WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS
19TH
– 25TH APRIL 2020
Watch Video Class related to the Weekly Current Affairs
(Video Class will be Live on 28th April 2020 at 1 PM)
1. COLOUR CODES
FOR LOCKDOWN 2.0: The Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) formulated a new set of guidelines for the
nationwide lockdown-2.0 or Smart Lockdown, which started from 20th April 2020
and continues till May 3, 2020. It decided to divide all Indian districts into
hotspots (red zones); non-hotspots (orange zones) and green zones on the basis
of the absolute number of cases and the speed of growth in cases. Any district
reporting more than six cases classified as a hotspot district or red zone.
2. RAPID
TESTING FOR COVID-19: Rajasthan
became the first state in the country to carry out Rapid Testing for COVID 19.
State’s urban primary health centre of Topkhana Desh (also known as Jaju
Dispensary) in Jaipur started rapid tests at 5 p.m where 52 persons were tested
and all were found COVID-19 negative. This test will be done at a large scale
to assess the prevalence of COVID 19 in hotspots or red zones. This test
requires a drop of blood just like a diabetes test and gives instant results.
Though this is not a confirmatory test but helps in quick isolation of person
tested COVID-19 positive to prevent spread.
3. 7,300 CRORE
RUPEES TO STATE & UTS UNDER MGNREGS: The Central Government has released 7,300 crore rupees to
the States and Union Territories (UT) under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to liquidate pending dues of last
financial year but also the wages dues for the first fortnight of 2020-21.
4. TVS MOTOR
ACQUIRES NORTON MOTORCYCLES: TVS
(Thirukkurungudi Vengaram Sundram) Motor Company Ltd, an Indian multinational motorcycle company,
has acquired the 122-year-old iconic
British company Norton Motorcycle (UK) Ltd for Rs 153 crore (£16 million).
5. EROS
& STX ENTERTAINMENT TO MERGE ALL
SHARE: 1st of its kind deal, where Indian movie producer
and distributor Eros International (which is also the holding company of the
Lulla’s-promoted Eros Group) a NYSE-listed announced an all-share merger with 6
year old, privately held Hollywood’s STX Entertainment to create an
equally-held global entertainment company with a value of USD 1 billion.
6. WORLD
HERITAGE DAY 2020: APRIL 18: Theme for
the year 2020: Shared Culture, Shared Heritage and Shared Responsibility.
7. SOUTH KOREAN
ELECTION: The Democratic Party of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has won
victory in parliamentary elections, with 163 seats in the 300-seat National
Assembly, first country conducted election among COVID-19 pandemic. The capital
and currency of South Korea is Seoul and South Korean won respectively
8. DEVELOPMENT
OF COVID-19 VACCINE: Central
government has constituted high level
task force for vaccine and drug testing for coronavirus disease
(Covid-19) co-chaired by Vinod Paul, member NITI (National Institution for
Transforming India) Aayog, and Professor Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, principal
scientific advisor to the government.
9. GEOTAG
COMMUNITY KITCHENS: Uttar
Pradesh (UP) became the first state in the country to geotag its 7,368
community kitchens and community shelters across 75 districts which produce 12
lakh food packets a day, due to the sudden onset of COVID-19 lockdown.
10.
VOICE BANKING SERVICES BY ICICI: ICICI bank has launched voice assistance-based banking
services on its integrated artificial intelligence (AI) powered multi-channel
chatbot iPal with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for its retail banking
customers by which they can access a wide range of banking services like check
balance, seek credit card details & ask queries through voice commands.
11.
COMMITTEES LOOK INTO IMPLEMENTATION OF EXIT FROM LOCKDOWN:
1st Committee- To oversee the
facilitating of supply chain and logistics management & availability of necessary items such as food
and medicines. It is headed by P Iyer, secretary of the department of drinking
water and sanitation. 2nd Committee- For the purpose of public grievances &
suggestions to look into any problems in concern with the exit from lockdown.
It is headed by Amit Khare, secretary, ministry of human resource development.
12.
ADDITIONAL CHARGE AS CMD MTNL: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s MD Pravin Kumar
(PK) Purwar took additional charge as CMD of
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for 6 months or until further
orders, whichever is earlier.
13.
NASA TO LAUNCHUS ASTRONAUT MISSION TO ISS: For the first time since July 21, 2011, a human mission
from American Earth will go into space. That is after 9 years, the US space
agency NASA ( National Aeronautics and Space Administration) & SpaceX will
send two veteran astronauts –Bob Behnken & Doug Hurley- from the Florida’s
Kennedy Space Centre in indigenous 23-story Falcon 9 rockets to the
International Space Station (ISS) on May 27, 2020.
