ONE LINER OF THE DAY 27th MARCH 2020

1.Government announced a package of Rs 1.7 lakh Cr for the poor who need immediate help in the wake of COVID-19 like migrant workers & poor. Insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh per person for 3 months for COVID-19 warriors who are exposing themselves to the virus.Gareeb Kalyan scheme will help the migrant and poor people.

2.UN launched a $2-b global humanitarian response plan to fight COVID-19 in the world's poorest countries. UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres warned that the pandemic is threatening the entire human race. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator- Mark Lowcock.UN Headquarters: New York, Formed On: 24 October 1945.

3.Department of S&T has set up a COVID-19 Task Force for mapping of technologies from Research and Development labs, academic institutions, start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to identify the most promising start-ups that are close to scale up.Union Minister for Science & Technology- Harsh Vardhan.

4.IITGN launched Project Isaac to engage students in creative projects to enhance their critical skills while they are confined to their homes due to COVID-19. It is inspired by Isaac Newton, who was similarly sent home due to the Great Plague of London.Four different competitions are being organized by IITGN.

5.All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi has set up a Task Force to build a management protocol for COVID-19. It has also constituted several committees to respond to challenges of rising number of the infections which may emerge in the coming days.AIIMS is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

6.Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has teamed up with two public sector undertakings (PSUs) to work with an existing manufacturer of high spec ventilators to help simplify design and scale up capacity, in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak in the country.M&M did not disclose the name of the manufacturer.

7.The International Monetary Fund projected a contraction of global output in 2020 and recovery in 2021 as it asked the leaders of the G-20 countries to back a doubling of its USD 50 billion emergency financing capacity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.Of this, $10-b: Zero interest aid for the poorest members.

8.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 500 per month for the next three months to all the women Jan Dhan account holders to run their households. Around 20 crore such women account holders will be covered under this scheme.Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched on 28 August 2014.

9.India proposed setting up of a common e-platform for all SAARC nations to share expertise in jointly combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. SAARC is a regional grouping comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka.SAARC was established on 8 December 1985.

10.Government will supply over the next 3 months extra 2 kg subsidised food grains under the Public Distribution System, taking the total monthly quota to 7 kg/ person. Under NFSA, 5 kg of food grains/ month is given to over 80 Cr people at subsidised price.Wheat is supplied at Rs 2/kg under National Food Security Act.

11.To provide relief to farmers affected due to the lockdown, government would transfer in the first week of April the first instalment of Rs 2,000 to each of 8.69 crore beneficiaries under the PM-KISAN scheme. Farmers receive Rs 6,000 annual from PM-KISAN.PM-KISAN Scheme is effective from 1 December 2018.

12.2 domestic research agencies, CRISIL and ICRA sharply lowered their GDP growth forecast for FY21. While CRISIL has lowered growth projection by 170 basis points, ICRA’s cut is in the range of 50-100 bps. CRISIL slashed forecast for FY21 to 3.5% from 5.2%.ICRA: GDP growth to ease from 4.4% in FY20 to 4.2% in FY21.

13.As the COVID-19 epidemic force, a 3-week countrywide lockdown disrupting travel, government resorted to ‘virtual signing’ to conclude strategic sales in Kamarajar Port, THDC India & NEEPCO. The Centre will receive Rs 13,500 crore from the three deals.Chennai Port Trust will acquire 67% stake in Kamarajar Port.

14.An Extraordinary Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit was arranged to discuss the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and to forge a global coordinated response. Earlier, PM had telephonic conversation with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on this subject.Saudi Arabia assumed the G20 2020 Presidency on 2019.

15.The Centre has kept the maximum sale price of genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton seeds unchanged at Rs 730 per packet for the next fiscal but scrapped the royalty to US-based technology provider Monsanto, now controlled by the global agri major Bayer.The seed value is Rs 730 and trait value zero.

16.FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Centre is considering increasing wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) by Rs 2,000 per worker. Each person will get 5 kg of rice or wheat over & above the existing 5 kg being given.The wage will benefit five crore families.

17.COVID-19 will impact India's economic growth ‘severely’, as the lockdown is causing major disruption across multiple sectors, including manufacturing, oil, among others, says D&B report. It expects the IIP to remain subdued by 4-4.5% during February 2020.IIP- Index of Industrial Production.

18.The SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate Emergency (SAFE) response against coronavirus scheme will offer loans to MSEs at a fixed interest rate of 5 percent and with a maximum loan repayment tenure of five years for fighting the novel coronavirus COVID-19.Loans are collateral-free & will be sanctioned within 48 hours.

19.RBI said that all banking institutions can offer 3-month moratorium on all loans for a period of 3 months. The RBI has also allowed banks to restructure the working capital cycle for companies without worrying that these will have to be classified as NPA.So far, the RBI has infused Rs 280,000 crore.

20.Financial services company Moody's Investors slashed its estimate of India's GDP growth during 2020 calendar year to 2.5 percent, from an earlier estimate of 5.3 percent & said the coronavirus pandemic will cause unprecedented shock to the global economy.The estimate for 2020 compares to 5% economic growth in 2019.

21.RBI announced substantial liquidity measures saying it will conduct up to 3-year tenure for an amount of up to Rs 100,000 Cr at a floating rate linked to policy repo rate. Liquidity must be deployed in investment grade corporate bonds & commercial papers.RBI has also cut CRR heavily by 100 bps to 3% of NDTL.

22.Reserve Bank of India offered Rs 11,772 Cr to banks through a 12-day variable rate repo auction. Before the auction, the RBI enhanced the amount of auction to Rs 50,000 crore from Rs 25,000 crore, announced earlier. RBI received Rs 11,772 crore of bids.Next variable term repo auction of Rs 25,000 Cr is on March 31.

23.The number of coal-fired power plants under development worldwide fell last year (2019), as climate concerns and competitive renewable energy projects chipped away at coal's viability, a study by four non-governmental organisations showed.Capacity under construction fell 16% last year compared with 201

24.In the wake of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is setting up a fund- CII COVID Rehabilitation & Relief Fund (CRR)- to assist rehabilitation of small enterprises and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).President of CII- Vikram Kirloskar.

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Ravi Kumar Singh