Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Veteran Indian-American journalist Brahm Kanchibotla has passed away due to Covid-19 at the age of 66, in the United States.
He was serving as one of the correspondents for United News of India. He had settled in the United States after a long experience in Indian publications. He had been in the field of journalism in the United States for nearly 28 years. He was associated with Merger Markets and News India-Times weekly.

Notes:
The Democratic party of the United States has selected former Vice President Joe Biden as the nominee for the American Presidential Election.
Earlier, US Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he is not participating in the upcoming elections, which are due in November. Hence Joe Biden became the official Democratic nominee for the election to take on the incumbent US President Donald Trump.

Notes:
According to a recent online survey conducted by the technology community website owned by Times Internet-TechGig, most IT professionals prefer Bengaluru as the best city to work for.
Bengaluru has been voted by over 40 per cent of the professionals, mainly for the high living standards, highest appraisal and career growth opportunities it provide. While Hyderabad and Pune secured the second and third spots respectively, Delhi-NCR secured the least votes among the chart.

Notes:
According to the Digidhan Dashboard, launched by the Electronics and IT Ministry, the total transactions through the digital channels reached ₹4,116.74 crore in 2019-20, which is an increase by over 31 per cent from the last year.
As per the data, BHIM UPI has been the most popular means, with 30.19 per cent share in digital transactions amounting to ₹1,242.98 crore of payment. It was followed by prepaid instruments and debit cards in the second and third place.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched revised version of Swachhata App to handle queries specific to COVID 19.
The Swachhata-MoHUA Application is a flagship grievance redressal tool of MoHUA, under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). Now using this app, the COVID19-related complaints of the citizens will be redressed by the Urban Local bodies.

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:
As per the announcement of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the government will implement ‘Operation SHIELD’ at 21 locations which have been identified as containment zones in the UT.
‘Operation SHIELD’ is an acronym, which includes Sealing; Home Quarantine; Isolation and Tracing of people; Doorstep Delivery of Essential Items; Local Sanitisation And Disinfection and Door-To-Door Checking of people having symptoms of COVID-19.

Notes:
The Union government recently announced that it has removed customs duty and health cess on the import of medical equipment related to COVID-19 till September 30, 2020.
The exemption on customs duty and cess have been given to all related medical equipment including ventilators, surgical masks, PPE, and test kits. This step is expected to boost availability of the products in the country, as per the Department of Revenue. The exemptions will be applicable on inputs used to manufacture the equipment.

Notes:
The Chief of International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva has recently named former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan and 11 other experts in her external advisory group.
The group is expected to provide perspectives on policy issues and responses to the challenges faced by the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. The group has 12 eminent individuals who have expertise in policy-making, global market and private sector. Raghuram Rajan is currently serving as a professor at the University of Chicago.

Notes:
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has recently launched a WhatsApp number, where people can report cases of domestic violence.The head-quarters of NCW is New Delhi.
As per the announcement of NCW, the cases of domestic violence have seen a big increase during the lockdown period resulting from coronavirus pandemic. This WhatsApp number service will be operated in addition to the existing online complaint links and emails and only for the period of lockdown.