Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2020

Notes:
‘India-European Union Flagship Call on Integrated Local Energy Systems’ was recently announced at the India Smart Utility Week 2020. It was jointly announced by the Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST) and European Union Ambassador to India.
This collaboration between Indian and European Union will promote Clean Energy will strengthen their cooperation in energy research focussing renewable energy systems.

Notes:
US President Donald Trump recently signed an $ 8.3 billion emergency fund to assist the tackling measures of coronavirus outbreak.
The Senate passed the legislation yesterday to help tackle the outbreak, that has killed 12 people in the US and infected more than 200 people. Last week, it was announced that the US will announce $2.5 billion, but it was incresed after the legislation and the President’s consent.

Notes:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that the official name of its Mars 2020 rover will be ‘Perseverance.’
From the nation-wide contest for selecting the rover’s name, the entry of a seventh-grade school student, Alexander Mather was finalised. The rover is a robotic scientist and its mission includes searching for signs of past microbial life and illustrating the red planet’s climate and geology.

Notes:
The three-day conference called ‘Conference on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs’ has been organised by the Union Ministry of MSME in collaboration with various industry bodies like FICCI-flo, CII and India SME Forum, in New Delhi.
Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the conference and a panel discussion on ‘Creating a conducive business Eco System for Empowering Women Entrepreneurs’. It was participated by more than 300 women entrepreneurs from all parts of the country.

Notes:
Google India unveiled DigiPivot, a skill development programme for women who seek to return to their corporate careers after a break or plan to shift to digital marketing career.
The programme is developed in association with a career portal service for women-Avtar and the Indian School of Business. The programme aims to provide an opportunity for 200 women professionals to re-skill themselves.

Notes:
Ankita Raina, was seen in news as she delivered an outstanding game in the ongoing Federation Cup Tennis tournament, which led India to progress to the World play-offs.
The Indian team created history by progressing to the play-offs for the first time ever, as it has been in the regional group since 2016. In the ongoing Federation Cup Tennis, India registered three consecutive wins in a row, after their first loss to China. Sania Mirza represented India in the doubles.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik recently announced that Odisha will be the first state to have an exclusive department for Self Help Group (SHGs) called “Mission Shakti”.
In addition to this exclusive department, the state government has also introduced an independent Nutrition Budget focusing on the nutritional enhancement of all mothers and children of the state, recently.

Notes:
Nupur Kulshrestha becomes the first woman to be promoted as Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Indian Coast Guard.
She had joined the Coast Guard service in 1999 and became the first woman to be promoted to the DIG cadre. In 2018, the then DIG B K Loshali has been dismissed from his services following inquiries on his comments that contradicted the government’s announcement on a Pakistan boat explosion case.

Notes:
According to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the largest exporter of arms during the past five years (2015-2019) was the United States, whose exports grew by 23 per cent and share in global arms exports grew to 36 per cent. Half of US arms exports are reported to have gone to the Middle East.
It is followed by Russia, France, Germany and China in the next places. Arms transfers from Russia, decreased by 18 percent, largely due to a drop in sales to India. From 2015 to 2019, international arms exports grew by 5.5 per cent from the previous 5 years.

Notes:
Veteran Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched the National 6-Red Snooker Championship with a 7-3 win over Ishpreet Singh. It is the 34th national title overall for Advani.
The National 6-Red Snooker Championship was held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In the summit clash, Pankaj trailed 1-3 in the beginning but defeated the young cueist Ishpreet Singh of Maharashtra to claim his 34th title.