Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) recently announced that it will provide emergency loans to small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) named ‘SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate Emergency’ -SAFE PLUS.
Working capital of up to Rs 1 Crore will be provided to small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) engaged in manufacturing of medical equipment and products related to Covid-19. The SAFE PLUS collateral-free loans will be disbursed within 48 hours at an interest rate of five per cent. The limit of the loans has been enhanced from 50 lakh rupees to two crore rupees.

Notes:
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir recently approved the establishment of two Centres for Invention, Innovation, Incubation and Training (CIIIT) in the Union Territory.
This project will be a joint venture between Government of Jammu & Kashmir and Tata Technologies. This centre will provide skill training to students of Engineering Colleges, Polytechnic Colleges and it is and entrepreneurship training to industry professionals.

Notes:
Representatives of SAARC had a discussion on the impact of Covid-19 situation on intra-regional trade through video-conferencing.
The senior trade officials of all SAARC countries except Pakistan, also discussed the impact of travel restrictions. This is the follow-up of the first virtual meeting held on March 15. The eight member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Notes:
Forbes released its 34th annual world’s billionaires list recently. As per the list, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has been named the world’s richest man with a net worth of $113 billion.
Jeff Bezos who tops the billionaires list for the third year, is followed by Bill Gates in the second spot at 98 billion. Chairman and CEO of LVMHF, Bernard Arnault has been placed in the third place. The total combined net worth of the billionaires of this year is 8 trillion.

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:
An Interactive Voice Response System initiative called “Aarogya Setu IVRS” has been launched by the Centre in association with Tamil Nadu government and IIT Madras.
The service has been launched for people who do not use smart phones and to assist them in tackling Covid-19. It will be activated by a missed call and the location of the user is identified. Assistance on healthcare and guidance will be available through the voice service. This service will be launched in other states soon.

Notes:
According to a recent report released by the government, India’s fiscal deficit stood at 5.07% of gross domestic product (GDP) in February. Industrial output, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was also at 4.5% in February.
The Government has revised its fiscal deficit target of 3.8% of GDP for FY20, during the 2020 Union Budget presentation. With a 5.07% fiscal deficit, it is expected that the revised target for the year 2019-20 would be difficult to be achieved.

Notes:
E-commerce marketplace Flipkart has launched an exclusive insurance policy to cover COVID-19, in association with ICICI Lombard and Go Digit General Insurance. The two health insurance policies, which provide instant claim benefits, do not require any medical tests at the time of purchase.
The COVID-19 Protection Cover by ICICI Lombard provides ₹25,000 benefit, on positive diagnosis of COVID-19, at an annual premium of ₹159. The cover by Digit Insurance provides hospitalization cover up to a sum assured of ₹1 lakh with an annual premium of ₹511.

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:
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.