Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
Veteran journalist Patil Puttappa who was fondly known as Papu, passed away recently at the age of 99. He was an ardent follower of Gandhian principles and a Khadi activist.
Patil Puttappa had also served as a former Rajya Sabha member. He remained as a strong representative of Kannada and had received several prestigious awards including the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, T.S.R. Award, and “Nadoja’. He had recently been presented the ‘Basava Award’ by the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Notes:
Microsoft India and NASSCOM Foundation partnered to launch the ‘Innovate for Accessible India’ campaign. The campaign aims at empowering people with disabilities with the technology required for better access to equal opportunities.
The campaign invites applications from students, citizens and social organisations to build customised solutions that address challenges faced by people with disabilities. The ten best solutions will be provided mentoring support by Microsoft and NASSCOM Foundation, along with financial grants.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is conducting Open Market Operations (OMO) in the form of purchase of Rs 10,000 crore worth government securities.
This important step of the central bank has been announced at the backdrop of the increased risks of COVID-19 pandemic. The operation would increase the liquidity in the Indian economy and would help the financial market segments which are affected by the economic risks.

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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his public address, announced the setting up of a COVID-19 economic response task force.
The task force is to be headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, to measure the economic impact of the pandemic and take appropriate steps. The Finance Minister is set to meet the Ministers of animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, civil aviation, tourism and MSME, for getting feedback and assessing the economic impact of COVID-19.

Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) said that it will launch Swavalamban Express Train on June 5 this year for budding entrepreneurs.
The Swavalamban Express will travel to 11 cities covering 7,000 km in 15 days. This is a part of its umbrella mission Swavalamban. Under this mission, youths will board the train with an idea and they shall get down with effective business plan after a series of experimental learning

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:
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:
The Technical Advisory Committee of the National Supercomputing Mission (MSM-TAC) has approved the installation of a Supercomputing facility with 650 TFLOPS, at IIT Guwahati, Assam.
The installation of the supercomputing system has been started under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). It is co-ordinated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The mission is being implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

Notes:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has introduced an Artificial Intelligence (AI) bot, called ‘Clara’ to assist people in finding the potential symptoms of COVID-19.
The CDC has collaborated with CDC Foundation and Healthcare Bot service of Microsoft Azure to develop the self-checking bot Clara. It is currently available only in the United States on the CDC website. It provides information about the disease, suggests the course of action and helps to handle the illness at home.