Daily Current Affairs : 20th March 2020 |Daily GK update Quiz

Exp.The Indian Railways network will be completely electrified soon as Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry has planned to electrify the remaining broad gauge routes on the network by the month of December 2023.

Exp.In the year 2019-2020, a target of electrifying 6,000 km of broad gauge route has been planned. In the year 2020-2021, a target of electrifying 6,000 km. In the year 2021-2022, a target of electrifying 6,000 km. In the year 2022-2023, a target of electrifying 6,500 km. In the year 2023-2024 (till the month of December 2023), a target of electrifying 4,310 km of broad gauge route has been planned. Hence, Indian Railways has planned to electrify a total of 28,810 km of broad gauge route.

Exp.Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is to start Swavalamban Express on 5 June 2020.  Swavalamban Express will depart from Lucknow on 5 June. The journey will be for 15 days, and it will cover about 7000 km of track.

Exp.Narendra Modi has called for ‘Janata Curfew’ on Sunday i.e. March 22 from 7 AM-9 PM.

Exp.As per the latest key world energy statistics published by the IEA in 2019, India is the 3rd largest producer of electricity in the world and it ranks 106th in terms of per capita consumption in 2017.

Exp.CRISIL has cut India’s GDP growth rate forecast for FY21 citing financial sector stress and COVID-19 impact. In view of this, CRISIL has cut its base-case GDP growth forecast for fiscal 2021 to 5.2%, from 5.7% announced recently.

Exp.Fitch Ratings on 20th March cut India’s growth forecast to 5.1 per cent for FY 2020-21, saying the coronavirus outbreak is likely to hit business investment and exports. Fitch had in December 2019 projected India’s growth at 5.6 per cent for 2020-21 and 6.5 per cent in the following year.

Exp.The International Day of Happiness is celebrated across the world every year on March 20. It was initially founded and conceptualized in 2006 by Jayme Illien, CEO of the United Nations New World Order project.

Exp.Theme 2020: ‘Happiness for all’.

Exp.Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about the bird. World Sparrow Day also has a broader vision to provide a platform where people who are working on the conservation of the House Sparrow and other common birds can network, collaborate and exchange conservation ideas which will lead to better science and improved results. Theme 2020: “I LOVE Sparrows” and is pictured like “I Sparrows”.

Exp.Legendary India footballer P.K. Banerjee died here on 20th March after battling a prolonged illness. He was 83. The 1962 Asian Games gold-medallist, whose best days as a striker coincided with Indian football’s golden era, was suffering from respiratory problems due to pneumonia.

Exp.The Fifteenth Finance Commission (15th FC) will monitor the situation in India in the wake of coronavirus pandemic and also the country’s response to it, as part of its deliberations ahead of the recommendations for 2020-21 (FY21) to 2025-26 (FY26). The Commission’s Chairman N K Singh said on 19th March that some aspects that will need to be examined include health-sector specific needs, the larger impact on the economy of the Centre and states, and disaster relief funds.

Exp.Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath resigns on 20th March post his media briefing at 12 PM. As per the Supreme Court’s order, Kamal Nath had to undergo the floor test at 2 PM on 20th March. The state has been witnessing political crises since Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the Congress on March 10. The move led Legislators loyal to Scindia also quit the party to reduce the Kamal Nath-led government to a minority.