Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

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:
The World Health Organisation has announced an initiative called ‘Access to Covid Tools’ (ACT) Accelerator, which will be a collaborative step towards developing a vaccine and managing the pandemic.
Several heads of states and political leaders committed themselves to join this initiative and ensure the availability of vaccine and other drugs associated with Covid-19, to all countries of the world. The European Union will start the funding campaign from May along with European countries and Middle East countries.

Notes:
In its latest circular, the labour and employment ministry has notified that the banking industry is classified as a public utility service for six months with effect from April 21. The Department of Financial services also notified about the classification of the labour ministry.
This declaration has been made under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act. After being placed under this act, the people working in banking sector would not be able to participate in any strike during the said period.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging, which means beating with whips, as a punishment, as per the order of the Supreme Court. Hereafter, the judges will pronounce fines, jail sentences or community services as punishments.
Several Human rights activists have been condemning the Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia, which sometimes extend to hundreds of lashes. Recently, a blogger named Raif Badawi was sentenced to 7 years in prison and 600 lashes and then resentenced to 10 years and 1,000 lashes. He later won the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize.

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:
India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced a ₹50,000-crore special liquidity facility for mutual funds.
The package has been released at the backdrop of the shutting down of six debt funds by the Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund. Banks can borrow the 90-day funds from RBI at the current repo rate of 4.4% and use it to exclusively on-lend to mutual funds. The banks can also purchase investment grade corporate papers held by Mutual Funds.

Notes:
Bio-con Founder cum Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has recently been named in the ‘Medicine Maker Power List 2020’.
The list celebrates 60 leaders across the world, who had significantly contributed and innovated in the field of biopharmaceuticals. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been ranked in the prestigious list for six years in a row, since 2015.Recently, she has received EY’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award.

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.