Daily Current Affairs, 25th March 2020

1) 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 observed annually on 25th March every year. This day offers the opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system. International Day also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today.

•2020 Theme: “Confronting Slavery’s Legacy of Racism Together”

•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.

2) 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. The day is marked each year on 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 in the Near East (UNRWA) when he was abducted by armed gunman in 1985. His body was finally found in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in 2009.

Purpose of the day:

•The International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members has taken on even greater importance in recent years, as attacks against the United Nations intensify. This is a day to mobilize action, demand justice and strengthen our resolve to protect UN staff and peacekeepers, as well as our colleagues in the non-governmental community and the press.

3) Telugu new year day “Ugadi” being celebrated today

•Telugu New Year day ‘Ugadi’ being celebrated today. The festival is being celebrated across the two Telugu states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to mark the beginning of the Hindu Lunar calendar. Though the nation-wide lockdown due to coronavirus dampens the traditional fervour and gaiety, people are observing the customary festivities.

4) ITR filing deadline for FY 2019 extended to 30 June 2020

•Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the extension of statutory deadlines related to income tax to 30 June 2020. These extended deadlines are expected to provide some relief to the tax payers. The key decisions taken by the finance minister after considering the hardship that people are facing due to coronavirus (COVID-19) are:

Income Tax Return (ITR) deadline:

•The Finance Ministry has decided to extend the Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline for the Fiscal Year 2019 from 31st March 2020 to 30th June 2020.

Investment for tax savings:

•Those Indian citizens who are still waiting to make investments in various instruments which offers tax deductions under section 80 C, can do their investments till 30 June and can also claim deduction for FY 2019-20. These instruments includes Equity liked savings scheme (ELSS), Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC).

Pan-Aadhaar linking:

•The deadline for the linking of Aadhaar & Pan was supposed to end on 31st March 2020. This deadline has been extended to 30 June 2020. If you are unable to link your Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhar before 30 June 2020, your PAN will be considered as inoperative.

5) Saudi Arabia’s King to chair Virtual Summit of G20 leaders

•Saudi Arabia‘s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will chair the Extraordinary Virtual G20 leaders’ Summit. The extraordinary Virtual Summit of G20 leaders will feature the participation of leaders across the globe including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The summit will deliberate on strategies to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The heads of state of Jordan, Spain, Singapore and Switzerland will also participate in the summit. The summit will also feature the participation of several top international organisations namely the United Nations, the World Bank, the WHO, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).




•The summit aims to advance the global coordinated response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its human and economic implications.

6) Sunil Chhetri selected for FIFA campaign against Covid-19

•Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri chosen for FIFA campaign against Covid-19. FIFA and the World Health Organization (WHO) have teamed up to combat the coronavirus by launching a new awareness campaign led by world-renowned footballers.

•The campaign titled ‘Pass the message to kick out coronavirus’ has been launched to combat the coronavirus. The awareness campaign will be led by the 28 players, who will be involved in the video campaign to be published in 13 languages, include some of the best-known players like Argentine superstar Lionel Messi and World Cup winners like Philip Lahm, Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol.

•The ‘Pass the message to kick out coronavirus’ campaign promotes five key steps for people to follow to protect their health in line with WHO guidance, focused on handwashing, coughing etiquette, not touching your face, physical distance and staying home if feeling unwell.

7) US & UAE troops launch biennial exercise “Native Fury”

•US Marines and UAE Emirati forces conducted the biennial exercise, named Native Fury at Abu Dhabi. The biennial exercise, called Native Fury, shows the close ties between American forces and the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula home to Abu Dhabi.

•The forces seize a sprawling model Middle Eastern city, a drill conducted amid tensions with Iran and despite the new coronavirus pandemic. It also comes after the U.S. killed Iran’s most prominent general in a drone strike in January, and Tehran retaliated with a ballistic missile attack on American forces in Iraq. 

•The exercise saw 4,000 U.S. troops from the Army, Marines and Navy position armoured vehicles and other equipment from Kuwait and the island of Diego Garcia in al-Hamra using a portable pier system. The barren desert, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of Abu Dhabi, is home to the UAE’s vast oil reserves as well as its new Barakah nuclear power plant.

8) Sameer Aggarwal appointed as CEO of Walmart India

•Sameer Aggarwal has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Walmart India. He will taker over as CEO from Krish Iyer with effect from 1st April 2020. After assuming the charge as CEO of Walmart India, he will focus on building more digital, and omni-channel services at the retailer.

•Sameer Aggarwal was promoted from Executive Vice-President to the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Walmart India in January 2020. Walmart India is presently operating 28 Best Price cash-and-carry stores in India.

9) Novelist Ruchika Tomar wins Pen/hemingway Award 2020

•Critically-acclaimed debut novelist Ruchika Tomar is the winner of the 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, for “A Prayer for Travelers”. It was published on July 9, 2019. The Novel states about the friendship of 2 women which grows complicated until the relationship breaks apart and one of the friends disappear. Ruchika Tomar hails from California & is currently working as a lecturer at Stanford University.

•Mary Hemingway founded the award in 1976 to honour her late husband Ernest Hemingway who is an American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and sportsman. The award honours the debut novel which is of extraordinary merit by an American author who has never published a full-length book of fiction. The award includes a prize of USD 25,000 & also a 1-month residency fellowship (includes all finalists & runner up) at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, worth USD 10,000.

10) Tokyo Olympics officially postponed until 2021

•The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo Olympic organizers agreed to move the Tokyo Games to 2021. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the head of the International Olympic Committee agreed to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Games by a year in an extraordinary move, unprecedented in peacetime, as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic.

•It will mark the first time in history that the start of an Olympics will be delayed to another year. The Opening Ceremony will not be held on July 24 as scheduled, but on an undetermined 2021 date, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.