Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Researchers have recently discovered a creature, which is claimed to be the world’s longest animal, in the underwater canyons of Western Australia.
About 30 new marine species have also been discovered in the marine region off the Australian coast. Though the exact length of the siphonophore has not yet been measured, it is estimated that the unidentified flying object (UFO)-shaped creature would be more than 120m long.

Notes:
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recently released a press note regarding modification done in the Foreign direct investment (FDI) policy of India, as a part of its effort to restrict take-over of Indian companies amid Covid-19 pandemic.
As per the new changes, an entity of a country which shares a land border with India can invest only under the government route, which means the entities can invest only after receiving the approval of the Indian Government. Prior to this, investments from Pakistan and Bangladesh were only under Government route.

Notes:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has recently announced that the two NASA astronauts will be sent to the space station on May 27,
The mission is set to be carried out aboard the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX, the US-based private space company owned by Elon Musk. After ending its 30-year space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has been relying on the Russian space agency Rocosmos for launching its astronauts to space station.

Notes:
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an international organisation comprising of 57 member nations, with 53 Muslim-majority countries. The headquarters of OIC is located in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The organisation was recently in news, as it had recently urged India to take immediate steps to protect the rights of minority Muslim community in India, who are being stigmatized. It also asked the Indian government to intervene and prevent the incidents of hatred expressed towards Muslims.

Notes:
After the meeting of National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC) under the chairmanship of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, it has been decided to convert the surplus rice available with Food Corporation of India (FCI) into ethanol for manufacturing alcohol-based hand sanitisers.
It is also approved to use the ethanol for Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme, for blending with petrol. This approval has been made under the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, which provides that the surplus food-grains can be converted to ethanol after approval of NBCC.

Notes:
The United Nations designated 21 April as World Creativity and Innovation Day, to raise awareness about the role of creativity and innovation in overall human development.
As per the Creative Economy report titled “Widening local development pathways”, jointly published by UNESCO, UNDP and UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), Creativity and innovation are the true wealth of nations in the 21st century.

Notes:
Leading Private sector bank of India, ICICI Bank recently launched voice-banking services to its customers by integrating its AI chatbot iPal with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
This initiative is aimed at assisting customers avail the banking services amid the nation-wide lockdown due to Covid-19. The customers will have to download the Alexa / Google Assistant and link their ICICI Bank account to it. Queries about their account and products of the bank will be answered by the voice assistant apps.

Notes:
Major Technology company Facebook has recently announced an investment of Rs. 43,574 crores in Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited.
This investment will enable Facebook acquire a 9.9 stake in Jio platforms. This is claimed to be the largest foreign direct investment for minority stake in the country. A partnership agreement was also made among Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Limited and WhatsApp to boost JioMart platform through WhatsApp and support small businesses on WhatsApp.

Notes:
The state government of Karnataka has recently launched a helpline in the name of “Apthamitra”, which aims at providing medical advice and guidance for the needy people.
The helpline comprises of both a toll-free number and a mobile application and was launched by the Chief Minister of the state. The helpline could be contacted, if anyone has symptoms of coronavirus. An expert medical team would provide medical advice to the user, based on their symptoms.

Notes:
World Champion and ace Tennis star of India P V Sindhu has been named as one of the ambassadors for Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s ‘i am badminton’ awareness campaign.
The campaign is aimed at highlighting the efforts of the Federation towards honesty in the game. The Badminton World Federation formed Integrity Unit five years ago. Several other shuttlers of Canada, China, England and Germany were also named along with Sindhu