1. North Macedonia becomes NATO’s 30th member

• North Macedonia officially became the 30th member of the NATO military alliance.
• North Macedonia’s flag will be raised alongside those of the other 29 member countries at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
• North Macedonia previously was known as Macedonia, a name it shared with a Greek province. 
• This membership comes after North Macedonia’s 2017 deal with Athens, the country changed its name and Greece agreed to drop objections to its NATO and eventual EU membership.

Foot Notes:About North Macedonia
Capital: Skopje
President: Stevo Pendarovski
Prime Minister: Oliver Spasovski

2.  ADB to invest $100 million in NIIF  fund of funds

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest $100 million into the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India Fund of Funds. 
• With ADB’s investment into the NIIF platform, the FoF has now secured $700 million in commitments. 
• ADB will now join the Government of India (GOI) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an investor in the Fund.
• NIIF is India’s first sovereign wealth fund that was set up by the Government of India in February 2015.

Foot Notes:About Asian Development Bank
Founded: 19 Dec 1966
Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
President: Masatsugu Asakawa

3. Rajasthan statehood day observed on 30 March

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted Rajasthan on the state day and wished the progress of the people will continue.
• Rajasthan, the largest Indian state by area, was established on this day in 1949.
• The state was formed on 30 March, when Rajputana, the name adopted by the British Raj for its dependencies in the region, was merged into the Dominion of India. 

Foot Notes: About Rajasthan
Capital: Jaipur
Governor: Kalraj Mishra
Chief Minister: Ashok Gehlot 

4.PMO sets up high-level panels to deal with situation post lockdown; restore normalcy

• The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) constituted 10 different high-level committees to suggest measures to ramp up healthcare, put the economy back on track, reduce pain and misery of people as quickly as possible post 21-day lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. 
• These committees looking after various aspects will work under the overall guidance of P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.The initiative is being viewed as a proactive step by the government to deal with multiple challenges, which the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 has posed and made the country to deal with emergency situations.
• Each group will have about 6 members with one officer from the PMO and Cabinet Secretariat so that there is full coordination and suggestions accepted are implemented without any delay. Each group has been given an upper time limit of a week to come out with measures on the specified sector.

5. Nagaland CM launches Self Declaration COVID-19 App

• Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio launched the Self Declaration COVID-19 Nagaland App at Kohima. 
• The app will be mandatory for any person who entered Nagaland after March 6. 
• He added that the app is crucial for tracking and surveillance of high-risk cases.

Foot notes: About Nagaland
Formation: 1 December 1963
Capital: Kohima
Governor: RN Ravi
Chief minister: Neiphiu Rio

6. Chennai Port Trust Acquires 67% Stake in Kamarajar Port

• Chennai Port Trust has acquired from the Centre 67% stake in Kamarajar Port Ltd for INR 2,383 crore making the latter its wholly-owned subsidiary. This agreement comes into force with immediate effect. 
• Both ports would operate as different entities for the betterment of Exim trade KPL as corporate firm and ChPT as trust. ChPT will continue to handle clean cargo such as containers, cars, liquid cargo, cruise and passenger traffic, while KPL will create additional capacity for all other types of bulk, dry and liquid cargo. 
• Kamarajar Port Limited, formerly Ennore Port, is located on the Coromandel Coast in Tamil Nadu, it is the 12th major port of India, and the first port in India which is a public company.

Foot notes: About Chennai port
Opened: 1881; 139 years ago
Operated by: Chennai Port Trust
Chairman: P Raveendran

About Kamarajar Port:
Opened: 2001
Operated by: Kamarajar Port Limited
Location: Ennore, Chennai
Chairman cum Managing Director: Sunil Paliwal, IAS

7.BP Kanungo reappointed as RBI's deputy governor

• BP Kanungo was reappointed as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.His reappointment came after the Appointments Committee of Cabinet approved Kanungo's term extension for a period of one year with effect from March 27.
• Kanungo's tenure was to end on April 3. Kanungo was the executive director of RBI before he took charge as the deputy governor back in April 2017. He oversees departments like currency management, payments and settlement, foreign exchange, internal debt management.
• NS Vishwanathan, MK Jain and Michael Patra also hold the position of deputy governor of RBI apart from Kanungo. The RBI, headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das, can have a maximum of four deputy governors.

Foot Notes: About RBI
Founded: 01 Apr 1935
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Governor : Shaktikanta Das

8. IAF veteran Air Vice Marshal (retd) Chandan Singh Rathore passed away 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi consoled the demise of former Air Vice Marshal Chandan Singh Rathore. Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) Recipient, Rathore had distinguished himself as a young air warrior during the Sino-India 1962 war and the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
• During the war with Pakistan, Rathore was at the forefront of air operations conducted for the liberation of Bangladesh.
• Rathore was also responsible for the planning and execution of the special helicopter operations to airlift two companies of troops of the Sylhet area in Bangladesh.

9. German state finance minister commits suicide after 'virus crisis worries'

• Thomas Schaefer, the Finance Minister of Germany’s Hesse state, had committed suicide.
• He was reportedly concerned over the coronavirus pandemic, and how to deal with the economic fallout from the crisis. Hesse is the German state which is home to Frankfurt, considered to be the financial capital of Germany.
• Schafer belonged to Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats (CDU).

Foot notes: About Germany
Capital: Berlin
Currency: Euro
Chancellor: Angela Markel

10. Panama govt permits cruise ship with Coronavirus infected people through its canal

• Panama's government has given permission to a cruise ship on which four passengers have died during travel through its canal. 
• Earlier, the Panama Government had denied access to the Panama canal over Coronavirus fears. 
• It decided to allow the ship to pass on humanitarian ground but stressed that no passenger nor member of crew can disembark on Panamanian soil.
• The Panama Canal is an artificial 82 km waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

Foot notes: About Panama
Capital: Panama City
Currencies: United States Dollar, Panamanian balboa
Official language: Spanish
About Panama Artificial canal:
The Panama Canal is an artificial 82 km waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade.

Length: 80 km
Maximum boat length: 366 m (1,200 ft 9 in)
Construction started: 1881 (Taken over by the United States in 1904)

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Current Affairs 28-29 March 2020

Current Affairs 27 March 2020

Current Affairs 26 March 2020