Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

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:
The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the state government has formed a five-step plan named “5 Ts Plan” for tackling the spread of coronavirus.
The Chief Minister explained that the 5Ts are Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Teamwork, Tracking and Monitoring. He also revealed that mass testing like South Korea will be initiated in Delhi. More kits for testing 50000 people and rapid testing 1 lakh people have been ordered by the UT.

Notes:
According to a recent report form International Labour Organisation (ILO) titled ‘ILO Monitor 2nd edition: COVID-19 and the world of work’, about 400 million workers of India will fall into poverty.
India has nearly 90 per cent of its people working in informal economy. It also revealed that the lockdown measures in India have impacted these workers significantly. The measures are at the high end of University of Oxford’s COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index.

Notes:
Government has directed Food Corporation of India to provide food grains to NGOs and charitable organisations providing cooked meals to the needy at OMSS (Open Market Sale Scheme).
During the period of nationwide lockdown, the organisations can buy wheat and rice from FCI godowns without going through the e-auction. OMSS reserve price for rice is ₹2,250 per quintal and price of wheat is ₹2,135 per quintal. Earlier, only State governments and registered bulk users were allowed to buy from FCI under OMSS rates.

Notes:
The Union Government has approved Rs. 15,000 crores for ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package’ for states/UTs.
This package which has been approved to build the health infrastructure, will be provided in three phases — January 2020 to June 2020, July 2020 to March 2021 and April 2021 to March 2024. This fund would be divided on the basis of the number of positive Covid-19 cases and the size of the state/UT. Rs 7,774 crore is expected to be released for immediate response.

Notes:
Manila-based international financial institution, Asian Development Bank (ADB) assured $2.2 billion assistance to India, for tackling the Covid-19 outbreak.
Earlier, the World Bank has approved to provide $1 billion assistance to India for fighting against Covid-19, especially to detect and prevent the disease and to strengthen its public health preparedness.

Notes:
Bengaluru-based aerospace and defence Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), Bharat Electronics Ltd has partnered with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh and developed a remote monitoring system for COVID-19.
This newly developed system reduced the need for personal protective equipment as it uses non-invasive sensors to measure the main parameters of a COVID-19 suspected patient including temperature, pulse rate and respiration rate.

Notes:
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan represented India in the recently held G20 Extraordinary Energy Ministers’ virtual Meeting.
Saudi Arabia, which currently holds the Presidency of G20 nations, had called for the Energy Ministers’ meeting. It was chaired by Energy Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz. Heads of several international organizations including OPEC, IEA and IEF also attended the meeting. The meeting focused on measures to ensure stable energy markets.

Notes:
India’s leading Private sector lender Karnataka Bank announced that it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for reappointment of Mahabaleshwara M S as its MD and CEO for next three years, with effect from April 15.
The Reserve Bank has also approved the reappointment of P Jayarama Bhat as Non-executive Chairman up to November 13, 2021.

Notes:
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has recently launched a web-portal YUKTI (Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation).
The web portal comprises of a comprehensive dashboard, which will assist in monitoring and recording the initiatives of the HRD Ministry. The portal also has information about the COVID-19. It also consolidates the efforts of the research institutions related to COVID-19.