Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
American actor-singer Kenny Rogers recently passed away at the age of 81. He was a three-time Grammy-winning singer.
The singer was famous for various genres of his music albums including jazz, folk, country and pop. Some of his popular musical works includes ‘Lucille,’ ‘Lady’ and ‘Islands in the Stream’. He was celebrated as a Superstar by his fans during 1970’s and 80’s.

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly declared 21 March as the International Day of Forests in 2012. United Nations Forum on Forests and the Food and Agriculture Organization are the main organisers of the Forest Day.
The Day is celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of all types of forests. The theme for each International Day of Forests is selected by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. The theme for 2020 is Forests and Biodiversity.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the inclusion of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centre (AYUSH HWC) component of Ayushman Bharat in National AYUSH Mission (NAM).
This project an expenditure of Rs. 3399.35 Crore for making AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres operational within a period of five years from 2019-20 to 2023-24.

Notes:
India’s largest lender State Bank of India has recently unveiled an emergency credit line to meet liquidity mismatch for its borrowers, amid the coronavirus pandemic scare.
The additional liquidity facility called Covid-19 Emergency Credit Line (CECL) will provide credit up to 200 crore rupees. This loan facility will be available till June 30 where the loan will be offered at an interest rate of 7.25 per cent with a 12-month tenure.

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:
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:
The International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims is observed every year on 24 March, by the United Nations.
This day pays tribute to Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero of El-Salvador, who was murdered on 24 March 1980. Óscar Romero was actively involved in criticising violations of the human rights. He also condemned the practices of social injustice and assassinations. He was declared ‘Saint’ by Pope Francis in 2018.

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%.