Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Leading Private sector bank of India, ICICI Bank recently launched voice-banking services to its customers by integrating its AI chatbot iPal with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
This initiative is aimed at assisting customers avail the banking services amid the nation-wide lockdown due to Covid-19. The customers will have to download the Alexa / Google Assistant and link their ICICI Bank account to it. Queries about their account and products of the bank will be answered by the voice assistant apps.

Notes:
UK-born veteran author Adam Higginbotham has received the prestigious William E. Colby Award for his famous book titled “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster”.
The book based on intelligence story has fetched the coveted $5,000 prize. The book had earlier won the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The Award is named after William E. Colby, an American intelligence officer and Director of CIA (1920-1996).

Notes:
The Parliament of Lebanon recently made the cannabis farming done for medicinal use, legal. This decision has been made to increase the export of the medicinal products made from the plant and thereby developing the agricultural sector.
This step is expected to increase the revenue of the Government, amidst the prevalent coronavirus pandemic, as the country’s economy is paralyzed with financial crisis. Earlier, about 25 tonnes of a particular drug made from cannabis were ceased, which were hidden for smuggling.

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 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:
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:
English Language Day at the United Nations is celebrated annually on 23 April, the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare. English is one of the two working languages of the UN, while UN has six official languages.
Along with English language day, Spanish Language Day is also celebrated, to raise awareness about the history, culture and use of Spanish. April 23 is also the death anniversary of the Spanish legend Miguel de Cervantes.

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:
The Rohtang pass, is located at an altitude of 13,500 ft on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas. The pass which is strategically located to link Kullu valley with the Lahaul and Spiti valleys in Himachal Pradesh, has been opened to the general public by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
The BRO completed the snow-clearance process and opened the pass ahead of the target time. This will enable better transportation of essential supplies and relief materials to the remote areas.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has launched a new scheme called ‘Jeevan Shakti Yojana’, which aims to encourage urban women to make masks and provide them a financial assistance to sustain their livelihood.
The urban women of the state who are interested in joining this scheme will have to register themselves through the Call centres. Then, as per the orders they receive they can start making cotton masks and submit to nodal officers. A payment of Rs.11 per mask will be credited to their bank account.