14.
NEW MODEL TO PREDICT IONOSPHERIC ELECTRON DENSITY TO HELP
COMMUNICATION & NAVIGATION: On April 20,
2020, Researchers from Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Navi Mumbai, an
autonomous Institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government
of India (GOI), have developed a global model to predict the ionospheric electron
density with larger data coverage- a crucial need for communication and
navigation. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) replicate the processes in the
human brain (or biological neurons) to solve problems such as classification,
clustering, pattern recognition, linear & nonlinear data fitting and time
series prediction.
Key Points:
i. Dr. V. Sai
Gowtam, with his research supervisor, Dr. S. Tulasiram from IIG, has developed
a new Artificial Neural Networks based global Ionospheric Model (ANNIM) using
long-term ionospheric observations to predict the ionospheric electron density
and the peak parameters.
ii. The
researchers developed a neural network-based global ionospheric model by using
database consisting of nearly two decades of global Digisonde (an instrument
that measures real-time on-site electron density of the ionosphere by sending
the radio frequency pulses), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio
occultation and topside sounders observations.
iii. Day number,
Universal Time, latitude, longitude, F10.7 index (responsible for
Photo-ionization), Kp (represents the disturbed space weather conditions),
magnetic declination, inclination, dip latitude, zonal and meridional neutral
winds were taken as inputs in the study.
Iv .The target
(output) of ANNs is the electron density as a function of altitude for any
given location and time. The data was trained with the ANNs using
high-performance computers at IIG to develop the ANNIM.
15.
BOOK -“HOW THE ONION GOT ITS LAYERS”: A book titled “How the Onion Got Its Layers” authored by
Sudha Murty was published by Puffin. The book is being released in its e-book
and audio form for young children.
16.
WORLD LIVER DAY 2020: APRIL 19: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of
India launched National Viral Hepatitis Control Program it aims at prevention
and control of viral hepatitis in India to achieve Sustainable Developmental
2030.
17.
5TH ANNUAL MEETING OF NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK: Nirmala Sitharaman attended the 5th Annual Meeting of
Board of Governors of New Development Bank (NDB). NDB to provide financial
assistance of about USD 5 billion to
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries
including USD 1 billion to India as an emergency Assistance to combat COVID-19
pandemic.
18.
REVAMPED HANGPAN DADA BRIDGE INAUGURATED: The reconstruction work of this 430 feet multi span
Hangpan Dada Bridge was done by Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) of Border Road
Organization (BRO) within a month’s time (started 17th Mar, 2020), Government
of India under Project ARUNANK. The design of the new bridge was prepared in
discussion with professionals at the College of Military Engineering, Pune of
Maharashtra.
19.
FCI TO CONVERT SURPLUS RICE TO ETHANOL: The National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC)
meeting under the chairmanship of
Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas has approved
& allowed Food Corporation of India
(FCI) to convert the available surplus rice to ethanol so as to utilize it in
making alcohol-based hand-sanitizers & also
for the Ethanol Blended Petrol
(EBP) programme. Recently the government has also allowed sugar companies and
distilleries to make hand sanitizers using ethanol.
20.
RESERVE BANK CANCELS LICENSE OF MAPUSA UCB: RBI has canceled the license granted to the Mapusa Urban
Co-operative Bank of Goa Ltd., Goa to conduct banking business which includes
acceptance of deposits and repayment of deposits as defined in Section 5 (b)
read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with immediate effect.
21.
HSBC APPOINTS NOEL QUINN AS CEO: HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) Bank
appointed Noel Quinn as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He served as the
interim CEO of the bank since August 2019. He was the successor of John Flint.
22.
NATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE DAY 2020- APRIL 21: On April 21, 1947, The Home member of Parliament, Sardar
VallabhBhai Patel inaugrated the All India Service and referred the civil
servants as the ‘Steel Frame of India’ in his speech addressing the
Administrative Services Officers at Metcalf. On April 21, 2006 the First
National Civil Service Day was celebrated at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
23.
G-20 EXTRAORDINARY AGRICULTURE MINISTERS MEETING: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar
participated in G-20 Extraordinary Agriculture Ministers Meeting through video
conference to address the issue of COVID-19 impacts on food security, safety
and nutrition. The meeting was held under the Saudi Presidency- King Salman bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud to discuss the ways and means to ensure continuity of the food
supply value chain, including farmers’ livelihoods.
24.
1ST PLASMA RESEARCH IN VIEW OF COVID-19: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Institute of Medical
Science and Research or SVPIMSR has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) & becomes the 1st authorized
study centre in the country to carry out the plasma research under trial in
view of COVID 19.
