Test: September 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The Central Authority has appointed Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman as the Chairman of the Supreme Court legal services committee.
The committee has been constituted for implementing the legal services programme in connection with the top court.

According to the CARE Ratings report, the employment growth rate declined to 3.5 per cent in FY20 from 3.8 per cent in the previous fiscal year, but the total number of jobs increased to 50.02 lakh from 48.32 lakh.
In FY20, 1.70 lakh new jobs were added, while the net addition was 1.76 lakh in FY19. But in FY20, as many as 321 companies reduced their headcounts by 1.13 lakh compared to 272 companies doing so by 1.18 lakh in the previous year.

S&P Global Ratings slashed its growth forecast for India to (-) 9 per cent in the current fiscal, from (-) 5 per cent estimated earlier, saying that rising COVID-19 cases would keep private spending and investment lower for longer.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs expects Indian economy to undergo a deeper recession in FY21 with a contraction of 14.8% against its earlier estimate of 11.8% dip in economic activity.

In view of the exceptional circumstances arising out of Covid-19, the Central Board has recommended the same interest rate at 8.50 per cent to the Central Government.

According to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 Annual Report, India’s rank dropped 26 spots from 79 to 105. Hong Kong and Singapore retain the top two positions followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, United States, Mauritius, Georgia, Canada, and Ireland.

The government of Bangladesh has launched a campaign named ‘Asol Chini’ or ‘real-sugar’ to fight fake information and rumour spreading on social media.

Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission (ASRLM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB) to work in cohesion in support of Bank Linkage of the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Producer Groups/ Enterprises under ASRLM.
ASRLM is the first amongst all the State Livelihood Missions to initiate the signing of MoU with the new generation small finance banks.

Every year September 9 is observed as ‘Himalaya Diwas’ or Himalayan Day, a day which would be celebrated across the State to spread the message of conservation of the Himalayan ecosystems.
The theme of the Himalayan Day this year is “The Himalaya and Nature”.

The Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar has launched an online registration portal for admissions in undergraduate (UG) programmes in government, aided and self-financed colleges for the new academic session 2020-21.
He also launched WhatsApp chatbot “Apka Mitra” to resolve any admission-related queries of the students.
Students can send a message on WhatsApp chatbot number 7419444449 to get any information regarding admissions, scholarships etc.

SAROD-Ports will resolve the disputes in fair and just manner while saving huge amount of legal expenditure and time.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has elected Subhash Kamath as its new chairman of the board of governors.

The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation is annually observed on September 12.
Theme for 2020 is “Pathways toward the SDGs through South-South solidarity beyond COVID-19.”

The Finance Ministry said more than 42 crore people have received Rs 68,820-crore financial assistance under the government’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKP) to protect poor and vulnerable from the impact of COVID-19 crisis.

Two years into its efforts to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the global food supply, the apex global public health agency in a report titled ‘Countdown to 2023: WHO report on global trans-fat elimination 2020’ released said that 58 countries so far have introduced laws that will protect 3.2 billion people from the harmful substance by the end of 2021. But more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these harmful substances from their food supplies.

The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust will present the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2019 to renowned broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Road Transport and Highways Ministry is in the process of implementing Integrated Road Accident Database Project (iRAD) which will be applicable across the country.
In the first instance, it has been decided to implement the proposal in six states. These are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

India’s child mortality rate has declined substantially between 1990 and 2019 but the country, along with Nigeria, still accounted for almost a third of all under-five deaths last year, according to a new UN report which warned that COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undo decades of progress in eliminating preventable child deaths globally.

Mahindra Finance is set to enter the business of online insurance broking giving digital services to the customers of its insurance brokerage subsidiary, Mahindra Insurance Brokers, through a soon-to-be launched portal called PayBima.
The new portal would play a role in the transformation of Mahindra’s insurance broking services to a “phygital” model.

State Bank of India is planning to launch a loan product, SAFAL, primarily focused on organic cotton growers who don’t have any credit history.

Government has constituted a three member expert committee to assist in the assessment of relief to bank borrowers.
The committee chaired by former CAG Rajiv Mehrishi will measure the impact on the national economy and financial stability of waiving of interest and COVID-19 related moratorium.

The EDLI scheme is a mandatory insurance cover provided to to all subscribers of EPF scheme. A nominee gets a lump sum payment of up to ₹7 lakh in the event of death due to natural causes, illness or accident. All organisations covered under EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 get enrolled for EDLI automatically.

UNICEF India announced Ayushmann Khurrana as its celebrity advocate for children’s rights campaign, For Every Child. He will work towards this initiative in India and joins the likes of former football star David Beckham, who works on this campaign globally.

The first-ever ‘Kisan Rail’ of South India chugged off from Anantapur Railway Station carrying 322 tonnes of fruits and vegetables to Adarsh Nagar in Delhi after it was virtually flagged off by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The very first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies observed on September 7th, 2020, following the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of the importance of clean air for the health and day-to-day lives of people.