Weekly Current Affairs 8th To 14th March 2020

International News

UN Adopted Political Declaration on Women's Rights

• The political declaration on women's rights was adopted during the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
• The UN body reaffirmed the 1995 road map to achieve gender equality that was adopted by 189 countries at the 1995 Beijing women's conference.

UNSC Approved US Taliban Peace Agreement

• The United States' resolution on the deal is a rare endorsement of an agreement with a militant group.
• The peace deal aims to bring lasting peace in war-torn Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home from America’s longest war.

National News

Poshan Pakhwada

• The two-week-long Poshan Pakhwada 2020 will be focused on “Men for Nutrition - increasing male engagement in Poshan Abhiyaan to improve Nutritional Indicators”.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8th March 2018.

Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship Programme

• The MGNF is designed and implemented by IIM Bangalore and in collaboration with State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs).
• Under this, Indian Institute of Management Bengaluru will train 75 graduates for two years in preparing the District skill plan.

Nari Shakti Puraskar

• President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the Nari Shakti Puraskar to 15 women in Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi.
• The Nari Shakti Puraskar was given on the occasion of International Women's Day on 8th March 2020.

4 Indian Airports Among Best Aerodromes in World

• Airports Authority of India (AAI) has said in a press release on 9th March 2020 that four AAI airports have been adjudged the best in the world.
• In the recently announced 2019 ASQ awards, Chandigarh, Mangaluru, Trivandrum and Lucknow aerodrome has been named best among the world.

Committee on Kisan Rail Formed Under MAFW

• The government has formed a committee on Kisan Rail under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• The initiative has been taken to increase farmers’ income by helping in the supply chain of farm produce and promote a flawless supply chain of perishable products.

“Udyam Sakhi” Portal Launched

• The “Udyam Sakhi” Portal was launched by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) on 8th March 2018 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
• The portal is a network for nurturing entrepreneurship and creating business models for low-cost products and services in order to empower women and make them self-reliant and self-sufficient.

GOI Notified New POCSO Rules

• The POCSO Act was enacted in 2012, to Protect the Children from Offences of Sexual Assault, Sexual harassment and pornography for safeguarding the interest and well-being of children.
• It is a gender-neutral Act and defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age.

Crime Multi-Agency Centre

• The National Cybercrime Training Centre (NCTC) was also launched at the occasion for professional quality e-Learning services on cybercrime investigation to police officers, judges, prosecutors and other stakeholders.
• The NCRB is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code and Special and Local Laws.

GOI Put Masks and Hand Sanitizers Under the Essential Commodities Act

• The government has amended the Schedule of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to bring these items under the EC Act.
• The step is taken in view of the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 (Corona Virus) and non-availability of the masks (2 ply & 3 ply surgical masks, N95 masks) and hand sanitizers.

Cabinet Approved Hike in MSP for Copra

• The MSP for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) for milling copra has been raised to Rs 9960 per quintal and for ball copra to Rs 10300 per quintal for 2020 season.
• The approval is based on recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

Banking

India’s Forex Reserved Jumped to All-Time High of $481.5 Billion

• RBI data showed that India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped to hit a new all-time high of $481.54 billion in the week ended 28th February 2020.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in corporate tax rates on 20th September 2019 and since then the reserves have been rising week-on-week.

Moody Slashed India’s GDP to 5.3% for 2020

• Moody's had reduced India's growth projection for the calendar year 2020 to 5.4% from 6.6% on 17th February 2020.
• In less than a month’s time, it has again slashed the growth projection from 5.4% to 5.3% for 2020 in its latest “Global Macro Outlook 2020-2021".

Sensex Biggest Single-Day Loss

• The sharpest fall was registered in banking, consumer durables, metal and oil and gas stocks.
• The previous biggest fall for Sensex was on 24th August 2015 when the index closed 1,624 points lower at 25,741.

SBI Reduced FD Rates for 2nd Time

• Interest rates on FDs maturing in one-year and above have been reduced by 10 basis points.
• An interest rate of 5.90% against 6 % earlier, will be applicable on FD with One-year to less than two-year tenor.

2018-19 Recorded Highest FDI Inflow

• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, said that the FDI inflow stood at the highest ever for the fiscal year 2018-19.
• In 2018-19, the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow stood at a record 62 billion US dollars.

Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2020

• The IBC (Amendment) Bill 2020 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 6th March 2020 and received the Rajya Sabha nod on 12th March 2020.
• The bill aims to help ring-fence successful bidders of insolvent companies from the risk of criminal proceedings for offences committed by previous promoters.

India's Current Account Deficit

• The data showed that the CAD eased to 0.2% of GDP in the December quarter (3rd quarter) from 0.9% of GDP in the September quarter.
• The CAD accounted for 2.7% of the GDP in the year-ago period.

RBI Announced US Dollar Sell/Buy Swap

• The US dollar sells/buy swap is announced by RBI observing the mismatch in the US dollar liquidity across the world.
• Due to COVID 19 outbreak, a slump in international crude prices and a decline in bond yields in advanced economies, financial markets worldwide are facing intense selling pressures on extreme risk aversion.

Index and Ranking

Bloomberg Billionaires Index

• Mukesh Ambani is no longer Asia’s richest man, relinquishing the title to Jack Ma, co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group.
• Jack Ma has topped the list with a $44.5 billion fortune.

Important Days

Date	Day	Theme
21st June 2020	International Yoga Day	For the first time, the event will be taking place in a high altitude location like Leh.

Government Schemes

CBDT named 3 Nodal Officers on Board VSV Scheme

• The three senior CBDT members namely, Seema Patra, PK Dash and Prabhash Shankar will act as nodal officers between the ministries allocated to them.
• The CBDT has directed field officers to “escalate” the issue with these officers in the event a public-sector undertaking (PSUs) expresses reservation over settling tax disputes under the scheme.

Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan

• The GAA has been launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and is organised under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
• It is a pioneering and historic exploratory open-water rafting and kayaking expedition on the Ganga River.

Defence

Wings India 2020

• The Wings India, four-day civil aviation business exhibition and air show, is Asia’s largest civil aviation biennial event.
• The event is being organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India along with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Science and Technology

MNRE Removed Tariff Caps for Solar, Wind Power Auctions

• The removal of tariff caps was the longstanding industry demand of the industry, as it slowed down the pace of adding renewable generation capacities.
• The renewable energy generation was slowed to 8.6 Giga-watt (GW) in FY 19 from 11.3 GW and 11.8 GW in FY17 and FY18, respectively.

North Korea Fires Three Projectiles

• The projectiles were launched from the coastal town of Sondok area in South Hamgyong province.
• Earlier, North Korea fired two short-range missiles off the east coast into the sea on 2nd March after a three-month halt.

India: 5th Country to Isolate Covid-19 Virus Strain

• 11 strains of the Covid-19 have been isolated by the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.
• Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex health research body in the country, has expanded its network of labs equipped to test COVID-19 to 65 from 51.