25.
COMMITTEE FOR RESTRUCTURE OF GDP DATA: A government-appointed committee for sub-national
accounts has suggested a complete restructure of how states collect and compile
data for state-level gross domestic product (GDP) and other estimates. The
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) on June 30,
2018 formed a 13 member committee to
review the methodology of estimation of sub-national accounts ( state &
district), revise the base year for national accounts or GDP calculation &
suggest recommendations.
26.
GLOBAL PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2020: The rank of India has decreased by two places to 142nd
from 140th position with a score of 45.33 in the “The World Press Freedom Index
2020” which has analysed 180 countries.
The World Press Freedom Index is compiled by Paris-based Reporters Sans
Frontieres (RSF), or Reporters without Borders.
27.
BWF’S ‘I AM BADMINTON’ CAMPAIGN: World Champion PV Sindhu, named as one of the ambassadors
for Badminton World Federation’s (BWF’s) “I am badminton” awareness campaign to
provide a platform for the players to express their love and respect for the
sport. The idea of “i am badminton” is to share the experience of the renowned
players to the target groups to increase their capacity and awareness on the
importance in the anti-match manipulation and anti-doping.
28.
IMMA NEW PRESIDENT: Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director (ED), Bajaj Auto, was appointed
as the President of Geneva-based International Motorcycle Manufacturers
Association (IMMA) for a two-year mandate. IMMA represents the manufacturing
industry of powered two-wheelers at the global level. He was the successor of
Johannes Loman.
29.
FACEBOOK BUYS 9.99% STAKE IN RELIANCE JIO: The US tech giant Facebook has bought a 9.99% stake in
the telecom unit of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Reliance Jio for $5.7
billion, or Rs 43,574 crore. This is the largest investment for a minority
stake by a technology company anywhere in the world .
30.
MAGNETIC RAM TO ENABLE HIGHER DATA STORAGE: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Mandi team,
developed a magnetic Random Access Memory (RAM) using spintronic technology
which is faster, more energy-efficient and capable of storing more information
in a smaller volume than existing data storage technologies The Spin-transfer torque (STT) based nano
spintronic devices will put an end to computer data loss due to interruptions
of power supply.
31.
BANTER BLITZ CUP 2020: Alireza Firouzja, a 16-year-old Iranian chess player, has
defeated world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the final of the
Banter Blitz Cup 2020 with 8.5-7.5 scores to claim the $14,000 prize. About
Banter Blitz Cup: It was a 128-player knockout tournament where players must
comment verbally on their moves, and their opponents, during the game. It was
telecast live online.
32.
EUGENE DEITCH PASSES AWAY AT 95: He was one of the directors behind world’s most popular
cartoons and directed 13 episodes of Tom and Jerry. Deitch directed multiple
episodes of the ‘Popeye the Sailor’ series and also directed popular animator
cartoons such as Munro, Tom Terrific and Nudnik.
33.
EARTH DAY 2020: APRIL 22: THEME FOR EARTH DAY 2020 IS
“CLIMATE ACTION”.
34.
INDIA’S 1ST MOBILE LABORATORY TO TEST COVID-19
Defense
Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated
Mobile Virology Research and Diagnostics Laboratory (MVRDL) namely “Mobile
BSL-3 VRDL Lab” via video conference. The lab was developed by DRDO in
association with ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) Hospital,
Hyderabad and Private industry. This mobile lab has the testing capacity of
more than 1000 to 2000 samples daily.
35.
INDIA APPROVES US$ 1 MILLION TO ANTIGUA: India provided medical supplies including
hydroxychloroquine tablets to many countries and India approved the 1 million
USD to Antigua as a project outlay with 150K USD for medical equipment as
immediate assistance from the United States to fight against coronavirus
pandemic. Capital – Saint John’s, Currency – Eastern Caribbean dollar
36.
“LOCKDOWN LEARNERS” SERIES LAUNCHED: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)
under its flagship Education for Justice Initiative launched the “Lockdown
Learners” series of online dialogues with students and educators in India on
COVID-19 & its impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), peace
and the rule of law. To make students aware of the vulnerable groups and
emerging issues such as cybercrime, misinformation, gender-based violence,
discrimination, and corruption, among others.
37.
1ST ARAB NATION TO LEGALISE CANNABIS FARMING: Lebanon became the 1st Arab nation to legalise cannabis
(also known as marijuana) farming for medicinal & industrial use with the
aim to boost the exports & to beat the economic crisis created by the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Lebanon faces the worst economic crisis due to
lockdown.
38.
