National Gallery of Modern Art celebrates 66 years by launching virtual tour of its permanent collection

National Gallery of Modern Art celebrates 66 years by launching virtual tour of its permanent collection

National Gallery of Modern Art has celebrated 66 years by launching virtual tour of its permanent collection amid lock down.

The Gallery launched virtual tour of its permanent collection for the visitors to enjoy without having to physically visit the Museum during these days.

It is for the first time that National Gallery of Modern Art has provided the facility of virtual tour of its permanent collection to art lovers.
 

China's central bank cut interest rate on loans to banks by largest margin in 5 years

China's central bank cut interest rate on loans to banks by largest margin in 5 years

China's central bank cut an interest rate on loans to banks by the largest margin in five years and injected 50 billion yuans into the financial system to help the world's second-largest economy weather the coronavirus impact.

The People's Bank of China said, it launched a 50-billion-yuan reverse repurchase operation today and lowered the seven-day reverse repurchase rate from 2.40 per cent to 2.20 per cent.

The latest move comes as governments and central banks around the world ease monetary policy and unveil titanic stimulus measures worth around five trillion US Dollars to counter the economic impact of the pandemic, which forecasters warn will cause a deep recession.

 analysts have cut growth forecasts for China, which was the first to see the effects from containment measures aimed at halting its spread.
 

World Theatre Day

World Theatre Day

World Theatre Day (WTD) is an international observance celebrated on 27 March.

It was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute.

Former Indian Footballer Abdul Latif

Former Indian Footballer Abdul Latif

Abdul Latif was  a key member of bronze medal winning team at the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games

He also represented India in Asia Cup Qualifier in 1968 in Myanmar and Merdeka Cup in 1969 in Kuala Lumpur.

He played as a midfielder

he played for the Kolkata clubs Mohammedan Sporting Club and Mohun Bagan.

actress Nimmi

 actress Nimmi

Nawab Banoo, better known by her stage name Nimmi, was an Indian screen actress who achieved stardom in the 1950s and early 1960s in Hindi films.

She made her debut in, Raj Kapoor’s “Barsaat” in 1949, who had given her the screen name of Nimmi

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members

The International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members is observed annually on 25 March by the United Nations.

It commemorates the anniversary of the abduction of Alec Collett, a former journalist who was working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) when he was kidnapped by armed gunman in 1985

His dead body was finally found in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon in 2009

The day aims to initiate action, demand justice and highlight the importance to protect UN staff and peacekeepers, also people who work for non-governmental communities & the press.

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is a United Nations international observance designated in 2007 to be marked on 25 March every year.

The day honours and remembers those who suffered and died as a consequence of the transatlantic slave trade, which has been called "the worst violation of human rights in history",in which over 400 years more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims

It was first observed in 2008 with the theme "Breaking the Silence, Lest We Forget"

With 2015 marking the start of the UN's International Decade for People of African Descent, a permanent memorial was unveiled at the UN headquarters in New York,  entitled "The Ark of Return and designed by Haitian-American architect Rodney Leon, who also designed the African Burial Ground National Monument

Indian football Legend P K Banerjee

Indian football Legend P K Banerjee

The 1962 Asian Games gold-medallist was conferred with  Arjun award and Padmshree.

He scored 65 international goals in 84 appearances for the national team.

Besides winning the gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Games in 1962, Banerjee led India in the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he scored the equalizer against a formidable French team in a 1-1 draw.

Before that, Banerjee represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and played a key role in their 4-2 win over Australia in the quarterfinals.

Banerjee's contribution to Indian football was duly recognised by the world governing body FIFA that awarded him the Centennial Order of Merit in 2004.

Banerjee got Arjuna, FIFA awards and also received Gold Medal in Asian Games besides other prestigious awards.

