Current Affairs - March 31, 2020 Current Affairs

The government of India launched a toll-free helpline number for people who may face any mental health issues due to the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. It was launched by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore.

Haryana State Government has designated three private laboratories in Gurugram district of the state for COVID-19 testing in the State. The three labs are SRL Limited in Sector-18, Strand Life Sciences in Sector-34, and Core Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd. in Udyog Vihar of Phase-3. The private labs shall carry out COVID-19 testing as per guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Union Minister of Oil Dharmendra Pradhan said that Saudi Arabia has announced to provide uninterrupted liquid petroleum gas (LPG) supplies to India. On 29 March, he discussed global oil market developments with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Aramco's Chief Executive Amin Nasser.

People can visit pmindia.gov.in to make contributions using credit and debit cards, UPI, net banking and RTGS or NEFT. State Bank of India (SBI) is the banking partner of PM-CARES. It should be noted that this is a dedicated national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation and to provide relief to the affected

The National Health Commission of China published a list of recommended treatments to treat COVID-19. Apart from western medicine and Chinese medicine, the list included Tan Re Qing, injections that contain bear bile powder. Tan Re Qing is secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder of the bear. The bile from various species of bears, including Asiatic black bears and brown bears, has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine since the 8th century.

On March 30, 2020, the Asian Development Bank announced that it is to invest 100 million USD in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). The investment during an economic slow down is a great boost for the Indian Economy.

Tata Power Company's joint venture (JV) with Norway's Clean Energy Invest (CEI), and International Financial Corporation (IFC) began its commercial operation of a 178 megawatt (MW) hydropower project (HPP) in Georgia. The information was given by the Tata group utility on 30 March.

The Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a new logo before the mega merger of the bank with the United Bank of India (UBI) and the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) comes into force from 1 April, 2020. The new logo will have signages of all the 3 banks.

The United Nations Trade report titled "The COVID-19 Shock to Developing Countries: Towards a whatever it takes program" stated that the world economy will go into recession in 2020 with a predicted loss of trillions of dollars of global income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also predicted serious problems for developing countries with the likely exception of India and China.

DheeYantra, the pioneers in Indian languages NLP and conversational AI, has launched "Aham!", a virtual assistant. The chatbot was developed to provide answers to the concerns on the COVID-19 crisis. Aham! is released in 7 Indian languages namely Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil, in addition to English.

GoI has extended the benefit of 2% Interest Subvention (IS) to Banks and 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) to all farmers up to 31 May 2020. The extension is applicable to the crop loans up to Rs.3 lakh given by banks which have become due or are becoming due between 1 March and 31 May 2020. The move comes in the wake of lockdown due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that the schemes for the merger of 10 state-run banks into four lenders will come into force from 1st April. RBI also stated that the branches of merging banks will operate as of the banks in which the banks have been amalgamated. The banks sought to defer the merger schemes of lenders due to the lockdown triggered by coronavirus outbreak.

India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra), the Indian subsidiary of Fitch group, has lowered India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimates for the financial year 2020-21 (FY21) to 3.6 % from 5.5% due to concerns over the coronavirus (COVID- 19).

Air Vice-Marshal (Retd.) Chandan Singh Rathore passed away on 29 March. He was 95-years old. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has condoled the demise of Chandan Singh Rathore. Rathore was at the forefront of air operations conducted for the liberation of Bangladesh, during the war with Pakistan. He was responsible for the planning and execution of the special helicopter operations to airlift two companies of troops of the Sylhet area.

Rajasthan state celebrated the statehood day on 30 March 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the people of Rajasthan on its State Day. The people of Rajasthan are known for their courage, bravery, and valour. Rajasthan: Rajasthan (meaning Land of Kings) was formed on 30 March 1949. The State was formed when Rajputana was merged into the Dominion of India.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority launched an Upgraded State COVID-19 Control Room in Guwahati, Assam on 31 March. The aim is to render uninterrupted service to the people during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Assam Police have been deployed for any response needed.

The Seals need ice to keep themselves safe from predators such as wolves and foxes. However, the declining ice in the Baltic Sea has disrupted their survivals. The Grey Seals are the most common seals in these seas and have been categorized as "Least Concern" under IUCN Red List. However, experts believe that the depleting ice level has raised concerns and it is time to change their conservation status.

Thomas Schaefer, Finance Minister of Hesse (Germany), 54 years old, has committed suicide apparently after becoming "deeply worried" over how to cope with the economic fallout from the Coronavirus. He was born on February 22, 1966, in Hemer, North Rhine- Westphalia, West Germany.

The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved Convalescent plasma is the method to treat people who are critically ill with COVID-19. Convalescent plasma refers to the plasma extracted from those who are recovering from coronavirus (COVID-19). To run the process the doctors must get approval over the telephone.

Government launched "COVID-19 National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC)." It was launched by the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The Project CoNTec was conceptualized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and implemented by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.