Daily Current Affairs 14th-15th March 2020: Your guide for daily General Knowledge Preparation
Dear Readers,
This post contains important current affairs of 14th-15th March 2020. It includes all Major National, International, Business and Sports related current affairs of 14th-15th March 2020. A brief explanation of every current affair is provided to further enhance your general knowledge. Once you have gone through these current affairs we would recommend to you to try 14th-15th March 2020 Current affairs test.
National News
1. Essential Commodities Act, 1955
- Government of India has marked that masks and hand sanitisers have been brought under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
- Essential Commodities Act. The ECA was enacted in 1955. It has since been used by the Government to regulate the production, supply and distribution of a whole host of commodities it declares ‘essential’ in order to make them available to consumers at fair prices.
2. ‘Namaste over Handshake’ Campaign
- Karnataka Government has launched ‘Namaste over Handshake’ campaign to tackle spread of COVID-19.
- Karnataka: Chief Minister- B S Yediyurappa || Governor- VajubhaiVala
3. Ganga Aamantran Abhiyaan
- Home Minister Amit Shah has addressed flag-in ceremony of Ganga Aamantran Abhiyaan in New Delhi.
- NamamiGange Programme’, is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government in June 2014 with budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 Crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
4. The 16th Census India-2021
- The 16th Census India-2021 will be conducted in two phases.
- 1. From April 1 to Sept 30.
- The second phase is Population Enumeration which will be conducted from 9th February to 28th February in 2021.
Financial News
1. Bharat InstaPay
- BSNL in partnership with SBI launched a UPI-based payment platform Bharat InstaPay.
- BSNL: CEO: Pravin Kumar Purwar || Headquarters: New Delhi
Business News
1. Facebook CSR initiative ‘Pragati’
- Facebook India has launched its CSR initiative ‘Pragati’ to promote women entrepreneurship.
- Facebook: CEO : Mark Zuckerberg || Headquarters: California
2. Brand ambassador of IDFC FIRST Bank
- Amitabh Bachchan has been signed as the brand ambassador of IDFC FIRST Bank.
- IDFC First Bank is an Indian banking company with headquarters in Mumbai that forms part of IDFC, an integrated infrastructure finance company.
- Headquarters: Mumbai || CEO: V. Vaidyanathan
3. GST on mobile phones
- The GST Council led by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked the GST rate on mobile phones to 18% from the current 12%.
- Goods and Services Tax is an indirect tax used in India on the supply of goods and services. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination based tax: comprehensive because it has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes.
4. India’s first digital parcel locker service
- Department of Posts, Kolkata has launched India’s 1st digital parcel locker service.
- Customers will be able to collect their parcel from the post office according to their convenience.
Important Appointments
1. Bill Gates resigns
- Microsoft founder Bill Gates has stepped down from the Board of Directors of Microsoft.
- Microsoft CEO: Satya Nadella. || Headquarter: Washington
2. Director on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India.
- Indian Government has nominated Debasish Panda, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, as a Director on the Central Board of RBI.
- RBI: Governor- Shaktikanta Das || Deputy Governors- BP Kanungo, MK Jain and Michael Patra
3. Non-Executive Chairman of Yes Bank
- The Government of India has constituted new board of directors for Yes Bank.
- Punjab National Bank Managing Director Sunil Mehta to be Non-Executive Chairman
- Prashant Kumar to be the MD & CEO of YES Bank.
Important Days
1. International Pi Day
- Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π. Pi Day is observed on March 14.
- Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (22/7 in the day/month format), since the fraction 22⁄7 is a common approximation of π, which is accurate to two decimal places and dates from Archimedes.
2. International Day of Action for Rivers
- International Day of Action for Rivers is observed every year on 14th March
- Aim: to raise voice to protect rivers and demand for improving the policies for Rivers.
- Theme: ‘Women, Water, and Climate Change’.
3. World Consumer Rights Day
- World Consumer Rights Day is observed on 15 March.
- Aim: To raise global awareness about consumer rights and needs.
- World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by President John F Kennedy, who sent a special message to the US Congress on 15th March 1962, in which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights. He was the first world leader to do so.
- Theme: ‘The Sustainable Consumer’.
Agreements and MoUs
1. Amul with Dairy Cooperatives of Jammu & Kashmir
- Amul will team-up with dairy cooperatives in Jammu and Kashmir to achieve self-sufficiency in dairy products in the region.
- It is signed by managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) – Amul marketer
- Amul is an Indian cooperative dairy company, based at Anand in the state of Gujarat. Formed in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., which today is jointly owned by 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat.
- CEO: R.S. Sodhi || Headquarters: Anand
Award, Rankings and Indexes
1. Inclusive Internet Index 2020
- Economist Intelligence Unit has released the 4th iteration of the Inclusive Internet Index 2020 among 100 countries.
- India is ranked in 46th place in the 4th iteration of the Inclusive Internet Index 2020.
- Sweden has topped the Inclusive Internet Index 2020
- Burundi was the worst ranked country.
Sports News
1. World Golf Hall of Fame
- World Golf Hall of Fame will induct Tiger Woods in the World Golf Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2021.
- Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins and ranks second in men’s major championships and also holds numerous golf records. Woods is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers, and one of the most famous athletes of all time.
2. Ranji Trophy title
- Saurashtra has won their maiden Ranji Trophy title 2019-20.
- The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations.
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