Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia was named as the World Book Capital for the year 2020 by UNESCO.
Every year, April 23 is celebrated as the World Book and Copyright Day across the world. UNESCO along with the international organizations associated with publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a year. This year, Kuala Lumpur has been named for 2020.

Notes:
The state of Mizoram has launched a mobile application named ‘mCOVID19’, which enables easy transportation of essential goods by the truck drivers to the state from other states.
The new application will act as the online license or pass for the truck drivers. The drivers of the interstate-vehicles will be screened at the entry point. On registering with the application, they will be generated a license called mPASS. An sms with information about the goods and place, will be sent along with a mPASS id, which will be stored at the entry point.

Notes:
As per the notification of the Shipping Ministry, the government has approved reconstitution of the National Shipping Board. It is the highest advisory board on matters associated with Indian shipping.
The reconstituted board with 16 members is to be headed by Malini Shankar, former Director General of Shipping. Other members include representatives from the Ministry, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, National Union of Seafarers of India, Maritime Union of India representative, Thakur and National Ship Owners’ Association.

Notes:
Kolkata-based veteran theatre personality and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, Usha Ganguly recently passed away in Kolkata, at the age of 75.
Usha Ganguly was the founder of the unique theatre group named ‘Rangakarmee’ in 1976. She was famous for introducing an alternative Hindi theatre form in West Bengal, where people were only acquainted to Bengali theatre and English theatre.

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:
One of the largest Asset Management companies in India, the Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has recently announced to have shut down six of its funds owing to market disruptions amid Covid-19.
The Association of National Exchange Members of India (ANMI) sought the intervention of the SEBI and Finance Ministry to protect investor capital in six mutual fund schemes. These funds collectively managed a corpus of over ₹25,000 crore.

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:
Domestic Credit rating agency India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has further decreased the GDP growth rate of India to 1.9% for the current fiscal. It had previously estimated the growth rate for this fiscal to be 3.6%. The estimate was significant as this would be the lowest GDP growth in the last 29 years.
The report also highlighted that in the absence of any stimulus measures from the government, the fiscal deficit would touch 4.4% of GDP in this fiscal 2020-21, the official target being 3.5%.

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 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.