The West Bengal government conferred him ‘Bangabhushan Samman’ for his outstanding contributions in the field of sports

 Padma Shri in 1990
 Arjuna Award in 1961.[25]
Listed as Indian Footballer of 20th Century by IFFHS.
FIFA Order of Merit (Centennial), highest honour by FIFA in 2004
Banerjee is the only footballer from Asia who has been awarded the FAIR PLAY Award

Saudi Arabia proposed to convene “extraordinary virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit” on March 26

Saudi Arabia proposed to convene “extraordinary virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit” on March 26

Saudi Arabia which is in chair has proposed to convene an “extraordinary virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit” on 26th March

King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will chair the meeting of this “extraordinary Summit”.

G20 members will be joined by leaders from invited countries, Spain, Jordan, Singapore, and Switzerland as well as international organizations; United Nations (UN), World Bank Group (WBG), the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Regional organizations will be represented by Vietnam the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Africa the Chair of the African Union (AU), the United Arab Emirates the Chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Rwanda the Chair of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

G20 is one of the major forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues and a primary platform for global economic governance.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March.

Proclaiming the day in 1966, the United Nations General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination

In South Africa, Human Rights Day is a public holiday celebrated on 21 March each year

World Poetry Day

World Poetry Day

In celebrating World Poetry Day, March 21, UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.

UNESCO first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.


Its purpose is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the original UNESCO declaration says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".

20th March is observed as World Sparrow Day

20th March is observed as World Sparrow Day

Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about the bird.

The need for marking this day was felt due to the tremendous decrease in its population.

The house sparrow is on the verge of extinction.

Increased use of pesticides, change in the pattern of buildings and gardens missing from the houses have become the main factors why the number of sparrows has declined sharply in the past few years.

In the year of 2020, the world series day is having a theme of 'I Love Sparrow'

Global Recycling Day

Global Recycling Day was created in 2018 to help recognize, and celebrate, the importance recycling plays in preserving our precious primary resources and securing the future of our planet.

It is a day for the world to come together and put the planet first.

The Global Recycling Foundation announced the kick off of Global Recycling Day 2020 by honoring heroes in the recycling industry.

The theme for 2020 is #RecyclingHeroes – recognizing the unsung heroes in the recycling industry and the children, schools, teachers, professionals, businesses and communities that champion recycling around the world.

French Open tennis tournament postponed till September

French Open tennis tournament postponed till September

The French Open Tennis has been postponed  and will take place from 20th September to 4th October.

 the Grand Slam event was to have taken place from 24th May to 7th June.

The new dates would mean the tournament would start just one week after the US Open, if that event remains in its scheduled slot.

Euro-2020 football tournament postponed by one year

Euro-2020 football tournament postponed by one year

The Euro-2020 football tournament has been postponed by one year until 2021

This was stated by the Norwegian Football Association.

It said that the decision was taken at an emergency video conference convened by  European football's governing body, UEFA involving major stakeholders

The Norwegian FA said, it was decided that the tournament will now take place from 11th June to 11th of July next year.

The tournament was due to take place from 12th June to 12th of July this year at 12 venues across Europe.

Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying won her third women's singles title of All England Championships

Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying won her third women's singles title of All England Championships

In Badminton, Taiwan's shuttler Tai Tzu Ying clinched her third women's singles title of the All England Championships at Birmingham in United Kingdom today.

Ying beat China's Chen Yufei in two straight games 21-19, 21-15 in 44 minutes.

Earlier in the men's singles, Denmark's Victor Axelsen outclassed Taiwan's Chou Tien-Chen in two straight games 21-13, 21-14 in the summit clash that lasted for about 46 minutes.

Indian representation in the competition ended on Friday, ace shuttler PV Sindhu lost in the quarterfinal match by Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-12, 15-21, 13-21.

The 2019–20 Indian Super League season

The 2019–20 Indian Super League season is the sixth season of the Indian Super League, one of the top Indian professional football leagues

It was established in 2013

The regular season began on 20 October 2019 and will conclude in March 2020

Hyderabad FC replaced the disbanded FC Pune City,

whereas Delhi Dynamos moved to Bhubaneswar and rebranded as Odisha FC

Bengaluru FC were the defending champions, who won their maiden Indian Super League title by defeating FC Goa 1–0 in the final

However, Bengaluru could not reach the final of this season having lost to ATK with 3–2 aggregate in the two-legged semi-finals

At the same time, Chennaiyin reached their third ISL final after defeating FC Goa with a 6–5 aggregate in the two-legged semi-finals

Eventually on 14 March 2020, ATK won the title by a 3–1 victory over Chennaiyin, became first club to have won three ISL titl

Researchers in United States discover communication network in plants

Researchers in United States discover communication network in plants

Researchers in the United States have discovered a communication network in plants that helps them respond to a hormone involved in pest resistance. This may help develop crops that can withstand insect attacks. 

