Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs Today 21th March 2020. These are important for the upcoming Exams. Candidates who were preparing for the examination can use these current affairs and also you can download the same as PDF.
Current Affairs Today – 21th March 2020
NEWS AT A GLANCE
- International Day of Forest on March 21.
- World Poetry Day is observed globally on 21 March every year.
- World Down Syndrome Day is observed every year on 21 March.
- The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed globally on 21 March every year.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put in place a contingency plan to ensure that crucial information technology (IT) services for the delivery of digital banking, treasury services.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will infuse liquidity of Rs 30,000 crore to maintain financial stability in the Indian economy.
- After Rupay debit cards Paytm Payments Bank Limited(PPBL) announced to issue Visa virtual debit cards to its customers.
- A 14 hours long Janta curfew is scheduled to come into force from tomorrow 7 am.
- Uttar Pradesh Government has sought a Central Grant of 100 crore rupees for Lucknow University and Kashi Vidyapeeth.
- Uttarakhand government cancelled reservation in promotion for state government employees.
- According to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister , Karuppa Gounder Palanisamy (known as Edappadi K. Palaniswami), a total of 64,583 sanitary personnel employed by urban and rural civic bodies in the State will be called as ”cleanliness workers” (Thooimai Paniyalargal in Tamil) to honour their work.
- A new book entitled ‘Messiah Modi: A Great Tale of Expectations’ written by senior journalist & author Tavleen Singh has been released.
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a toll-free helpline on coronavirus safeguards for students.
- Legendary Indian footballer P K Banerjee died today in Kolkata after battling prolonged illness.
NEWS IN DETAILS
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
International Day of Forests observed on 21 March
- International Day of Forest on March 21.
- The Day is celebrated since 2012.
- Aim: To increase awareness and importance of forests
- Theme: Forests and Biodiversity
- March 21 has chosen to mark the international day of forests as it is the Vernal Equinox in the northern hemisphere and autumnal equinox.
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Forests
- The Day celebrates and raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests. On each International Day of Forests, countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to organize activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns. The theme for each International Day of Forests is chosen by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests.Forests are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80% of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects.
World Poetry Day celebrated globally on 21 March
- World Poetry Day is observed globally on 21 March every year.
- World Poetry Day is being observed annually to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
- It also aims to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to encourage the teaching of poetry as well as to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting.
World Down Syndrome Day observed on 21 March
- World Down Syndrome Day is observed every year on 21 March.
- In December 2011, the General Assembly declared 21 March as World Down Syndrome Day to raise public awareness of Down syndrome.
- Down syndrome occurs in an individual when he/she has an extra partial (or whole) copy of chromosome 21.
- Down Syndrome International assumes that all people with Down syndrome should play an instrumental role in decision making about matters relating to, or affecting, their lives.
- The theme of World Down Syndrome Day 2020 is “We Decide”.
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 21 March
- The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed globally on 21 March every year.
- The day is celebrated annually on 21 March as on this day in 1960, the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid “pass laws”.
- International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2020 is focused on the midterm review of the International Decade for People of African Descent.
BANKING AND FINANCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
RBI chalks out contingency plan for smooth functioning of services
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put in place a contingency plan to ensure that crucial information technology (IT) services for the delivery of digital banking, treasury services.
- It includes measures to prepare for anticipated disruptions, ensure smooth flow of operations and staffing, identify critical resources, and form crisis management groups while keeping all staff insulated from exposure to the virus.
NEFT
- This plan launched to ensure continuity of critical services like National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), e-Kuber for government transactions, and so on.
- The BCP ensures that all critical functions of the financial system continue to be available to individuals, businesses, and governments under all circumstances.
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RBI: The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the issuance and supply of the Indian rupee.
- Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Governor: Shaktikanta Das
- Deputy Governors: B P Kanungo, M K Jain, Michael Debaprata Patra
RBI to infuse Rs 30,000 crore to boost liquidity
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will infuse liquidity of Rs 30,000 crore to maintain financial stability in the Indian economy.
- RBI has took this decision to boost liquidity in order to ensure that all markets segments function normally with adequate liquidity and turnover, as certain financial market segments are facing stress due to COVID-19 outbreak.
- The Reserve Bank will infuse liquidity by purchasing of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMOs) for a total amount of Rs 30,000 crores.
- The amount will be infused in two tranches of Rs 15,000 crores each in the month of March 2020.
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RBI: The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the issuance and supply of the Indian rupee.
- Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Governor: Shaktikanta Das
- Deputy Governors: B P Kanungo, M K Jain, Michael Debaprata Patra
OMO: An open market operation (OMO) is an activity by a central bank to give (or take) liquidity in its currency to (or from) a bank or a group of banks. The central bank can either buy or sell government bonds in the open market
Paytm Bank to issue virtual debit cards to customers
- After Rupay debit cards Paytm Payments Bank Limited(PPBL) announced to issue Visa virtual debit cards to its customers.
- It targets to issue over 10 million new digital debit cards in 2020-21.
- This issue will enable the customers to transact at all merchants who accept payments through cards.
- They can make international transactions using the card.
- Shortly, they will have an option to request a physical card, which enables them to have a contactless payment by the chip-inserted cards.
