Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched a new initiative called ‘Lifeline Udan’ under which flights are operated to transport essential medical supplies across the country amid coronavirus lockdown.
The air carriers which are involved in Lifeline Udan operations include Air India, Alliance Air, Indian Air Force and Pawan Hans. Cargo hubs have been established at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata

Notes:
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Philip Anderson recently passed away in the United States at the age of 96.
The physicist was known for making the science community understand about magnetism and superconductivity and for starting solid state physics as a field. He had been the inspiration for other Nobel-prize winning physicists including Brian Josephson (1973) and F. Duncan Haldane (2016).

Notes:
Indian-origin South African and world-renowned virologist Gita Ramjee passed away after contracting coronavirus.
Gita Ramjee was a veteran virologist and a research leader in HIV prevention. She was the Unit Director of the HIV Prevention Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) offices in Durban. She was the recipient of ‘Outstanding Female Scientist Award’ by the European Development Clinical Trials Partnerships.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has notified three incentive schemes to boost electronics manufacturing namely Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI), Electronics Manufacturing Clusters 2.0 (EMC 2.0), Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronics Components and Semiconductors (SPECS).
The schemes which were cleared by the Cabinet last month, include incentives worth more than Rs 48,000 crore. PLI is the largest scheme with an outlay of Rs 40,000 crore which will give incentives of 4-6% on incremental sales on mobile phones and specified electronic components.

Notes:
The South-Central Railway has recently started deploying ‘Doodh Duronto Special’ to ensure uninterrupted transport and supply of essential commodities during the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Though passenger train services have been suspended till April 14, 2020, these trains are being operated. Recently, the train has been dispatched from Renigunta to Delhi with 6 milk tankers and two parcel vans with mangoes and musk-melons. The special train is being run with an average speed of 110 km per hour.

Notes:
The fourth day of April has been observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action after the declaration by the UN General Assembly in 2005.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has been serving for more than 20 years, to save lives, to deliver humanitarian assistance and facilitate recovery activities. In 2015, the UN Secretary-General designated actor Daniel Craig as the first UN Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards.

Notes:
The animal rights body PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) India has conferred the ‘Hero to Animals Award’ on the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik.
The Chief Minister was selected for his empathetic act of allocating Rs 54 lakhs from relief fund, to feed public animals in the municipal corporations and all municipalities of Odisha during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Notes:
Basketball legend, who died in a helicopter crash earlier this year, Kobe Bryant along with eight others, were selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Other personalities include American basketball coach Tim Duncan and former professional basketball player Kevin Garnett. The Honourees will be officially inducted in on August 29 in Massachusetts, United States, where the basketball museum, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is located.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been celebrating the World Health Day on 7th April every year. This year, the tagline for World Health Day 2020 is ‘Support nurses and midwives’.
This year had also been designated as the ‘International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’. WHO highlighted the crucial role of Nurses and other health workers, who are working in the COVID-19 response activities of the world

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently announced a Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for police personnel and other state government employees, who are engaged in the fight against coronavirus pandemic.
This scheme has been unveiled after 5 health workers and 7 police personnel tested positive for coronavirus in the state’s capital. The Chief Minister and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh announced that they will contribute 30 per cent of their salaries to relief funds.