Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2021

Notes:
Ajay Seth, a 1987-batch Karnataka cadre officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), took charge as new Economic Affairs Secretary.
Ajay Seth was previously serving as the Managing director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. The new economic affairs Secretary will coordinate the policy efforts of various stakeholders of the government, the Reserve Bank of India and states to maintain the economic growth.

Notes:
Hypoxia is a condition in which the human body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level. This condition gets repeated in a Covid-19 patient due to the virus infection.
Amid a massive shortage of oxygen cylinders in the country due to raise in coronavirus cases, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed SpO2 (Blood Oxygen Saturation) supplemental oxygen delivery system. It saves a person from sinking into a state of Hypoxia.

Notes:
The Centre has allowed states to use 50% of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the financial year 2021-22 to fight the Covid-19 surge.
As per a communication by the Home Ministry to states and UTs, the special onetime measure will have to be in lines with approved items and norms in the financial year 2021-22. The fund can be used to buy ventilators, air purifiers, oxygen generation, storage, etc.

Notes:
IAS officer Siddharth Singh Longjam is to take over as the National Anti-Doping Agency’s Director General.
The officer will succeed Navin Agarwal, who introduced Athletes Biological Passport (ABP) for around 60 elite Indian sportspersons during his tenure. Longjam is currently serving as joint secretary in the Sports Ministry.

Notes:
The United Kingdom is exploring the possibility of creating a new digital currency, which is dubbed as “Britcoin”.
The Bank of England and the Treasury are set to work together to assess the benefits of a central bank digital currency. The bank said the new currency, would be a new form of digital money for use by households and businesses.

Notes:
The country’s very first ‘Oxygen Express’ departed from Andhra Pradesh to supply oxygen to the state of Maharashtra.
The Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) service operated by Central Railways is ferrying oxygen from Vishakhapatnam steel plant to meet the sudden surge in oxygen demand in Maharashtra due to COVID 19 pandemic.

Notes:
‘Nimbus’ is a flagship cloud service project of Israel, which aims to provide a solution for cloud services to the government, the defence system, and other sectors.
Recently, Israel’s government chose Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google for the USD 1-billion project to provide cloud services for the country’s public sector and military. Amazon and Google beat Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM in the tender for the four-phase “Nimbus” project.

Notes:
Sankha Ghosh, who is a noted Bengali Poet, died recently in Kolkata at the age of 90 years. He was tested COVID positive.
He is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, Jnanpith, Sahitya Akademi awards, and Rabindra Puraskar awards for his literature works. Ghosh was known for raising voice for various social and political issues.

Notes:
India has been elected to three bodies of the UN Economic and Social Council recently.
These three bodies include – Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Executive Board of the World Food Programme and Executive Board of the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). India will hold these positions for a three year term in all these bodies.

Notes:
The American Space Agency – NASA has recently launched a mission named – SHIELDS (Spatial Heterodyne Interferometric Emission Line Dynamics Spectrometer).
This mission aims to study light from interstellar particles which have drifted into the solar system to learn about the closest reaches of interstellar space. The mission was launched using a NASA black Brant IX sounding rocket from Mexico.