1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel's general elections.

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel's general election, with partial results putting him ahead of main rival Benny Gantz.
• With 90% of votes counted, his Likud party and its right-wing allies were on course to win 59 seats, Israeli media reported. However, that would leave them two short of a majority.
• Mr Netanyahu nevertheless declared the outcome "the biggest win of my life". Mr Netanyahu, 70, is Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister. He is seeking a record fifth term, having been in office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009.

Foot Notes:
About Israel
Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
Capital: Jerusalem
Currency: Israeli Shekel

2. Pune to host 108th Indian Science Congress in 2021.

• This will be the fourth time that the city will host the prestigious meet in the last 100 years.  The event, set to be held at Symbiosis International University’s Lavale campus.
• The theme of this event will be ‘Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women Empowerment’. Dr Vijay Laxmi Saxena has been elected general president of the Indian Science Congress, 2021.
• The science congress had commenced in 1914 from then Calcutta with 105 members. Currently, the association has more than 60,000 members from various streams of science like agriculture, archaeology, biochemistry, earth system science among others.

3. Indian-American Seema Verma  appointed as member  of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

• Indian-American Seema Verma has been appointed as one of the key members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force constituted by US President Donald Trump.
• The Task Force has been created to combat the deadly disease that has claimed six lives in the country and infected over 90 others.
• The task force is led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and is coordinated through the National Security Council.

Foot Notes:
About America
President: Donald Trump
Capital: Washington, D.C.
Currency: United States Dollar

4. 68th All India Police Athletic Championship starts in Haryana.

• 68th All India Police Athletic Championship-2019 began at Bhanu in Panchkula District of Haryana.
• Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju declared the meet open at Basic Training Centre of ITBP.
•  Mr Rijiju said that with an aim to bring India in top 10 in the Olympics scheduled in 2028, the government has identified 15,000 plus children and started their training across 284 Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centres across the country.

Foot Notes:
About Haryana
Capital: Chandigarh
Governor: Satyadev Narayan Arya
Chief minister: Manohar Lal Khattar

5. Head of Bangladesh Bouddha Kristi Prachar Sangha Sanghanayaka “Suddhananda Mahathero” passed away.

• The head of the Bangladesh Bouddha Kristi Prachar Sangha Sanghanayaka Suddhananda Mahathero passed away in Dhaka.
• He was a revered figure among the Buddhists of Bangladesh. He is known for running many social service activities particularly the orphanage at Dharmarajika Buddhist Monastery which takes care of more than 350 children. The Government of Bangladesh awarded the Ekushey Award to him in 2012.
• According to 2011 census, Buddhism is the third largest religion of Bangladesh constituting 0.6 percent of the population.   Most of the Buddhists live in Chittagong division of Bangladesh.

Foot Notes:
About Bangladesh
President: Abdul Hamid
Capital: Dhaka
Currency: Bangladeshi taka
Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina

6. Luxembourg became the First Country in the World to provide Free Public Transport .

• Luxembourg in Europe has become the first country to make all forms of public transport free. It is the second smallest country in the European Union.
• Around 0.2 million passengers travel to Luxembourg from its neighbouring countries such as Belgium, France and Germany for work.

7. CM Trivendra Singh Rawat announced Gairsain to be summer capital of Uttarakhand.

• The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat made a major announcement during the Uttarakhand budget session. The CM declared Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand during the budget session.
• CM said that Dehradun doesn’t serve the status of Uttarakhand’s permanent capital now Gairsain will serve the purpose and issue of permanent state capital will be solved.
• The name Gairsain is derived from local language Gair (at some depth) and Sain (rolling plains). In 1960, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali proposed Gairsain as the capital state of Uttarakhand

Foot Notes:
About Uttarakhand
Governor: Baby Rani Maurya

8. Supreme Court lifts RBI’s ban on dealing in cryptocurrency.

• The Supreme Court lifted the RBI ban on trading in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. The order comes as a major relief for the traders in this sector. The apex court read out its judgement while hearing a plea from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) challenging the RBI ban.
• The IMAI petition claimed that by banning virtual currencies, RBI had effectively banned legitimate business activity through virtual currencies.

Foot Notes:
About RBI
Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
Governor: Shaktikanta Das
4 Deputy Governor: Dr. M. D. Patra, Shri M. K. Jain, Shri B.P. Kanungo, Shri N. S. Vishwanathan    

9. All level crossings on National Highways to be replaced by bridges, underpasses under Setu Bharatam scheme.

• The Indian Government has targeted to replace all level crossings on National Highways with road over bridges or under bridges under the Setu Bharatam scheme before the end of the year 2020.
• The Setu Bharatam Scheme is being implemented by the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry to ensure a smooth flow of traffic on the national highways and reduce road accidents by at least 50 percent by 2020.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had signed an MoU with the Railways Ministry to replace all level crossings with road over bridges or road under bridges.
•  The Setu Bharatam scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 4, 2016 for building rail over bridges and underpasses for safe and smooth travel on national highways.

Foot Notes:

Minister of Road Transport and Highways : Nitin Gadkari

10. Sanjay Kumar Panda appointed as India’s Ambassador to Turkey.

• The Ministry of External Affairs announced Senior diplomat Sanjay Kumar Panda has been appointed as India’s Ambassador to Turkey. He succeeds  Sanjay Bhattacharya.
• Sanjay Kumar Panda is a 1991 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer. He is presently Consul General, Consulate General of India, San Francisco.
• He is appointed to the post when India- Turkey relations are under strain.

Foot Notes
About Turkey:
President: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Capital: Ankara
Currency: Turkish lira

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Current Affairs 04 March, 2020

Current Affairs 03 March, 2020

Current Affairs 02 March, 2020