Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2021

Notes:
Every year on the March 25th, “International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members” is observed by the United Nations.
It is marked every year on the anniversary of abduction of a former journalist – Alec Collett. He was working for the UN – Relief and Works Agency in Palestine when he was abducted by armed gunman in 1985.

Notes:
Every year on 25th March, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is observed by the United Nations.
This day remembers those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system. It also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice.

Notes:
The International Theatre Institute (ITI) is the world’s largest performing arts organization. It was founded in 1948 by theatre and dance experts and the UNESCO.
World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on March 27th by the centres of ITI and the theatre community across the world. On the same date in 1962, the “Theatre of Nations” season was inaugurated in Paris.

Notes:
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its new assessment recently. It highlighted the pressures faced by the two species of elephants in Africa due to poaching for ivory and human encroachment.
It announced that the Savanna elephant was “endangered” and the much smaller, lighter forest elephant was “critically endangered”.

Notes:
As per the recent World Development Report by the World Bank, most countries have not implemented the open-data policy, particularly the developing economies.
Only 11 per cent low-income countries consistently made their data available with an open license. The per centage in lower-middle-income countries was 19 per cent; for upper-middle-income countries is 22 per cent and high-income countries at 44 per cent.

Notes:
Special forces of India carried out a joint military exercise with the US Special forces at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh.
The 11th edition of the joint special forces exercise ‘Vajra Prahar 2021’ was held with an aim to share the best practices and experiences in joint mission planning and operational tactics. In February 2021, the Armies of both the countries carried out ‘Exercise Yudh Abhyas’.

Notes:
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) released a report titled Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2021.
As per the report, India is estimated to record an economic growth of 7% in 2021-22. It also highlighted that maintaining low borrowing costs while controlling non-performing loans would be a challenge.

Notes:
The Government has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) till June 30, 2020.
The institutions are permitted to issue additional funding up to 40 per cent of outstanding loans as on Feb 29, 2020 as against 20 per cent earlier. ECLGS 3.0 also will be 6 years including moratorium period of 2 years. This is one year up from the previous tenure.

Notes:
Indian veteran actor Rajinikanth has been recently conferred with 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2020 recently. This is the top most honour in Indian cinema.
This award is presented every year for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. This award was first instituted the year 1969.

Notes:
The Government of India has announced scholarships to 2000 descendants of the Liberation War fighters of Bangladesh under its new Muktijoddha Scholarship scheme, which was announced it 2017.
The scheme aims to benefit 10,000 students from Bangladesh over a period of five years. This year, 1000 students each from the Higher Secondary and Undergraduate categories have been given as scholarship directly in their account.