Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Every year, March 30 is being celebrated as ‘Rajasthan Day’, to commemorate the day on which the state, which was earlier known as Rajputana came into existence.
The state of Rajasthan came into existence on March 30, 1949. Rajasthan is the largest state of India in terms of the area. It comprised of around 21 small and big princely states before Independence. Rajasthan was inaugurated as a unified state by the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on April 18, 1948.

Notes:
Punjab National Bank has unveiled its new logo ahead of its merger with the United Bank of India and the Oriental Bank of Commerce.
The new logo bears the symbols of all the three public sector banks. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a notification that the merger of ten banks into four will be carried out as scheduled, on April 1, 2020. After the amalgamation process, PNB will become the second largest lender in India after the State Bank of India.

Notes:
As per the recent notification of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the limit for investment of Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) in corporate bonds is hiked to 15% of outstanding stock for FY2020-21.
FPIs can invest Rs 3.17 lakh crore in Indian corporate bonds, at present. After this hike in limit, they can invest up to Rs 4.29 lakh crore of corporate bonds for the half year April to September 2020, and Rs 5.41 lakh crore for the half year October 2020 to March 2021. The revised limits for FPI investment in Central Government securities (G-secs) and State Development Loans (SDLs) will be notified separately.

Notes:
Under the Interest Subvention Scheme, a subvention of two per cent per annum is provided for short-term crop loan of up to Rs 3 lakh per farmer.
As per the recent notification from the Ministry of Agriculture, as the government has extended the subsidy to banks till May 31, the farmers will be given a subvention of 2 % for short term crop loans up to Rs. 3 lakhs. The farmers who repay the loans promptly will continue to get the loans at 4 per cent.

Notes:
Veteran comic actor of Japan, Ken Shimura who tested positive for COVID-19 has recently passed away at the age of 70.
He has been in the entertainment media field since 1970. He joined the Japanese rock band and comedy group called ‘The Drifters’. He became very popular in the country, when he appeared in the group’s comedy show “Hachijidayo Zeninshugo!” (It’s 8 o’clock, assemble everyone!)

Notes:
As per the new stipulation of the Reserve Bank of India, all private sector and foreign banks will have to intimate cases of re-appointment of Managing Director and Chief executives to the Central Bank, 6 months in advance.
Earlier the practice was intimating the cases 4 months in advance. The number of names required to be mentioned in cases of fresh appointments of MD and CEOs has also been reduced to two, from three earlier.

Notes:
The Hercules aircraft of Indian Air Force recently delivered about 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines to Maldives as assistance to tackle the consequences of COVID 19.
The medicines were procured from various cities to be delivered to the neighbouring country. India has earlier sent a medical team along with essential medicines to Maldives. As the island country is mostly dependent on imports from India, essential food grains and consumables were also supplied.

Notes:
A four-year-old female tiger named Nadia from the Bronx Zoo in New York City, has been tested positive for the coronavirus.
This is claimed to be the first known case where transmission of the coronavirus from human to an animal has been confirmed. The tiger is believed to have been infected by an asymptomatic zoo-keeper. Later, six other animals, including lions and tigers, have also been showing symptoms.

Notes:
The National Maritime Day is celebrated on April 5, to commemorate the maiden voyage of the first wholly owned ship of Indians.
It was the first ship was owned by the Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. On the same day in the year 1919, the ship travelled from Mumbai to the city of London, United Kingdom. This year is the 57th edition of the National Maritime Day. World Maritime Day is observed on the last week of September on Thursday annually.

Notes:
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recently announced that it has completed the construction of 3979 km of highways in the financial year 2019-20.
Its official statement also read that this is the highest ever highway construction achieved in a financial year by NHAI, since its inception in 1995. Though NHAI could not meet the target of 4500 km for the current fiscal, it has seen a steady growth in the construction phase.