Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
A team of Indian herpetologists, who study about amphibians and reptiles, have recently discovered a new species of viper family.
The green pit viper, which was found at the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh, has been named after Salazar Slytherin, a fictional character of the Harry Potter series, as Trimeresurus Salazar. The male viper has orange to reddish stripe on its head and body.

Notes:
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has planned and constructed a Class-70 all-weather permanent bridge on the river Ravi.
The bridge is 484-meter long and was built by the 49 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) of Project Chetak. The project of the Kasowal bridge entails a cost of Rs.17.89 crore. It connects the Kasowal enclave of Punjab with the rest of the places of the country.

Notes:
‘Khongjom Day’ is commemorated in the state of Manipur every year on April 23, to pay tribute to war heroes of the state, who fought to protect the freedom of the state.
The state remembers the military heroes who sacrificed their lives in the Anglo-Manipuri War 1891 against the British. The state government observed ‘Khongjom Day’ at Khongjom War Memorial Complex, Thoubal district, where the battle was held.

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:
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:
According to the report titled “World Leaders on Facebook” released by global communications agency BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe), US President Donald Trump topped the rankings for the most interactions in his Facebook page over the past 12 months, with 309 million comments, likes and shares on his Facebook page.
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro with 205 million interactions, followed Trump. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular world leader on Facebook with 44.7 million likes on his page. 721 Facebook pages of the international heads were analysed using the CrowdTangle tool of Facebook.

Notes:
Retired IAS officer and the secretary to the President since 2017 has been appointed as the Central Vigilance Commissioner of India.
The post of the chief of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has remained vacant since June 2019 after the tenure of K V Chowdary was over. The name of Kothari was recommended by a high-level selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The process was claimed as unconstitutional by opposition parties as Sanjay Kothari was not an applicant not been shortlisted.

Notes:
A unit of the top IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), TCS iON, has recently launched a free online self-certification course for frontline health workers, named ‘Corona Warriors’.
The health workers who are dealing with COVID-19 patients will be offered profession-specific modules. The digital course is available in English and it is offered through TCS iON Digital Learning Hub. The software venture of TCS, Digitate has also announced a platform called ‘ignio Cognitive Procurement’ to assist enterprises in decision making of purchases.

Notes:
United Kingdom recently launched a new scheme called ‘Bounce Back Loan Scheme’, to assist the small businesses of the country to tackle the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Finance Minister of UK launched this state-backed fast-track finance scheme in the House of Commons. Under the new scheme, small businesses can borrow between 2,000 pounds and 50,000 pounds as interest-free loans. The support schemes released in the last few weeks had provided about 15 billion pounds for business revamping.

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.