Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The World Press Freedom Index 2020 has been recently released Paris-based non-profit organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders.
Norway has been ranked first in the annual index for the fourth time in a row. India has been ranked at 142 out of 180 countries, two ranks below than that of the previous year. The analysis said that though there is no murder of journalists in India in 2019, there were constant violations against press freedom in the country.

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:
The World Games was previously scheduled to be held in Birmingham, Alabama, United States in July 2021. It comprises of sports and events that do not fall under the Olympics.
As it was postponed to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organising committee has recently unveiled an updated logo, website and title. ‘The World Games 2022’ is the modified title of the games, which will be held in July 2022.

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:
The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently released a report, which says that the repayments of developing countries on their public external debt in 2020 and 2021 will amount to 2.6 trillion and 3.4 trillion respectively due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also highlighted that this debt burden will create an additional stress for the developing countries, along with the rising health and economic needs during the pandemic. Earlier, UNCTAD announced a $2.5 trillion coronavirus package for developing countries.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement of the Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari, he has devised a scheme to set up a Rs 1 trillion fund, which is to be launched by the Government after the approval of Cabinet.
This fund will be utilised for repaying outstanding payments to MSMEs owed by the PSUs, central and state governments and major industries. This is also expected to increase liquidity in the market. As per his statement, the Ministry is also working on fast-tracking GST refunds to help MSMEs.

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:
On April 24, 1990 NASA had launched Hubble Space Telescope, which is one of the longest-living observatories of the space agency.
Hubble is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space. NASA runs the observatory in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). The agency also announced that they will continue to operate Hubble as long it remains productive.

Notes:
A new high-pressure ventilator named VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally) has been developed by the engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
VITAL has been designed to treat patients with milder symptoms so that the traditional ventilators may be used for critical patients. The device has passed a critical test and waiting for the fast-track approval from FDA.