The study, published in the journal 'Nature Plants', observed that the hormone called jasmonic acid is particularly important for a plant's defense response against fungi and insects.

According to the scientists, the genes MYC2 and MYC3 rose to the top in their degree of importance across the system.  They said the two genes are involved in producing proteins that regulate the activity of thousands of other genes.

Pi Day

Pi Day

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi).

 Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π.

 In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day.

UNESCO's 40th General Conference decided Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics in November 2019.[5][6]

Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (22/7 in the day/month format), since the fraction ​22⁄7 is a common approximation of π, which is accurate to two decimal places and dates from Archimedes

Two Pi Day, also known as Tau Day for the mathematical constant Tau, is observed on June 28

Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya scales Australia’s highest mountain peak

Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya scales Australia’s highest mountain peak

Dehariya, who last year scaled Mount Everest, successfully summit the 2,228-metres Mount Kosciuszko

Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya has successfully scaled Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain peak in Australia.

Ms. Dehariya had scaled Mount Kilimanjaro on the occasion of Diwali on November 27, last year.

Ink to Curb Fake Printing of Passports and Counterfeiting of Currency Notes discovered

Ink to Curb Fake Printing of Passports and Counterfeiting of Currency Notes discovered

CSIR-National Physical Laboratory has developed a bi-luminescent security ink which glows in red and green colours when illuminated by two different excitation sources at 254 nano meters (nm) and 365 nm, respectively.

The ink was prepared in a batch of 1kg and given to Bank Note Press (BNP), Dewas, a unit of Security Printing Minting Corporation of India Ltd. (SPMCIL), New Delhi.

The ink is found comparable to the standards that are in use.

The formulation can be used to check the authenticity of passports, Government documents, tamper evident labels, identity cards, etc.

‘Joy Bangla’ will be national slogan of Bangladesh

‘Joy Bangla’ will be national slogan of Bangladesh

The High Court of Bangladesh has ordered that ‘Joy Bangla’ will be the national slogan of Bangladesh.

In an order passed on Tuesday, the two judge bench of High Court asked the authorities to take necessary steps so that all the people holding constitutional posts and state officials use ‘Joy Bangla’ after their speeches on national days and other appropriate occasions.

The court also directed the authorities to ensure that teachers and students use the slogan after assembly.

The government has been asked to submit the compliance report to the court within three months.

‘Joy Bangla’ was the main slogan during the liberation war of Bangladesh fought against Pakistan in 1971.

The first President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also used ‘Joy Bangla’ in his speeches and specially during his historic 7th March speech in 1971 declaring the goal of independence for Bangladesh.

Mohun Bagan are the Hero I-League Champions 2019-2020

Mohun Bagan are the Hero I-League Champions 2019-2020

Indian football heavyweights Mohun Bagan clinched their second I-League title with a 1-0 win over Aizawl FC at Kalyani, West Bengal on Tuesday.

Their first I-League title came in 2014-15 season.

Senegalese striker Baba Diawara scored the all-important goal for Mohun Bagan in the 80th minute today.

 Bagan lifted the title even when four rounds are still to go in the season.
 
With today's win, Mohun Bagan have 39 points from 16 matches.

This put Bagan 16 points ahead of second-placed East Bengal  who cannot catch up their arch city rivals even if they win all their four remaining matches.

Denys Shmygal is the new PM of Ukraine

Denys Shmygal  is the new PM of Ukraine

Denys Anatoliyovych Shmyhal is a Ukrainian entrepreneur and politician.

