Current Affairs - April 21, 2020 Current Affairs

OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) urges India to take "urgent steps" to protect the rights of its minority Muslim community and stop incidents of "Islamophobia". Headquarters of OIC is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Chinese Language Day is observed on 20 April. The day highlights the contribution of Chinese literature, poetry, and language in world culture. The aim of the observation of the day is to educate people about the history of the Chinese language.

World liver day observed on April 19.

The largest number of nests of rare leatherback sea turtles are observed in Thailand beaches. The environmentalists said that this has occurred due to the bereft of tourists because of the coronavirus pandemic.The highest recorded turtle nests the authorities have found since last November was 11 in the past two decades. Leatherbacks are the world's most giant sea turtles. The turtles lay their eggs in dark and quiet areas, scarce when tourists thronged the beaches.

BMW Group President and CEO Rudratej Singh passed away on 20 April due to cardiac arrest. He was 46 years old.

Uttar Pradesh became the first state in India to geotag its 7,368 community kitchens and community shelters across 75 districts which produce 12 lakh food packets a day.

Maharashtra has been the worst affected due to the Coronavirus pandemic in India. The state has reported over 4000 cases of the deadly virus with more than 223 deaths. Check here full list of COVID-19 hotspots in Maharashtra.

:Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, have developed an efficient, low-cost electro-catalyst from fish gills. The catalyst can help develop environmentally friendly renewable energy conversion and storage technologies.

Govt says supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies to remain prohibited during lockdown, reverses its April 15 order.

Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan participated in the video conference of the Health Ministers of G20 countries. During that conference, Forge cooperation and mutually respectful and useful collaborations to deal with COVID-19 disease.

Researchers at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune have developed 'bug sniffer,' a sensitive and low-cost sensor to rapidly detect bacteria. The portable device can detect as low as ten bacterial cells from a sample size of 1 mm in just 30 minutes. The team is currently working on a method for simultaneous separation and detection of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium.

Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) researchers have discovered hundreds of Lithium (Li)-rich giant stars. This discovery proves Li is being produced in the stars and accounts for its abundance in the interstellar medium. The researches have also associated such Li enhancement with central He-burning stars, also known as red clump giants which opened up new vistas in the evolution of the red giant stars.

:Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, have developed a magnetic Random Access Memory (RAM) which is faster, more energy-efficient and capable of storing more information in a smaller volume than existing data storage technologies.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will on May 27, 2020 launch its astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley for the first crewed mission to International Space Station (ISS) since the retirement of Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) launched a dashboard link on its website on 20 April. The website aims to aid drivers who travel to different places in the country.The website provides a list and details of Dhabas and Truck repair shops available across the country by various organizations like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), States, Oil Marketing companies. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1988.

A new study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) report stated that India's renewable energy subsidies fell 35% between 2016-17 and 2018-19.The report was titled "Mapping India's Energy Subsidies 2020" which said that the support for renewable energy was to increase again. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made it critical to stay on track.

Government of India has created an online data pool on https://covidwarriors.gov.in of doctors including Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, volunteers from National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), ex-Servicemen, etc. The data pool aims for use by the ground level administration at state, district or municipal levels. Director General of NCC is Lt Gen Rajeev Chopra.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Navi Mumbai, have developed a new Artificial Neural Networks based global Ionospheric Model (ANNIM), a global model to predict the ionospheric electron density with larger data coverage which is a crucial need for communication and navigation.

Government of India formed a high-level task force to research on coronavirus and develop a vaccine. The task force will work along with the international community on the vaccine development process for coronavirus.The high-level task force will be co-chaired by Member, NITI Aayog, and Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Professor K Vijay Raghavan.

Veteran sports journalist Samir Goswami dies aged 65 in Kolkata.