Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2021

Notes:
India has fixed a target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol by the year 2022.
Recently, India has achieved more than 7.2 per cent of ethanol blending in fuel, for the first four months of ethanol supply. Some stated like Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra have achieved 9-9.5% ethanol blending. This shows that India is on track to reach 10% ethanol blend by 2022.

Notes:
Researchers at Tufts University have developed robots named ‘Xenobots’ from the stem cells of frogs.
These robots are able to self-heal after damage and move using particles on their surface -cilia. They can work together in teams and can record information about their surroundings. The robots can be used in bio-medical and environmental studies.

Notes:
The first farm-based solar power plant under Prime Minister’s Kisan Urja Suraksha Evum Utthan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme was implemented in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
The 1 MW project, which has been established on 3.50 acres of farmland, can produce 17 lakh units of electricity every year. It has been developed at a cost of Rs 3.70 crores. The state aims to develop a capacity of 38,000 MW renewable energy.

Notes:
The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has recently approved a legislation that allows him to hold office for an additional two “six-year term”. The President, who is in power for the last 2 decades, can remain in power till 2036 (up to his age of 80 years).
This change is a part of constitutional reforms brought by Putin last year.

Notes:
“International Day of Sport for Development and Peace” is observed across the world on April 6, after the United Nations General Assembly resolution in 2013.
It is marked to celebrate the positive contribution of sports towards sustainable development and advancement of human rights. This year’s theme is around recovery from the pandemic and the importance of equity in that recovery.

Notes:
The Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund Gita Gopinath announced that the IMF has favoured adoption of a global minimum tax on corporate profits.
She also highlighted that tax avoidance is a troubling issue for the global economy. The disparities in national corporate tax rates has resulted in significant tax shifting and tax avoidance, which again results in reduced social welfare spending.

Notes:
Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the 65-year-old man behind Vietnam’s successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic, has been formally sworn in as President of the country.
Phuc was Vietnam’s Prime Minister for the last five years. He was known for his contribution for the economy boom and his government’s COVID-19 response. Pham Minh Chinh has been appointed as the new Prime Minister.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $484 million to improve transport connectivity and road maintenance in the Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC).
CKIC extends from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu and it connects India to the production networks of Southeast and East Asia. This project will upgrade about 590 km of State highways in the CKIC influence area.

Notes:
Four sailors created history from India by qualifying for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Nethra Kumanan became the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics, during the Mussanah Open Championship.
Other three men sailors are Vishnu Saravanan and the pair of Ganapathy Chengappa and Varun Thakkar. They were announced qualified during the ongoing Asian Qualifiers in Oman.

Notes:
Scientists from Singapore are working on an experiment named “Robo Plants”. Under the experiment electrodes are attached to a Venus flytrap plant.
These electrodes fit tightly to the plant’s surface using a thermogel. These electrodes monitor weak electrical pulses naturally emitted by plants.