Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the mobile portal called E-Gram Swaraj Portal and Swamitva Scheme on April 24, which is also celebrated as the Panchayati Raj Day.
Swamitva Yojana is launched with an aim of creating a record of property ownership of land in rural areas. The lands in rural areas are to be mapped using modern technology. The E-Gram Swaraj platform will provide records of projects implemented in every village panchayat under Gram Panchayati Development Plan (GPDP). General public can create an account in the mobile portal and view the projects.

Notes:
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has bagged three national awards for outstanding contribution by its Panchayati Raj Institutions in socio-economic development projects.
While Panchayat Jamola Lower has been awarded “Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award 2020”, Panchayat Dhangri has been awarded “Nanaji Deshmukh Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar” for improving the socio-economic aspects of the panchayat. Panchayat Zaloora B has been selected as best performer in “Gram Panchayat Development Plans” awards.

Notes:
The state of Odisha has launched a portal for registration of migrant workers to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, as over five lakh migrant workers are expected to return to the state after lifting the lock-down.
Forms are available in the portal covid19.odisha.gov.in and in every gram panchayat for registration of names and address of the workers who want to return to Odisha.

Notes:
The state of Tamil Nadu promulgated an ordinance which made blocking the dignified burial or cremation of victims of notified disease, a criminal offence.
As per the official release, the people involving in such acts will face a minimum jail term of one year to a maximum three-year imprisonment, under section 74 of ‘The Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939’. This decision has been taken at the backdrop of agitations against the burial of two doctors who died of Covid-19.

Notes:
The World Intellectual Property Day 2020 is celebrated every year on April 26, across the world. The Geneva-based UN specialised agency, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) leads the celebration.
This year, the theme of the World Intellectual Property Day 2020 is ‘Innovate for a Green Future’. While the WIPO could not organise any physical event amidst the Covid Pandemic, it highlights innovation and the IP rights as the main tools to create a green future. It encouraged its offices to celebrate the day through virtual channels.

Notes:
The CRISIL rating agency has recently released a report, which slashed the GDP forecast of India to nearly half from its previous estimate to 1.8 per cent for 2020-21.
The agency also estimated that the total losses to be faced by the country would be Rs 10 lakh crore or Rs 7,000 per person due to the impact of the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19. The agency also asked the government to increase the stimulus response and support.

Notes:
The Government Hospital of Ernakulam, Kerala has deployed a robot named ‘KARMI-Bot’, to serve food and medicines to coronavirus patients in the Covid-19 isolation wards.
The robot has been introduced to reduce risk of the doctors and health workers from being contracted to the coronavirus. Asimov Robotics, a start-up company working under the Kerala start-up mission, has developed the robot. It is also designed to collect trash, disinfect the room and enable video call between the doctor and patients.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Finance has established the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), which will be headquartered in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
This body will regulate all financial products and financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in the country against multiple regulators including RBI, SEBI, IRDA and PFRDA. The IFSCA will have a chairperson and one member each nominated by the regulators. It will also include two members from the central government and full-time or part-time members.

Notes:
International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently released a report titled ‘In the face of a pandemic: Ensuring Safety and Health at Work’. The report has been released on the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28.
The report highlights the occupational safety and health (OSH) risks which are arising due to the spread of COVID-19. It also asked the governments to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the work-places across the world.