Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

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:
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has bagged three national awards for outstanding contribution by its Panchayati Raj Institutions in socio-economic development projects.
While Panchayat Jamola Lower has been awarded “Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award 2020”, Panchayat Dhangri has been awarded “Nanaji Deshmukh Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar” for improving the socio-economic aspects of the panchayat. Panchayat Zaloora B has been selected as best performer in “Gram Panchayat Development Plans” awards.

Notes:
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act passed by the Parliament in April 24 1992 provided constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions of the country.
The status was given through inserting Article 243 to Part IX of the Indian Constitution. To commemorate the occasion, 24 April is celebrated as the Panchayati Raj Day, across the country. The act added certain provisions in constitution including forming Gram Sabha in a village or group of villages; constitution of Panchayats at village levels and direct elections to all seats in Panchayats.

Notes:
An e-office application called ‘e-karyalay’ has been launched by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to prevent coronavirus infection.
The e-office application enables digital movement of files in offices, which is similar to the physical and traditional file movement in CISF offices. The application has been developed by the in-house technical team and they have also created the data recovery site.

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:
The World Immunization Week 2020 is being celebrated from April 24 to 30, this year by the World Health Organisation.
The day is celebrated with an aim to promote the use of vaccines for protecting people across the world from diseases. The theme of this year’s week is Vaccines Work for All. The theme highlights the importance of vaccines and the persons developing them. WHO also announced that about 20 million children in the world today remain unvaccinated.

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.

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:
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.