Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
As per the recent notification from the country’s largest lender State Bank of India said Insurance Australia General (IAG) of Australia has exited from SBI General Insurance.
IAG sold its entire 26 per cent stake in the SBI General insurance, for USD 310 million (about Rs 2,325 crore) to Napean Opportunities and WP Honey Wheat Investment Ltd, which are subsidiaries of Premji Invest and Warburg Pincus group respectively. SBI owns 70 per cent stake in its insurance arm.

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 Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently announced changes in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) of the Indian Government.
The present policy had been valid for 5 years up to March 31, 2020 while it came into force on 1st April, 2015. At the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, the Government has decided to extend the policy by one more year, up to 31 March, 2021.

Notes:
Veteran Indian historian Arjun Dev, who co-authored several popular NCERT books, recently passed away in Noida.
Mr. Arjun Dev served as a historian at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for many years. He wrote many famous NCERT books on Modern and Contemporary India and the World, along with his wife Indira Arjun. In the later part of his life, he was associated with the ‘Towards Freedom Project’ of the Indian Council of Historical Research.

Notes:
As per the new gazette notification under the J&K Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Act, a person who has resided in Jammu and Kashmir for at least 15 years will be eligible to be a domicile of the Union Territory.
The person who has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10 or 12 examination in an educational institution based in the Union Territory will also be eligible to be a domicile.

Notes:
Every year, the 2nd day of April has been observed as the World Autism Awareness Day, across the world.
According to the United Nations, the theme of the 2020 World Autism Awareness Day is “The Transition to Adulthood”. The UN Secretary General António Guterres announced that the rights of persons with autism must be taken into account in all responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:
The World Bank has granted $1 billion fund to India to strengthen its response in containing Covid-19. This is also the largest ever grant provided for India till date, from the World Bank.
The fund will cover all states and UTs and will be managed by the National Health Mission (NHM), National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The fund will be used for procurement of testing kits, setting up of new isolation wards and purchase of personal protective equipment.

Notes:
An online hackathon to find working solutions for overcoming COVID-19 pandemic, called ‘Hack the Crisis- India’ has been recently launched.
This hackathon is being organised by ‘Hack A Cause – India’ and ‘FICCI Ladies Organization Pune’. It is supported by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Minister of State of HRD and IT Sanjay Dhotre who launched the hackathon said that over 2,000 teams and 15,000 participants will be participating in 48-hour hackathon.

Notes:
The Government of India placed curbs on exports of diagnostic kits (diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, preparation diagnostic or laboratory reagents) with immediate effect.
As per the recent notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), this step has been taken to discourage shipments amid the coronavirus outbreak. An exporter will have to get license from the DGFT for shipments, which were allowed without restrictions earlier.

Notes:
Kolkata Port Trust has recently declared force majeure at its Haldia Dock Complex from 06:00 Hrs on 22 March to 06:00 Hrs on 15 April 2020, thereby becoming the first state-owned major port trust to invoke the clause, at the backdrop of coronavirus outbreak.
The force majeure clause is invoked when the firms are not able to meet their contractual commitments for reasons beyond their control. During the nationwide lockdown, as the trade is grippled, several private ports and terminals operating in the country already invoked the clause.