents cross-contamination and controls infection.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has proposed two schemes including ₹148 crore project of Electric vehicle park and ₹500 crore project of Data centre park. The projects are aimed at attracting new investments into Tamil Nadu.
As per his announcement in the Assembly, the electric vehicle park will be set up at Manalur SIPCOT Industrial Estate near Chennai and the data centre park over a 150-acre site near Sriperumbudur. He also announced that a start-up and innovation city with all infrastructure facilities will be established near Chennai, at a cost of ₹350 crore to attract innovative and knowledge-based firms.

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 (CCEA) approved a Rs 1,340-crore recapitalisation plan for the weak regional rural banks (RRBs).
This recapitalisation will help them to improve their capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) during the financial year 2020-21, as they are stipulated to maintain a minimum CRAR of 9 per cent. The Centre and the respective sponsor banks provide the funds in the ratio 50:50, as they fund Rs. 670 Cr each.