Daily Current Affairs, 21st March 2020

1) World Down Syndrome Day observed on 21 March

•World Down Syndrome Day is observed every year on 21 March. In December 2011, the General Assembly declared 21 March as World Down Syndrome Day to raise public awareness of Down syndrome. Down syndrome occurs in an individual when he/she has an extra partial (or whole) copy of chromosome 21.




•Down Syndrome International assumes that all people with Down syndrome should play an instrumental role in decision making about matters relating to, or affecting, their lives.

•The theme of World Down Syndrome Day 2020 is “We Decide”.

2) International Day of Forests celebrated on 21 March

•International Day of Forests is celebrated every year on 21 March. The day is being celebrated to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests. On this day, countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to organize activities involving forests and trees. These activities includes tree planting campaigns.

•The International Day of Forests is being organized by the United Nations Forum on Forests and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with Governments, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and other relevant organizations in the field.

•Every year, a theme is decided by the by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. The theme for International Day of Forests 2020: Forests and Biodiversity.

3) International Nowruz Day celebrated globally on 21 March

•International Nowruz Day is being celebrated globally on 21 March every year. International Nowruz Day is being observed to celebrate “Nowruz” which is an ancestral festivity and marks the first day of spring as well as the renewal of nature. It also encourages values of peace and solidarity among generations and within families hence contributing to cultural diversity and friendship among peoples as well as in different communities.

•Nowruz marks the first day of spring which has been celebrated on the occasion of the astronomical vernal equinox that generally occurs on 21 March. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people all around the world as the beginning of the new year and is being celebrated for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions.

4) World Poetry Day celebrated globally on 21 March

•World Poetry Day is observed globally on 21 March every year. World Poetry Day is being observed annually to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities. It also aims to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to encourage the teaching of poetry as well as to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting.

•United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized 21st of March as World Poetry Day during its 30th session which was held in Paris in 1999.

5) International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 21 March

•The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed globally on 21 March every year. The day is celebrated annually on 21 March as on this day in 1960, the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid “pass laws”. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2020 is focused on the midterm review of the International Decade for People of African Descent.

•The International Decade for People of African Descent was proclaimed by General Assembly resolution and will be observed from 2015 to 2024. The International Decade for People of African Descent was undertaken by the Human Rights Council in Geneva as part of its 43rd session. As the Decade approaches its half-way mark in 2020, this year, a review has been scheduled to analyse the progress made and to decide on further requisite actions.

6) APEDA signs MoU with SFAC for development of agriculture sector

•Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has signed an Memorandum of Understanding. The MoU aims for the development of agriculture and allied sectors as well as its exports for bringing better value to the stakeholders. The two organizations are also working towards linking of Farmer Producer organizations, farmers’ cooperatives to the export value chain. The above aim can be achieved through capacity building, creation of infrastructure, facilitating primary and secondary processing in the clusters.

7) RBI to infuse Rs 30,000 crore to boost liquidity

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will infuse liquidity of Rs 30,000 crore to maintain financial stability in the Indian economy. RBI has took this decision to boost liquidity in order to ensure that all markets segments function normally with adequate liquidity and turnover, as certain financial market segments are facing stress due to COVID-19 outbreak.

•The Reserve Bank will infuse liquidity by purchasing of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMOs) for a total amount of Rs 30,000 crores. The amount will be infused in two tranches of Rs 15,000 crores each in the month of March 2020.

8) UN releases World Happiness Report 2020

•The United Nations has released World Happiness Report 2020. The World Happiness Report ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. The report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. This is the 8th edition of the World Happiness Report. The special focus of World Happiness Report 2020 was on “environments for happiness” which emphasizes more specifically on social environments for happiness, as reflected by the quality of personal social connections and social institutions.
The World Happiness Report 2020 covers the period of 2017-2019 and analyses the countries on following 6 variables:
•GDP per capita
•Social support
•Healthy life expectancy
•Freedom to make life choices
•Generosity
•Perceptions of corruption
Ranking of countries as per World Happiness Report 2020:
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Switzerland
4. Iceland
5. Norway
6. Netherlands
7. Sweden
8. New Zealand
9. Austria
10. Luxembourg
144. India