Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

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:
Senior leader of the Bharathiya Janata Party, Shivraj Singh Chauhan recently took oath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for the fourth time.
The leader had ruled the state for nearly thirteen years, before Kamal Nath won in the assembly elections in December 2018. Now Kamal Nath has resigned after 22 rebel MLAs who were the supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who recently joined BJP, resigned.

Notes:
America-based Heritage Foundation released its Index of Economic Freedom last week. Singapore emerged as the top nation in the index and overtook Hong Kong as the world’s most independent and free economy.
Singapore achieved this feat for the first time since 1995, the report was first published. Hong Kong has ever been placed at the top since then. India is ranked in 120th position in the report and It improved its score by 1.3 points from 2019 to score 56.5 in 2020

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:
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:
The King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is set to chair an emergency virtual summit of G20 leaders, to accelerate the response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
At present, Saudi Arabia holds the G20 presidency and it called for the Virtual Leaders’ summit to be held on March 26. This is the first meeting of the G20 leaders after the world has been affected by the outbreak of coronavirus.

Notes:
Scientists at Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, which is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, have developed a biofortified high-protein wheat variety MACS 4028.
The development of the crop was published in the Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding. It is a semi-dwarf variety which exhibits a higher yielding ability of 19.3 quintals per hectare. It is claimed to be resistant to several pests and diseases unlike the normal wheat varieties.

Notes:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes is a statutory authority which frames policy for the tax department. It is headed by a Chairperson and composed of six other members.
Recently, Indian Revenue Service officers Satish Kumar Gupta and Krishan Mohan Prasad have been appointed new members in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). At present, apart from the Chairman P C Mody, there are three other serving members. After this appointment, there will be one more vacancy in the organisation.

Notes:
The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Government’s ₹1.7 lakh crore economic package for the poor to fight the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown named ‘Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Scheme’.
Under the scheme, ex-gratia of ₹1,000 will be given to poor senior citizens, poor widows and poor disabled and ₹500 per month for 3 months to women Jan Dhan account holders; Ujjwala beneficiaries will get free cooking gas (LPG) cylinders for next three months; An installment of ₹2000 will be transferred to farmers. Under Prime Minister Garib Ann Yojna, additional 5 kg rice or wheat per month is given in addition to the existing scheme.