Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

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:
The Fifteenth Finance Commission is to set up a panel soon, which will examine the fiscal and debt situation of the Centre and states.
This panel is to be headed by the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N.K.Singh. It will present a road map on the lines of the erstwhile Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management panel, which was also headed by N.K.Singh. The panel may include or receive suggestions from former RBI Governor Urjit Patel, former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian among others.

Notes:
In order to curb the spread of misinformation and fake news on coronavirus and to reduce the panic among the citizens regarding the COVID-19, the Government of India has launched an official chatbot on the social media platform WhatsApp.
This Chatbot is named ‘MyGov Corona Helpdesk’ and is available to all WhatsApp users. Any user can save the number announced (9013151515) and start using the chatbot.

Notes:
The Punjab government on Saturday granted permission to distilleries to manufacture and supply sanitisers in wake of the rise in coronavirus cases in the state.
Punjab Food and Drug administration Commissioner recently announced that the permission for a period of 10 days and has been granted purely on a temporary basis. The manufacturers shall supply the sanitisers to government institutions in the state of Punjab only.

Notes:
The Government of India has recently constituted a high-level committee of medical experts for prevention & control of COVID-19. The committee is headed by Dr V K Paul, a member of the India think-tank NITI Aayog.
The 21-member high level technical committee comprises of noted public health experts to suggest measures on the prevention and control actions. Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research are the Co-Chairpersons of the committee.

Notes:
The United Kingdom has been recently confirmed as the first co-chair of the Governing Council on the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). The Governing Council is the highest policy-making body of the CDRI, which is led by India.
In September 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 held in New York. It is a voluntary group which links governments, UN Agencies and other members in the field of climate change and disaster management.

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:
A specialised agency of the United Nations- International Telecommunication Union (ITU) launched ‘The Global Network Resiliency Platform’.
The platform aims to ensure availability of telecommunication services during the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The new platform will assist governments and the private sector by ensuring that the networks are kept strong and telecommunication services are made available to all.

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:
The government recently approved to continue the scheme for Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) on export of garments beyond March 31.
It is to be continued till it is merged with the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products scheme (RoDTEP), which was introduced in last September. By continuing RoSCTL scheme, all taxes and levies in the textile sector which are not rebated under other mechanisms will be rebated.