FALCON 9 CARRIER ROCKET: Space Exploration Technologies Corp (also known as
SpaceX), a private American aerospace
company, has successfully launched 60 Starlink broadband satellites aboard
Falcon 9 rocket from the Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, US .
Starlink
aims to provide cheap internet service in some parts of the US and Canada in
2020 and become the fastest broadband worldwide.
39.
TEAM MASK FORCE TO SPREAD AWARENESS: Featuring India’s most revered cricketers, the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has created a new video under the title
“Team Mask Force” to promote wearing masks in public places and help the
country to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
40.
WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY 2020: APRIL 23: World Book and Copyright Day, also known as World Book
Day or International Day of the book, is celebrated every year on April 23 all
over the world.
41.
WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2020: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The Slogan for the year 2020 is “KL Baca- caring through
reading”. Also, UNESCO quoted, “Books: A Window into the World during
COVID-19.”
42.
UN ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAY & UN SPANISH LANGUAGE DAY
2020: APRIL 23: On 23rd April 2020, The United
Nations English Language Day and Spanish Language Day are celebrated every year
as an initiative of the Department of Global Communication to promote the use
of official languages and to ensure that the goals and actions of the UN are
understood by all the possible public.
43. PM MODI
LAUNCHES E-GRAM SWARAJ PORTAL: On the
occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day on 24th of April 2020, PM Narendra Modi
has launched the Swamitva Scheme as well as an integrated e-Gram swaraj Portal
& Mobile app for accelerating the pace of development in India’s villages.
44. E-GRAM
SWARAJ PORTAL & MOBILE APP: With the
help of this Portal and app, villagers of the country will be able to keep all
kinds of information on their smartphones. This is being seen as the beginning
of digitization of panchayats.
45. SWAMITVA
(WHICH MEANS OWNERSHIP) SCHEME: It uses
drones in mapping of properties in villages. This will end confusion and
quarrels over property. This will help in planning development works in the
village. Apart from this, like in cities, now people will be able to take loans
from banks even in villages.
46. 1ST STATE WITH A SOFTWARE BASED IN-HOUSE FACILITY
OF VIRTUAL COURTS: Uttar
Pradesh becomes the 1st state with a software-based in-house facility of
virtual courts, where a requisite infrastructure in Allahabad High Court and
all district courts of Uttar Pradesh to hear cases through video conferencing
as there is lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Other Initiatives by UP
to help people during lockdown
It has launched 2 portals for the convenience
of food needs for the people of the State namely; Annapurna portal– help people
get the knowledge of food products and packets. Supply Mitra portal– to provide
free home delivery of edibles. It transferred Rs 1,000 each to the bank
accounts of 4,81,755 daily wagers, including street vendors and rickshaw
pullers, as “maintenance allowance” ,The Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) has approved to start pool testing of COVID-19 samples & becomes the
1st state to do so.
47. GOVERNMENT
FREEZED DA & DR: The
Department of Expenditure, under the finance ministry has stated that the
central government has frozen the Dearness Allowance (DA) & Dearness Relief
(DR), an inflation-linked allowance to its 1.1 crore employees & pensioners
respectively due from January 1, 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
The government had announced a 4% increase in DA for its 50 lakh employees and
61 lakh pensioners to 21% effective from January 1, 2020, which was to cost Rs
27,100 crore in the current financial year 2020-21.
48. PRALHAD
JOSHI SETS 710 MT COAL PRODUCTION TARGET: Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi has set
the target for Coal India Limited (CIL) to produce 710 million tonnes (MT) of
coal for FY 2020-2021. The decision has been taken on the lines of achieving 1
billion tonne (BT) coal production by year 2023-24 and also the demand of coal
will be accelerated after coronavirus lockdown. The Over Burden (OB) removal
target for FY 20-21 was set at 1580 million cubic meters. OB removal refers to
the removal of top soil to expose the coal seams making them ready for mining.
49. SINGAPORE’S
CALADIUM INCREASES STAKE IN BANDHAN BANK BY 1PC TO 4.49%: Caladium Investment Pte Ltd, an affiliate of Singapore’s
sovereign wealth fund GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation), has
raised its stake in India-based private sector lender Bandhan Bank by 1 percent
from 3.39% to 4.49% through secondary market operations.
50. IRAN
LAUNCHES “NOOR” OR LIGHT MILITARY SATELLITE: Iran launched a military satellite into orbit named
“Noor” or light. The satellite has successfully reached an orbit of 425
kilometers above the Earth’s surface. It comes amid the tensions between Tehran
and Washington over its collapsing nuclear deal and after a United States
(U.S.) drone strike killed Guard General Qassem Soleimani in January.
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