Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has stipulated all its regulated entities to carry out periodical risk assessment exercise of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF).
This notification has been included in the central bank’s Master Directions on Know your Customer (KYC). The regulated entities of RBI include banks, NBFCs, All India Financial institutions and payment system providers. The vulnerabilities should be assessed as per the directions of RBI.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India recently notified that it has decided to revise Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the period of April 2020 to September 2020, to Rs 2 lakh crore. The limit has been extended from the previous limit of Rs. 1.2 lakh crore.
Ways and Means advances, WMA is a mechanism by which state governments receive short-term funding from the Reserve Bank of India, which is to be repaid in 3 months. The funds are used for balancing temporary mismatches and are usually granted at the repo rate.

Notes:
On April 21, 1947 the first Home Minister of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel addressed the probationers of Administrative Services Officers in 1947.
While delivering the historical address at the Metcalf House, Delhi, he described the Civil servants as ‘steel frame of India’. To commemorate this occasion, April 21 has been observed as the Civil Services Day every year, across the country.

Notes:
Every year, April 22 has been celebrated as the Earth Day. The United Nations designates the day as World Mother Earth Day.
This year, April 22 is the 50th anniversary of the World Earth Day. The theme of this year’s observance is ‘Climate Action’. It has been celebrated from the year 1970, when about 20 million Americans participated in a historic environmental protest. This year, several artists participate in the protest under the name #EarthDay2020Halt.

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:
Vienna-based UN office, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) has launched a mentorship series named ‘Lockdown Learners’.
The online dialogues are to be conducted with students and educators in India on the impact of COVID-19 on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), peace and law. This program has been launched under the Education for Justice initiative of UNODC.

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:
The Department of Medical and Health of Andhra Pradesh has recently launched a mobile application called ‘Covid Pharma’.
The application aims at tracking the people who purchase medicines over the counter (OTC) for symptoms like cough, cold and fever from medical stores across the state. This database would help the state in tracing the people who may contract coronavirus.

Notes:
As per the latest data from the US Treasury Department, Japan was the largest holder of US securities worth over $1.268 trillion at February end.
It was followed by China with securities worth 1.092 trillion. India is at the 13th position in terms of holding securities. India’s holding of US government securities rose by 13 billion in a month to record high of 177.5 billion at February end. The overall holding of India increased by 33.2 billion in the last year.

Notes:
Global Telecom giant Nokia has recently partnered with the leading telecom services company Bharti Airtel in India, to enhance network capacity.
As per the multi-year agreement claimed to be worth about $1 billion, the Single Radio Access Network (SRAN) solution of Nokia is to be deployed across nine circles in India. This partnership would help Airtel in enhancing its 4G network capacity and introduction of 5G connectivity in the future.