Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

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:
As per the recent notification of WIPO, China topped the world in filing International Patents filed with WIPO, in 2019.
China has filed 58,990 applications in 2019 via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System thereby surpassing the United States, which topped every year since the PCT began operations in 1978. China also recorded growth in the international intellectual property (IP) services, treaty-adherence activity of WIPO.

Notes:
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) recently announced a collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for a campaign against Covid-19.
The mass media campaign, which has been titled ‘BreakTheChain’ will provide information prevention strategies to the general public to protect themselves against Covid-19. The campaign will focus on three main themes: Social Distancing, Handwashing and Generosity and will be publicized through television, news portals and social media channels.

Notes:
To promote digital banking among the general public amid the nation-wide lockdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the Reserve Bank of India has launched a Twitter campaign.
The central bank asked the bank customers to adopt digital modes of payment which are convenient and safe. Through the campaign that was launched in public interest, the RBI highlighted the multiple digital payment options such as NEFT, IMPS, UPI and BBPS that are available 24*7.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal has launched a ‘Bharat Padhe Online’ campaign for crowd sourcing of ideas to improve online education ecosystem of India.
This week-long campaign invites all the people in the country to share suggestions and solutions about overcoming constraints of online education. The ideas can be shared directly with HRD Ministry through their mail address or their twitter account.

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:
Veteran Hindustani classical singer and Padma Shri awardee Shanti Hiranand Chawla passed away at Gurgaon, at the age of 87.
The renowned singer was trained in several styles of music including thumri, dadra and ghazal. She had conducted several stage-performances in Indian and abroad. She had been conferred with several accolades including the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2007.

Notes:
Every year April 10th is observed as World Homeopathy Day. The theme of this year’s World Homeopathy Day is selected as “Enhancing the scope of Homeopathy in Public Health”.
This day is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the father of the Homeopathy system of medicines. Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), under the Ministry of AYUSH organized an international webinar on the occasion of World Homoeopathy Day.

Notes:
The World Bank has released its bi-annual flagship report titled ‘South Asia Economic Focus’ recently. In the report, it estimates a sharp economic crash in eight countries of the South Asian region.
The report has also estimated India to grow at 1.5%-2.8% this fiscal year, which will be the worst economic phase since the liberalisation policies implemented in 1991. It also forecasted that all countries would see a decline in GDP in the worst-case scenario.