On 4 March 2020, he was appointed as the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

From 1 August 2019 until his ministerial appointment Shmyhal was the Governor of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe

President: Volodymyr Zelensky 
Capital: Kyiv
 Currency: Ukrainian hryvnia

west Indies skipper Kieron Pollard first player to feature in 500 T20 cricket matches

west Indies skipper Kieron Pollard on Wednesday became the first player in the history of T20 cricket to feature in 500 matches when he took the field against Sri Lanka for the first T20I here.

Dwayne Bravo is second in the list with 453 matches under his belt so far.

Chris Gayle is at the third spot in the list as he has featured in 404 T20 matches.

Kieron Adrian Pollard is a Trinidadian cricketer who captains the West Indies cricket team in limited overs cricket.

Mumbai will host IOC session in 2023

Mumbai will host IOC session in 2023

Mumbai will  host the 2023 International Olympic Committee's session after the IOC Executive Board recommended the Indian city for the annual conference.

The IOC Executive Board decided to put Mumbai's candidature to a vote of the members. The decision is to be ratified at the 136th IOC session in Tokyo in July this year.

After ratification, this will be the second-ever IOC session to be held in India after a long gap of 37 years. India last hosted an IOC session way back in 1983 in New Delhi.

Former India spinner Sunil Joshi named BCCI’s selection committee chairman

Former India spinner Sunil Joshi named BCCI’s selection committee chairman

Former India spinner Sunil Joshi was named chairman of the national selection panel by the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) in Mumbai today.

A statement from BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said, the CAC also picked ex-pacer Harvinder Singh for a place in the five-member group.

The CAC, comprising Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik, picked the two selectors with Joshi replacing South Zone representative MSK Prasad. 

Harvinder was chosen from the ral zone and replaces Gagan Khoda in the panel. In an unprecedented decision, the BCCI said the CAC will review the panel's performance after one year and make recommendations accordingly.

The CAC had shortlisted five candidates from a list of 40 applicants for interviews. The other three shortlisted candidates were Venkatesh Prasad, Rajesh Chauhan and LS Sivaramakrishnan.

Tasnim Mir, Mansi Singh win bronze at Yonex Dutch Junior International

Tasnim Mir, Mansi Singh win bronze at Yonex Dutch Junior International

Indian shuttlers Tasnim Mir and Mansi Singh won a bronze medal each in the girls' singles Badminton event at the Yonex Dutch Junior International 2020 in Haarlem, Netherlands. 

It was the first time India won two bronze medals in girls' singles at this BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament.

Mir was defeated by third seed So Yul Lee of Korea 19-21,  10-22 in the semifinal to settle for Bronze yesterday. Mansi lost to Indonesia's Saifi Rizka Nurhidayah 11-21, 16-21 in the semifinal.

The Indian contingent will now look to continue their heroics at the Yonex German Junior-2020 to be held in Berlin from 4th to 8th of March. Meanwhile, India's rising stars Aakarshi Kashyap and Anupama Upadhyaya won gold and silver medals respectively in the girls singles at Kenya International held in Thika, Kenya.

The sixth-seeded Kashyap defeated Haryana girl Anupama 21-15, 21-6  who had reached the final after toppling second, third and fifth seeds.

China assumes presidency of UN Security Council for March 2020

China assumes presidency of UN Security Council for March 2020

China has taken over as president of the UN Security Council for the month of March 2020, pledging to promote solidarity and cooperation in this capacity.

The Security Council was established by the UN Charter.

Its primary responsibility is to work to maintain international peace and security.

The council has 15 members: the five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.

The council's presidency is a capacity that rotates every month among its 15 members.

Jack Welch

Jack Welch

John Francis Welch Jr. was an American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer.

 He was chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001.

 In 2006, Welch's net worth was estimated at $720 million

 When he retired from GE he received a severance payment of $417 million, the largest such payment in business history

Sri Lankan govt will not sign MCC with US

Sri Lankan govt  will not sign MCC with US

Sri Lankan Government has decided not to sign the Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) with the US Government.

The MCC agreement is to provide a grant of 480 million US dollars to Sri Lanka for development of transport and land deeds based on certain conditions.

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea

Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
President: Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Prime minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa