1. India becomes second-largest arms importer in 2019; Saudi on top.

• India retains its position as the second-largest arms importer in the world followed by Saudi Arabia, says a new report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. India’s neighbor Pakistan ranked 11th.
• The SIPRI report shows how Russia gradually lost the lucrative Indian arms market over the years, though the communist country remains a key supplier. Although India remains the main recipient of Russian arms in 2015-19, accounting for 25% of the total, Russian arms exports to India fell by 47 percent between 2010-14 and 2015-19.
• The USA became the second-largest arms supplier to India in 2010-14. China, on the other hand, accounted for 51% of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2010-14 and for 73% in 2015-19.

Foot notes:
About Pakistan
Currency: Pakistani rupee
Capital: Islamabad
Prime minister: Imran Khan
President: Arif Alvi

About Saudi Arabia
Currency: Saudi riyal
Capital: Riyadh
King: Salman of Saudi Arabia

2. Anti-HIV drugs used to treat coronavirus for the First time in India.

• India has, for the first time, used the Lopinavir/ Ritonavir combination, usually a second line HIV medication, in the treatment of two Italian patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in Jaipur.
• ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has taken approval for use of second-line HIV drugs on COVID patients, but this Lopinavir/Ritonavir combination therapy has been approved for emergency use among COVID-19 patients with a moderate degree of severity with laid down protocols.
• Till now, this combination therapy has been given to two Italian patients hospitalised in Jaipur.

3. Gujarat tops in domestic solar rooftop installations.

• Gujarat has topped the list in the installations of solar rooftop plants across the country with about 50,915 systems being fixed on domestic rooftops in the state. Maharashtra follows with 5,513 installations.
• Of 79,950 systems installed across the country, Gujarat has topped with 64 percent or two-thirds of total domestic solar rooftop installations.
• The total capacity of the 50,915 systems installed on domestic rooftops in the State is 177.67 MW, whereas the total systems installed across the country have a combined capacity of 322 MW.
• The State government has adopted a solar rooftop scheme ‘Surya Gujarat’ to cover about eight lakh domestic electricity consumers under the scheme by 2022.
• The electricity generated through the domestic rooftops is being consumed by the households, while the excess units are purchased by the State discoms at the rate of ₹2.25 per unit.

Foot notes:
Capital: Gandhinagar
Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
Governor:  Acharya Devvrat
4. Punjab Govt launches ‘COVA Punjab’ Mobile Application.

• The Punjab government has launched a mobile app called COVA Punjab to make people aware of coronavirus (COVID-19) and its prevention and precautions. In this mobile app, travel-related and other preventive measures have been told to avoid the coronavirus.
• The Chief Secretary of Punjab Government Vini Mahajan said on this occasion that citizens should be aware of the COVID-19 virus. It can be downloaded from Android or iPhone.
• This mobile app will help people to identify such symptoms which can help them to identify Coronavirus at an early stage. People will also get information about the Special Nodal Officer for Corona in the nearest hospital and district.

Foot notes:
About Punjab
Capital: Chandigarh
Governor: V.P. Singh Badnore
Chief Minister: Amarinder Singh

5. World Health Organization declares Covid-19(coronavirus) as a pandemic.

• World Health Organization (WHO) has characterised the new coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.
• WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that he is alarmed by the spread and severity of the outbreak, along with a lack of action taken to combat it.
• UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged world governments to urgently scale up their response to the novel coronavirus if they are to stand a chance of stemming its spread.
• UN Secretary-General said the declaration of coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic is a call to action - for everyone, everywhere. He called on every government to step up and scale up their efforts now.

Foot Notes:
About World health organization
Head: Tedros Adhanom
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: 7 April 1948
About UN
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 24 October 1945, San Francisco, California, United States
Secretary-general: António Guterres

6. Moody cuts the G-20 growth outlook by 0.3 percentage points to 2.1%.

• Moody’s Investors Service said G-20 countries are expected to grow by 2.1 percent in 2020.   It has lowered its previous forecast by 0.3 percentage as the global spread of the coronavirus is resulting in simultaneous supply and demand shocks.
• The G-20 grouping includes advanced economies such as the US, Euro area, Japan, Germany, and the UK, and emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico.
• Moody’s has lowered its 2020 forecast for China’s growth to 4.8 percent from its previous estimate of 5.2 percent.

Foot notes:
Moody’s Corporation is an American business and financial services company.
Headquarters: New York, USA.
CEO: Raymond W. McDaniel Jr.
The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
7. Ashraf Ghani sworn in as Afghanistan President for second term amid crisis.

• Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani was sworn in for a second term. His rival Abdullah Abdullah held a parallel inauguration that could plunge the country deeper into crisis ahead of peace talks with the Taliban.
• The oath-taking ceremony of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was attended by hundreds of people, including visiting foreign dignitaries, diplomats, and senior political figures.
• Ghani was declared as the winner of the election held last September, but Abdullah Abdullah, who disputed the vote, held a parallel ceremony surrounded by hundreds of supporters.

Foot notes:
About Afghanistan
President: Ashraf Ghani
Capital: Kabul
Currency: Afghan afghani
8. India plans to launch Chandrayaan-3 by the first half of 2021.

• According to the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Jitendra Singh, a possible schedule for the launch of Chandrayaan-3 is planned to be implemented in the first half of 2021.
• The preparation of Chandrayaan-3 has been done by taking lessons from the previously launched Chandrayaan-2, a Moon mission that was launched in 2019, in which the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Vikram Lander lost contact following a hard landing on the Moon’s surface.
• Chandrayaan-3 will be designed to increase design, capacity with a cost of around Rs 610 crore, including Rs 360 crore for the launch rocket.

Foot notes:
About ISRO
Headquarters of ISRO: Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Chairman of ISRO: K. Sivan.
ISRO established: 15 August 1969.
9. NASA named Mars 2020 rover as “Perseverance”.

• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) announced the name of the 5th Mars (red planet) rover as Perseverance. Previously the rover was known by its codename as Mars 2020.
• The name was suggested by Alexander Mather, 7th standard student and was announced by Nasa’s director of science, Thomas Zurbuchen at an event in Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia.
• The Perseverance rover will be the 5th exploratory vehicle after Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity.

Foot notes:
About NASA
Headquarters: Washington D.C., United States.
Administrator: Jim Bridenstine.
10. Jack Ma becomes Asia's wealthiest man, leaving Mukesh Ambani behind.

• Indian energy tycoon Mukesh Ambani is no longer Asia’s richest man, relinquishing the title to Jack Ma after oil prices collapsed along with global stocks. The novel coronavirus recession warning erased $5.8 billion from Ambani’s net worth on and pushed him to No. 2 on the list of Asia’s richest people.
• Ma, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder who relinquished the No. 1 ranking in mid-2018, is back on top with a $44.5 billion fortune, about $2.6 billion more than Ambani.
• Oil plunged the most in 29 years as Saudi Arabia and Russia vowed to pump more in a struggle for market share.
• The slump comes just as the coronavirus is spurring the first decline in demand in more than a decade.

Foot notes:
About Alibaba group:
CEO: Daniel Zhang
Founder: Jack Ma
About Reliance Industries:
CEO: Mukesh Ambani
Owner: Mukesh Ambani
Founder: Dhirubhai Ambani

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Current Affairs 09- 10 March 2020

Current Affairs 07- 08 March 2020

Current Affairs 06 March 2020