Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
NASA has recently selected a new space capsule from Elon Musk-owned SpaceX to ferry cargo and supplies to be used in its proposed lunar space station.
The Lunar space station aims to build a permanent post on the moon and mount future missions to Mars. SpaceX will get a portion of a $7 billion NASA contract to send ‘Dragon-XL’ spacecraft by using its Falcon Heavy rocket.

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:
The state government of Jharkhand has launched a mobile application called ‘PRAGYAAM’ to issue e-passes to the people engaged in delivery of essential services during the national lockdown.
The country observes a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus. After verifying and uploading the documents through this android-based application, the District Transport Officers will issue e-passes.

Notes:
One of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories Vehicle Research Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar has designed a full body disinfection chamber called as Personnel Sanitisation Enclosure (PSE).
This enclosure is a walk-through set-up, which is designed for personnel sanitization. The portable system which sanitises one person at a time, is equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser. An electrically operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride for 25 seconds.

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:
During the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2019, Bahrain sponsored its Prime Minister’s imitative to designate 5 April as the ‘International Day of Conscience’.
The Assembly unanimously adopted resolution “Promoting the Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience” and declared 5 April as the International Day of Conscience (IDC). It is celebrated in 2020 for the first time.

Notes:
The Cabinet has recently approved to suspend the MPLAD (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) Fund during 2020-21 & 2021-22, temporarily. Rs 7900 crores, the consolidated amount of MPLAD Funds for 2 years, will be moved to Consolidated Fund of India.
The cabinet also promulgated an ordinance to reduce the salaries, allowances and pensions of Members of Parliament by 30 per cent for one year. The President, Vice President, Governors of States have said to have voluntarily admitted for the reduction in pay.

Notes:
The teams of Thailand and Malaysia have been banned from participating in weightlifting events at the Tokyo Olympics.
The sanctions panel of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has imposed disciplinary sanctions on the two countries regarding the same. The panel also suspended the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) for three years and the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) for a year.

Notes:
The innovation cell of Ministry of HRD and AICTE have recently launched an online challenge for students called ‘SAMADHAN’, in collaboration with Forge and InnovatioCuris.
This challenge calls for students to search and develop quick solutions to the Coronavirus pandemic, that will assist the government agencies and health services. Under the programme, the students and teachers of the country will be motivated for conducting new experiments.

Notes:
Facebook-owned Instant messaging platform WhatsApp recently announced that it has limited the sharing of frequently forwarded messages to only one chat at a time.
This step has been taken to curb spreading of misinformation and fake news amid the coronavirus pandemic. WhatsApp also launched the WHO Coronavirus Health Alert service for people across the world and MyGov Corona Helpdesk in India in partnership with the Indian government.