Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has tripled its Covid-19 response package initially announced for developing member countries to $20 billion.
Last month, ADB had announced a 6.5 billion package for its 31 DMC (developing member countries) to assist them in recovering the economies. The lender has also announced that 2 billion will be provided through loans for private sector and financial institutions and microfinance loans for medium-sized enterprises.

Notes:
In the North-eastern state of Manipur, a new initiative titled ‘Food Bank’ has been introduced, to provide free food to the poor and needy, amidst the lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic.
The Imphal East District Administration has been implementing this initiative, which aims to provide free food and essential items which were donated by the general public, to the beneficiaries. Other items like hand sanitisers and face masks are also being distributed.

Notes:
Google has recently announced that it has launched a Braille keyboard named ‘TalkBack’, for assisting the visually challenged users.
This new type of keyboard is integrated directly into its Android operating system and the visually challenged users can use the keyboard easily without having to install any extra hardware. The keyboard uses a six-key layout, wherein each key represents one among the six Braille dots.

Notes:
Technological giant Google has recently launched a new feature under its flagship app Google Pay, called ‘Nearby Spot’.
This feature enables the users to locate the local stores that sells essential things and to check if they are open amidst the lock-down. The feature has been launched in Bengaluru on a pilot basis and will be extended to other cities of the country soon.

Notes:
The veteran Army officer and former Director General of Rashtriya Rifles, Lt Gen KP Dhal Samanta has recently passed away at the age of 70.
He played a very crucial role in the 1971 India-Pakistan War, 1984 Operation Blue Star and 1999 Kargil War. After retirement, he served as a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal at Kolkata. He received many prestigious awards including Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.

Notes:
The Chief information commissioner of India, Bimal Julka and all 6 information commissioners have decided to take 30-per cent cut in their basic salary for a year starting April 2020, to contribute to government’s move in fighting COVID-19.
In March 2020, President of India Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Bimal Julka as the CIC of India. At present, four positions of information commissioners are remaining vacant. The Chief Election commissioner and Election commissioners will also undergo a 30% pay cut.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of External Affairs has announced a training programme on COVID-19 for healthcare professionals of SAARC countries.
The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme will conduct this training programme from April 17, 2020. The SAARC leaders had a virtual meeting on March 15, where an idea was proposed by India, to cumulate the efforts of all health professionals against the COVID-19.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the latest version of its flagship report ‘World Economic Outlook (WEO)’.
In the report, it has lowered India’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate to 1.9 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21 amid the prevailing lock-down. However, the global agency expects the GDP growth rate of India to rise to 7.4 per cent in the next fiscal year 2021-22.

Notes:
The state of Uttar Pradesh becomes the first to be approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) to start the method of ‘Pool Testing’ the samples for Covid-19.
The pool testing method is aimed at speeding up the process of testing the samples. In this method, multiple swab samples are pooled together and tested. If the result of the particular pool comes negative, it is assured that all samples of the pool are negative. If the result is positive, all individual samples are tested again. This method was widely used in Germany.

Notes:
During the 40th session of General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2019, it was proclaimed to celebrate April 15 as World Art Day every year.
The day is celebrated to create awareness about the diversity of artistic freedom and highlight the contribution of artists to sustainable development of the world. April 15 is also the birth anniversary of the legendary artist Leonardo da Vinci.