Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 20 MARCH 2020

::NATIONAL::

Prime Minister NarendraModi has announced Janata Curfew on Sunday(22nd March) in the wake of COVID 19 outbreak. It will be self-imposed and self-regulated and will be effective from 7 in the morning till 9 in the evening. He said, no one should step out of their homes during this period except those people in essential services.
The Prime Minister was addressing the nation last evening in light of the coronavirus outbreak. He also urged countrymen to thank people like doctors, medical personnel and cleaning staff for their service on Sunday at 5 PM. Mr Modi requested all people to step out of house in the coming few weeks only if extremely necessary, and work from home as much as possible. He also urged senior citizens above the age of 65 years to stay at home in the coming days.
The Prime Minister said government is taking all necessary steps to ensure supply of essential commodities. He appealed to the people not to go for panic buying. The Prime Minister also appealed to the business community to take care of the economic needs of their employees by not deducting their salary if they are not able to come to work.
Prime Minister also said government has decided to constitute a Task Force under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister which will interact with all the stakeholders.

Government is planning to start roadside amenities like shopping centre, petrol pumps, toilets under the National Highway Authority of India.
Replying to a question in the LokSabha today about the commercial use of the land along the highways, Road Transport and Highways Minister NitinGadkari said, the amenities will include markets and restaurants offering special food and handicraft items of that area.
Government has also launched a unique scheme for identification and removal of black spots from the national and state highways so that the deaths on these spots can be avoided.
Giving the details in the LokSabha during question hour, Road and Transport Minister NitinGadkari said that in every district, government will take help of engineering, diploma and ITI students to identify black spots in their area.
Government will provide stipend to these students for their work. A committee under the chairmanship of MPs will also inspect the road quality in their area so that the dangerous spots can be identified and removed.
Government will spend 14 thousand crore for removal of black spots on National Highways. Road and Transport Minister NitinGadkari said in LokSabha that half of the money of this amount will be given by Centre while 3500 crores each will be provided by World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The government has removed import restrictions on certain chemicals including zinc dross, light, heavy and full range naphtha.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, DGFT in a notification said, it has also allowed flying clubs to freely import aviation gasoline with certain conditions. For other users, import of aviation gasoline is permitted through state trading enterprises.
According to the notification, import of zinc dross is allowed without a license. Earlier, a license was required for the imports.
It is used in different sector including paint industry. However, according to the notification, import of zinc dross is permitted to the actual user or to the trader on behalf of the actual users authorised by State Pollution Control Board on one-time basis and subject to verification of documents by the customs authority.
Similarly, imports of light, heavy, and full range naphtha too is now allowed freely. Earlier, it was permitted through state trading enterprises with certain policy conditions.

India has criticised Pakistan for raising Kashmir during the SAARC video-conference earlier this week.
Briefing media in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said it was not a political platform, but a humanitarian one and Islamabad misused it. He also said the emergency SAARC fund proposed by Prime Minister NarendraModi during the video conference to combat coronavirus was operationalised and India has received requests from member countries for assistance.
External Affairs Ministry also said it is being planned to evacuate the next batch of Indians from Italy over the coming weekend. Additional Secretary in the MEA, Dammu Ravi said India has evacuated 590 people from Iran where the situation is very severe.
The Indians infected with coronavirus in Iran have been segregated and taken care of, very well. Mr Ravi expressed belief that they will recover and be brought to India.
He also said the ministry was strengthening its COVID-19 control room. Right now, 25-30 people are working in the control room in shifts. The control room gets about 400 e-mails and 1,000 calls in a day.

On March 17, 2020, the Department of Space reported at the Parliament that ISRO has designed NAVIC messaging system and receiver. The system is currently used by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information system (INCOIS).
The system is used to broadcast emergency warning messages in cases such as tsunami, cyclone, high waves. The technology has been transferred by ISROto 5 industries in India.
One of them is the fisheries industry. ISRO has so far distributed 250 units of these systems to the coastal fishermen in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The NAVIC is Navigation in Indian Constellation. It is an Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS),developed by ISRO. There are 8 satellites in the constellation. The main objective of NAVIC is to provide continuous surveillance of the Indian sub-continent.
The systems will be carried by the fishermen. The device offers potential fishing zone advisories. This will help fishermen to stay within international boundaries. The system also gives warning about Oceanic wave forecasts and high wave alerts.

Union Sports Minister, KirenRijiju has said that the government will make efforts to take indigenous sport kabaddi to the Olympics. He was responding to supplementaries during the Question Hour in LokSabha yesterday.
The Minister revealed that a total of 2,880 athletes have been selected under Khelo India scheme for further training to excel in various national and international competitions.
He said identified promising sports persons and teams are provided support of modern sports science and exposure abroad under experts of respective disciplines.