Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2021

Notes:
The parliament of the New Zealand has recently passed legislation giving mothers and their partners the right to paid leave following a miscarriage or still birth.
It has become only the second country in the world to pass the law, after India. One in four New Zealand women experienced a miscarriage. This law will give employees three days leave when a pregnancy ends with a stillbirth.

Notes:
Mr K. VijayRaghavan has been given a one-year extension as the principal scientific advisor (PSA) to the Government of India.
As per the order issued by the Personnel Ministry, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the extension as the PSA for a period of one year. He provides objective advice to the Prime minister and Cabinet on matters related to science, technology and innovation.

Notes:
The United Kingdom is set to launch HEAL-COVID (Helping to Alleviate the Longer-term consequences of COVID-19), a national drug trial.
The trials would test the selection of safe, existing drugs already available in the market on patients across the country, in order to find effective treatments. The trial aims to find drugs to reduce deaths and hospital readmissions among patients.

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India’s former Deputy Governor Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty passed away recently after suffering a heart attack. He was 68 years old.
He also served as the Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank (2007-2009) and Indian Bank (2005-2007).

Notes:
The Union health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has recently launched the “Tribal TB Initiative”. This is a part of the TB Mukt Bharat. He inaugurated the initiative via videoconference from his office.
This is a part of the Union Government to eliminate Tuberculosis from India by the year 2025, much ahead of the global target of eliminating TB by 2030.

Notes:
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 Organising Committee confirmed the venues of the tournament.
D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, TransStadia in Ahmedabad and the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar will host the premier women’s football competition, from January 20 to February 6, 2022.

Notes:
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal recently inaugurated “Anandam: The Center for Happiness” at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Jammu virtually.
The Center aims to help people overcome mental stress and help spread positivity. The prime objectives will be divided into five broad categories: Counselling, Holistic wellness, Elective courses on Happiness Development, Research and Leadership & Faculty Development.

Notes:
The Economic Affairs Secretary announced that the inflation target for the period April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026 under the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 has been kept at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.
This is the same target mandated to the RBI by the Government in the previous five years (2016-21). RBI was to maintain annual inflation at 4 per cent until March 31, 2021 with an upper tolerance of 6 per cent and a lower tolerance of 2 per cent.’

Notes:
The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has recently launched a portal named “MyNEP2020” of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) web portal.
This portal would be functional from 1st April to 15th May 2021. This portal seeks suggestions from various stake holders for the draft “National Professional Standards for Teachers” (NPST) and “National Mission for Mentoring Program membership” (NMM).

Notes:
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that India holds the world record for fastest road construction.
India has entered Guinness World Records by building a 2.5 km 4-lane concrete road within 24 hours. It also built 25-km bitumen Solapur-Bijapur road within 24 hours. A record construction of 37 km per day was achieved in financial year 2020-21.