Current Affairs - April 8, 2020 Current Affairs

International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is observed on 7 April. The day commemorates the victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

:National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has accomplished the construction of 3,979 km of national highways in the financial Year 2019-20. It is the highest ever highway construction achieved in a financial year by NHAI.

The Independent Member Federation Sanctions Panel of the International Weightlifting Federation has suspended the Malaysia & Thailand weightlifters from competing in Tokyo Olympics 2020. The disciplinary sanctions have been imposed by IMSP on both the countries from participating in weightlifting events at the Tokyo Olympics for doping violations.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) has allowed temporary employment of National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets under 'Exercise NCC Yogdan'. The Ministry also provided guidelines in this regard. The exercise was launched as per the request of the Civil and police administration in the fight against Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has approved the anti-microbial coating which was developed by Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR). It also supports the further development of the coating for India's combat against COVID-19.When coated on different surfaces such as textiles, plastic and so on, the coating could kill a range of virus types including COVID-19.

Indian Smart Cities namely Bengaluru, Pune, Surat, and Tumakuru are using the integrated data dashboards to provide up-to-date information about the status of coronavirus in different administrative zones of their cities. The data dashboards are developed by the data analysts and data experts who work with their Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and function as COVID-19 War Rooms in many cities. The Government of India launched the Smart Cities Mission on 25 June 2015.

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) funded 'Module Innovations', a Pune based healthcare startup to develop a rapid diagnosis of diseases to develop a product for detecting COVID 19 with a 10 to 15-minute test.The startup is now developing nCoVSENSEs (TM) module. It is a rapid test device for the detection of antibodies that have been generated against the COVID-19 in the human body.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced a 5T plan to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. The 5T plan is testing, tracing, treatment, teamwork, and track.

Anurag Srivastava on April 6, 2020 took charge as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from Raveesh Kumar.Srivastava, a 1999-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, was serving as India's Ambassador to Ethiopia.

A survey released by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. (CMIE) stated that the unemployment rate in India has climbed to more than 20%. The decline has occurred as the people lost jobs after the nationwide lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The report stated that the jobless rate based on a sample size of 9,429 observations was 23.4% as of 5 April 2020.

West Bengal state government has asked the Centre to release Rs.5,013 crore as the revenue deficit grant to the state. The fund will be used to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. The grant was provided by the 15th Finance Commission.

Indian Railways has successfully converted 2500 coaches as Isolation Units with limited manpower amid the lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak.With the conversion of around 2500 coaches, 40000 isolation beds are now ready for contingency. On average, 375 coaches per day are being converted by Indian Railways. The conversion is being carried out at 133 locations in the country.

The American space agency NASA has announced that it is working on the Artemis program. NASA aims to land humans on the moon by 2024 through this program. NASA also submitted a report to the National Space Council on 2 April. The report focused on setting up the Artemis Base Camp at the South Pole of the moon.

An online delivery platform, Dunzo has tied up with packaged foods company Britannia Industries to deliver range of products to its customers. Britannia Essentials store have been launched by Britannia Industries, that will be available to Dunzo app users.

The Ministry of Commerce has designed an online platform for the issuance of a key document required for exports to those countries with which India has trade agreements. The move aims to facilitate shipments during the COVID-19 crisis.

Punjab National Bank Housing Finance has signed a pact with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to raise 75 million dollars. The Citibank will be co-financing 25 million dollars in order to finance the mortgage loans in the affordable housing segment. The tie-up also states first debt funding ever done by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the housing finance sector in India.

Veteran Malayalam Music composer, MK Arjunan who was popularly known as Arjunan master in the industry for his evergreen melodies in Malayalam cinema, passed away. He had a long career, spanning over five decades, composing more than 600 songs. Some of his hit songs are a staple of music reality shows even today.

Former Libya Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril who was the former head of the Libyan rebel government that ousted the long term ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, passed away due to COVID-19. Before joining the revolution in 2011, Jibril served the Gaddafi government as an economic advisor in its final years and later led the rebel National Transitional Council, the interim government that toppled and killed Muammar Gaddafi.

The Supreme Court of India has extended the tenure of Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, as the incumbent Chairman of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The bench which took the decision to extend the tenure comprised of Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde along with Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjay Kishan Kaul. The supreme court bench has also directed the union government to expedite the process of appointment for TDSAT members.

Trade body Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) reported that India's edible oil imports have declined 32.44% to 9,41,219 tonnes in March 2020. The reason for the decline is due to government restrictions on the purchase of refined palm oil from the overseas market. India had imported 13,93,255 tonnes in March 2019.