Current Affairs March 2020 - Miscellaneous

A four-day Poetry Festival was held in Kolkata.
Chief Secretary of Punjab, Karan Avtar Singh has launched a mobile application, COVA Punjab. COVA stands for Corona Virus Alert.
Global sports brand PUMA has signed bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan as its new brand ambassador.
Punjab cadre IAS officer Chhabilendra Roul was appointed as next Fertilizers Secretary.
Karnataka cadre officer Yogendra Tripathy was appointed as next Tourism Secretary.
Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Upma Chawdhary has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs.
West Bengal IAS officer Sumanta Chaudhuri will be the new Coal Secretary.
Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers has organised “ACREX India 2020” at India Expo Mart Limited, Greater Noida.
PhonePe has tied up with ICICI Bank for UPI transactions.
University of Ranchi has launched its own Community Radio Station named as RADIO KHANCHI 90.4 FM Aap Sabka Radio.
Nupur Kulshrestha becomes the first woman to be promoted as DIG of Indian Coast Guard.
An exhibition titled “Jallianwala Bagh” was held in New Delhi.
Writer-filmmaker Tahira Kashyap announced her 4^th book titled “The 12 Commandments of Being A Woman”.
Union Cabinet has approved a proposal for the construction of 780 kilometer of green highways at a cost of 7,660 crore rupees in four states, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has to curtail the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year. The season was due to start on March 29, but has since been deferred to April 15, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the country and around the world.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) celebrated its 35^th Inception Day on 12^th March 2020.
Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya has successfully scaled Mount Kosciuszko (2,228-metres), the highest mountain peak in Australia on the occasion of Holi.
The State Bank of India has waived off the minimum balance charges on all savings bank accounts.
Department of Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda has been nominated on the central board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
National health policy is poised to achieve a total fertility rate of 2.1% by 2025.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took oath as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.
The Supreme court of India cleared permanent commission for women officers in the Indian Navy.
Four convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case namely Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar were hanged to death at Tihar jail in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for “Janta Curfew” on 22^nd March, within the wake of COVID 19 outbreak.
Bollywood actor Imtiaz Khan passed away.
Indian E-commerce company Flipkart has tied up with Aegon Life Insurance to sell comprehensive insurance solutions for customers.
The top tech giants of the world will jointly fight against the fake news and misinformation related to COVID-19 on their platforms. The top giants which have announced a fight against the fake news includes Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube.
Noted Marathi Actor Jairam Kulkarani passed away.
Rajiv Bajaj has been reappointed as MD & CEO of Bajaj Auto.
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has partnered with Visa to issue Visa debit cards.
Ajay Kumar, current Joint Secretary in the Ministry, was appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Uganda.
The French Open tennis tournament has been postponed by the French Tennis Federation, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 edition of Roland Garros (French Open tennis tournament) will now be held in the month of September-October 2020.
“WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub” has been launched globally by WhatsApp in partnership with the World Health Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, and United Nations Development Programme.
Indian Railways has planned to electrify a total of 28,810 km of broad gauge route by December 2023.
Vrinda Rathi and Janani Narayanan have been named in the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires.
Punjab became first state to impose curfew amid COVID-19. The state government of Punjab has imposed a curfew across the state with no relaxations.
ICICI Lombard has launched a 1 year-long “COVID-19 Protection Cover”, which will pay 100% of the sum insured to the COVID-19 positive individual, irrespective of hospitalisation expenses.
The Election Commission of India has deferred the Rajya Sabha elections amid rising risk of rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic.
Karur Vysya Bank has launched India’s 1^st pre-paid card Enkasu (My cash in Tamil) in Karur, Tamil Nadu under its Quit cash movement.
The United Nations launched a $2 billion Global Humanitarian Response Plan to fund the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the world's poorest countries.
The Centre has capped the maximum retail price of three-ply face masks made of meltblown non-woven fabric at 16 rupees per piece till 30^th of June.
U.S. Marines and Emirati forces held a major military exercise - “Native Fury”.
YouTube has decided to reduce streaming quality for users in India until 31^st March 2020, from High Definition (HD) and ultra-High Definition (HD) streaming to Standard Definition (SD) content.
The Odisha state government launched Mo Jeeban (My Life) programme. Through the programme, the chief minister of Odisha urged the people of the state to take a pledge to stay indoors.
A coronavirus risk-tracking app called ‘Corona Kavach’ has been launched by the Government of India. ‘Corona Kavach’ app uses a person’s location to assess whether they are in the high-risk geographical zone.
Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio launched the Self Declaration COVID19 Nagaland App. The app will be mandatory for any person who enters Nagaland. The app is crucial for tracking and surveillance of high-risk cases.
ICICI Bank has rolled out the banking services on WhatsApp which will enable the banks’ retail customers to undertake a slew of banking requirements from their home amid lockdown in the country due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian shot-putter Navin Chikara was suspended by the World athletics body’s (formerly known as International Association of Athletics Federations-IAAF), Athletics Integrity Unit for four years. He was suspended for failing an out-of-competition dope test in 2018.
Odisha government will set up two of the largest Covid-19 hospitals having a combined capacity of 1,000 beds.
Indore has deployed drones to sanitize city areas against the coronavirus scare and has become the 1^st city in India to use drones to sanitize the city.
Jana Small Finance Bank has rolled out a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) QR-based loan installment payment facility along with National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) for its customers.
Tokyo Olympics organisers are eyeing next July as a start date for the postponed Games following the historic decision to delay the event due to the coronavirus.
Saudi Arabia assured India of uninterrupted LPG supply to support India’s domestic requirement.
Australia has announced a US$ 38 billion spending plan to mitigate the economic impact of COVID - 19. It amounts to nearly 10% of the nation's gross domestic product.
As a measure of relief to people due to COVID-19 outbreak, debit card holders can withdraw money from any branch of any bank without paying charges for the next three months.