Daily Current Affairs 31st March, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 31 March 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

GoI launches coronavirus tracking app “Corona Kavach”
The Government of India has launched a coronavirus risk-tracking app called ‘Corona Kavach.’ Jointly developed by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

• the app uses a person’s location to assess whether they are in the high risk geographical zone or not. The app is now available for download — in beta — for Android phones on the Google Play Store.

Centre sets up 11 empowered groups
The central government set up 11 empowered groups for ensuring a comprehensive and integrated response to COVID-19. 

• These empowered groups have been set up under the Disaster Management Act. The Department of Expenditure has issued special instructions to enable expeditious decision making in procurement matters.

HP govt develops mobile app to track quarantined persons
Himachal Pradesh government has developed a mobile application to track and monitor the people who are quarantined for COVID-19.

• The Department of Information Technology has started a ‘Corona Mukt Himachal’ mobile app. The health workers of the Health Department will monitor the people, especially on home quarantine through this app.

Andhra Pradesh govt sets up Mobile Hand-wash facilities for Slum Dwellers amidts lockdown
Andhra Pradesh State government has set up Mobile Hand-wash facilities for the benefit of Slum Dwellers amidts lockdown in the state.

•  With social distancing and sanitizing hands are the only available methods of cure for Covid-19, the mobile Hand Wash facility has become handy for both the state authorities and slum dwellers to access facility of  hands cleaning.

BANKING & FINANCE

PNB unveils new logo
Punjab National Bank (PNB) has unveiled a new logo as it merges with United Bank of India and OBC with it, with effect from April 1.

• The new logo will bear distinct signages of all the three public sector lenders.
• With this, PNB is set to become the second largest lender in the country.

ADB to invest USD 100 million in Indian infrastructure sector via NIIF
Multilateral institution Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced a USD 100 million funding for the Indian infrastructure sector through the government-promoted NIIF.

• The Manila-based body will be investing in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund’s (NIIF) fund of funds which will ensure that the actual money invested will be a few times more than the USD 100 million.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Fitch Solutions cuts India GDP growth forecast to 4.6% for FY21
Fitch Solutions slashed its estimate for India’s GDP growth in the fiscal starting April 1 to 4.6 per cent from 5.4 per cent due to weaker private consumption and contraction in investment amid coronavirus outbreak, costing economies around the globe.

• The growth estimate for 2020-21 fiscal (April 2020 to March 2021) compares with a 4.9 per cent forecast in the current 2019-20 that ends on March 31.

Ind-Ra cuts economic growth forecast for India to 3.6 pc
Domestic credit rating agency India Ratings (Ind-Ra) cut its FY21 growth forecast to 3.6 per cent amid coronavirus-related worries.

• Ind-Ra said it expects India to clock a 2.3 per cent growth for the June quarter, down from its expectation of a 4.7 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in March quarter.

Saudi Arabia assures India of uninterrupted LPG supply: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan
India’s oil minister said that he had discussed global oil market developments with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Aramco’s Chief Executive Amin Nasser as well as uninterrupted LPG supplies to India.

• two Indian refiners declared force majeure on crude purchases from the Middle East after fuel demand plummeted due to a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus and the companies’ tanks are full.

AWARDS

Santanu Das, Mirza Waheed win The Hindu Prize 2019
The 2019 edition of The Hindu Prize has been awarded to Mirza Waheed’s Tell Her Everything  in the fiction section and Santanu Das for India, Empire, and First World War Culture: Writings, Images and Songs in the non-fiction section.

• The Hindu Prize was founded in 2010 and is usually awarded at the Lit For Life festival, but the 2020 edition was cancelled early this year. Instead, an award ceremony was scheduled for 28 March, which also stands cancelled now because of the coronavirus outbreak.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

IIT Bombay develops mobile app for tracking COVID-19 quarantine patients
A team at IIT Bombay along with some professional and experienced alumni claimed to have built a mobile app named ‘CORONTINE. 

• This app’ will help in tracking the potential or suspected asymptomatic carriers (AC) of coronavirus if they leave their quarantine zone

Musk’s SpaceX wins NASA award for planned lunar space station
NASA picked a new space capsule from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to ferry cargo and supplies to the agency’s planned lunar space station, a crucial building block to its plans to build a permanent post on the moon and mount future missions to Mars.

• SpaceX will get a portion of a $7 billion NASA contract to use its biggest rocket, Falcon Heavy, to send a new “Dragon XL” spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway, an outpost NASA plans to build that will orbit the moon sometime within the next decade.
• The Dragon variant, which would be docked at the orbital station for six to 12 months per mission, is “optimized to carry more than 5 metric tons of cargo to Gateway in lunar orbit.

OBITUARIES

Veteran Actor Mark Blum Dies Of Coronavirus Complications
Actor Mark Blum, best known for featuring in movies such as Desperately Seeking Susan and Crocodile Dundee, has died of complications from COVID-19. He was 69.

• Mark was a dedicated Screen Actors Guild and SAG-AFTRA board member serving from 2007-2013
• He is best known for the 1985 film “Desperately Seeking Susan,” in which he played Gary Glass, the neglectful husband of Rosanna Arquette’s character. He most recently appeared in supporting TV roles on the HBO series “Succession,” the Netflix drama “You” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle.”

Paravai Muniyamma passes away
Noted Tamil folk singer and actress Paravai Muniyamma, who shot to fame with her performance in actor Vikram’s ‘Dhool’, passed away in Madurai. She was 83.

• Muniyamma has acted in 84 movies after making her debut in ‘Dhool’ (in 2003) alongside actor Vikram and actress Jyotika.

Pakistani squash great Azam Khan passed away in London
Pakistani squash great Azam Khan has died of coronavirus in London. He was 95.

• Azam, who won the British Open title successively between 1959 and 1961.

Veteran Japanese comedian Ken Shimura passed away 
Days after being hospitalised for coronavirus, veteran Japanese comedian Ken Shimura died of pneumonia caused by the virus. He was 70.

• He was the first Japanese celebrity to contract the highly contagious virus.

German Minister Thomas Schaefer passes away
Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state, has committed suicide apparently after becoming “deeply worried” over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

• The body of Thomas Schaefer, 54, the finance chief of the central Hesse state, was found near railway tracks.

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