Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Defence Research and Development Organisation has collaborated with the ESIC medical college & hospital, Hyderabad and developed the country’s first COVID-19 sample collection mobile lab.
The mobile lab has been named “Mobile BSL-3 VRDL Lab” and was inaugurated by the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The lab has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and can process over 1000 samples a day. The lab has been developed in a record 15 days and can be positioned at any place.

Notes:
English Language Day at the United Nations is celebrated annually on 23 April, the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare. English is one of the two working languages of the UN, while UN has six official languages.
Along with English language day, Spanish Language Day is also celebrated, to raise awareness about the history, culture and use of Spanish. April 23 is also the death anniversary of the Spanish legend Miguel de Cervantes.

Notes:
The first International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace and was first observed on April 24, 2019.The International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace was established on 12 December, 2018 by the UN General Assembly.
All UN member states and organisations celebrate the day to create awareness about the advantages of multilateralism and diplomacy for peace by educational and awareness campaigns.

Notes:
An e-office application called ‘e-karyalay’ has been launched by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to prevent coronavirus infection.
The e-office application enables digital movement of files in offices, which is similar to the physical and traditional file movement in CISF offices. The application has been developed by the in-house technical team and they have also created the data recovery site.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement of the Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari, he has devised a scheme to set up a Rs 1 trillion fund, which is to be launched by the Government after the approval of Cabinet.
This fund will be utilised for repaying outstanding payments to MSMEs owed by the PSUs, central and state governments and major industries. This is also expected to increase liquidity in the market. As per his statement, the Ministry is also working on fast-tracking GST refunds to help MSMEs.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy recently launched a scheme in Amaravati, which seeks to provide loans to the women Self Help Groups (SHGs) of the state, at zero percent interest.
The Chief Minister released about ₹1,400 crore for the scheme, which is expected to benefit nearly 8.78 lakh SHGs. The interest component of ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 will be borne by the state government. At present, the SHGs borrow from banks at interest rate of 7 to 13 per cent.

Notes:
The World Immunization Week 2020 is being celebrated from April 24 to 30, this year by the World Health Organisation.
The day is celebrated with an aim to promote the use of vaccines for protecting people across the world from diseases. The theme of this year’s week is Vaccines Work for All. The theme highlights the importance of vaccines and the persons developing them. WHO also announced that about 20 million children in the world today remain unvaccinated.

Notes:
In its latest circular, the labour and employment ministry has notified that the banking industry is classified as a public utility service for six months with effect from April 21. The Department of Financial services also notified about the classification of the labour ministry.
This declaration has been made under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act. After being placed under this act, the people working in banking sector would not be able to participate in any strike during the said period.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging, which means beating with whips, as a punishment, as per the order of the Supreme Court. Hereafter, the judges will pronounce fines, jail sentences or community services as punishments.
Several Human rights activists have been condemning the Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia, which sometimes extend to hundreds of lashes. Recently, a blogger named Raif Badawi was sentenced to 7 years in prison and 600 lashes and then resentenced to 10 years and 1,000 lashes. He later won the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize.

Notes:
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan was seen in news recently because she has been given a three-month extension after the Central Government made a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle.
Ms.Preeti Sudan who is at present the Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, was due to superannuate on April 30. The reshuffling has been done amidst the coronavirus pandemic. About 23 senior IAS officers have been appointed as secretaries in different central government departments.