Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The World Bank recently announced that it estimates that remittances to South Asia will drop 22% by this year.
India is the largest recipient of remittances of the world, which increases the foreign exchange reserves of the country. The reserves are used to fund the current account deficit of the country. After the lock-down and the resulting economic slow-down, the loss of income of expatriate Indians who work in foreign countries will affect the remittances. About 12% of the total inflow is the remittances form people working abroad. The Bank also estimated that Global remittances would drop by 20%.

Notes:
The UN General Assembly resolution adopted a resolution, drafted by Mexico, on fair, transparent and equitable access to essential medical supplies and any future vaccines developed to fight COVID-19.
India along with another 174 countries co-sponsored the resolution, among the 193 members of the assembly. The resolution was titled ‘International cooperation to ensure global access to medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to face COVID-19’.

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

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:
eCommerce leader Amazon India has launched a program called “Local Shops on Amazon” program. The program aims at encouraging local retailers to establish their digital presence by partnering with the e-Commerce giant.
The local shops and retailers can use their delivery mechanisms and the new ‘Amazon Delivery App’ to deliver products and delivery updates to customers. Earlier, Amazon had piloted this project with over 5,000 local shops and retailers of the country.

Notes:
China has named its Mars exploration mission, proposed to be launched this year as ‘Tianwen-1’. It named its first Mars mission on the occasion of the Space Day, which marked the 50th anniversary of the country’s first satellite Dong Fang Hong-1.
‘Tianwen’ in Chinese means Questions to Heaven, as per a Chinese poet Qu Yuan Aiming. India, U.S., Russia and the European Union have previously launched Mars mission. On the same lines, China’s mission aims to complete orbiting, landing and roving in a single mission.

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:
Veteran Congress leader and former Governor of Bihar and Tripura, Devanand Konwar passed away recently at the age of 86. He served as the governor of Bihar from 2009 to 2013 and the Governor of Tripura from 2013 to 2014.
He had also served as governor (additional charge) of West Bengal from 2009 to 2010. He was the Cabinet Minister in the state of Assam. Prior to that, he was an advocate in the Supreme Court of India and a Government Advocate for many North-Eastern states in the Guwahati High Court.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India recently launched the SWAMITVA Scheme, on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj day. It was in news recently, as the Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar issued guidelines regarding the scheme.
SWAMITVA scheme aims to provide rural people with the right to document their residential properties by engaging the latest Drone surveying technology. It is currently being implemented in six states – Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Notes:
Basava Jayanthi, the birth anniversary of the 12th century poet, philosopher and social reformer, Lord Basaveshwara, is prominently celebrated in the state of Karnataka.
Also called as Basavanna, he was the founding saint of the Lingayat sect. He was also known for establishing a spiritual democracy called ‘Anubhava Mantapa’ in the 12th century. The era starting from his birth-year is also called as the Basava era in the state.