- The bank is famous for launching neo-banking in the country & is the largest issuer of RuPay Debit Cards.
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Paytm: Paytm is an Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology company, based out of Noida, India.
- Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
- Founded: August 2010
- CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
- Headquarters: B-121, Sector 5, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Revenue: 3,579 crores INR (2019, US$520 million)
- Parent organization: One97 Communications
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Janta Curfew to come into force from 7 AM to 9 PM tomorrow
- A 14 hours long Janta curfew is scheduled to come into force from tomorrow 7 am.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all the fellow countrymen though a televised address to the nation on 19th March, to contribute their bit in breaking the chain of spread of novel coronavirus by following this novel method of social distancing.
- Prime Minister also asked the citizens to thank those involved in the fight against virus tomorrow at 5 pm for minutes by clapping and ringing bells.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the efforts of people from various walks of life that have come together to support the initiative of Janata Curfew tomorrow to contain the spread of corona virus Covid 19.
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Uttar Pradesh govt seeks Central Grant of 100 cr for Lucknow University and Kashi Vidyapeeth
- Uttar Pradesh Government has sought a Central Grant of 100 crore rupees for Lucknow University and Kashi Vidyapeeth.
- Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister of Uttar Pradesh Dr. Dinesh Sharma on Friday met Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in Delhi and made the request.
- The educational institutions have completed 100 years of their establishment, and there is a provision of a special grant of Rs 100 crores for these institutions.
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Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith
- Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith is a public university located in Varanasi or Benaras, Uttar Pradesh, India. Established in 1921 as Kashi Vidyapith and later renamed, it is administered under the state legislature of the government of Uttar Pradesh.
- Founded: 10 February 1921
Uttar Pradesh:
- Capital: Lucknow
- Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
- Governor: Anandiben Patel
- State formed in: 24 January 1950
- Literacy Rate: 67.68%
- Nation Park: Dudhwa National Park
Uttarakhand cancels quota in promotion for state government employees
- Uttarakhand government cancelled reservation in promotion for state government employees.
- It issued orders relating to the departmental promotion committee (DPC).
- For the period of strike, the striking employees were granted leave.
- The order of the state government stated that it has abolished the promotion ban dated September 11, 2019 according to the Supreme Court decision.
- Apart from that, the order of the state government dated September 5, 2012 to ban reservation in promotions has also come into effect.
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Uttarkhand
- Capital- Dehradun
- Governor- Baby Rani maurya
- CM-Trivendra Singh Rawat
- National Park -Jim Corbett NP, Gangotri NP, Nanda Devi NP, Rajaji NP
Sanitary personnel in Tamil Nadu to be called as ‘cleanliness workers’
- According to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister , Karuppa Gounder Palanisamy (known as Edappadi K. Palaniswami), a total of 64,583 sanitary personnel employed by urban and rural civic bodies in the State will be called as ”cleanliness workers” (Thooimai Paniyalargal in Tamil) to honour their work.
- The state will also implement a scheme worth of Rs 4,300 to install smart meters for 42 lakh electricity consumers to compute their power consumption.
- The state will launch other schemes worth of Rs 1,998 crore to develop the power distribution infrastructure, under which it will upgrade 230 kV (Kilovolt) sub-station at Alagarkoil in Madurai district into a 400 kV station and enhancing two 110 kV sub-stations into 230 kV facilities.
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Tamilnadu
- Capital: Chennai
- Chief Minister: Edappadi K.Palanisamy
- Governor: Banwarilal Purohit
- Chief Justice of Madras High Court: Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani
- National Park: Guindy NP,Gulf of Mannar Marine NP, Indira Gandhi (Annamalai) NP, Mudumalai NP, Mukurthi NP.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
A new book entitled ‘Messiah Modi: A Great tale of expectations’ penned by Tavleen singh released
- A new book entitled ‘Messiah Modi: A Great Tale of Expectations’ written by senior journalist & author Tavleen Singh has been released.
- The book, published by HarperCollins India, narrates the early support for Modi the candidate by the author, once a great supporter of the government.
- It also talks about helpless dissatisfaction with Narendra Modi the Prime Minister (PM), his cabinet, the story of his first term as a journey from lynchings to demonetization up to Article 370, the most controversial law CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) & the promises he made in his first term.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
CBSE launches toll-free helpline on coronavirus safeguards for students
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a toll-free helpline on coronavirus safeguards for students.
- The facility is available on helpline number 1800118004 from 8 am to 8 pm, initially up to 31st March.
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CBSE: Central Board of Secondary Education
- nic.in
- Headquarters location: New Delhi
- Founded: 1962
- Affiliations: 21,499 schools (2019)
- Chairperson: Anita Karwal, IAS
- Parent organisation: Ministry of Human Resource Development
- Type of business: Governmental Board of Education
OBITUARIES
Indian football Legend P K Banerjee passes away at 83
- Legendary Indian footballer P K Banerjee died today in Kolkata after battling prolonged illness.
- He was 83.
- The 1962 Asian Games gold-medallist was conferred with Arjun award and Padmshree.
- Born on 23rd June 1936 in Moynaguri on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, Banerjee’s family relocated to his uncle’s place in Jamshedpur before partition.
