Current Affairs Today 25th April 2020-Download in PDF

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Current Affairs Today – 25th April 2020

NEWS AT A GLANCE

1. World Malaria Day is an international event observed on 25 April every year.
2. International Delegate’s Day is observed on 25 April
3. Every year, last week of April is marked as the World Immunization Week.
4. Singapore’s Caladium Investment has raised its stake in Bandhan Bank by 1.1% from 3.39% to 4.49%.
5. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare reported that over 1.5 lakh farmers and traders registered on ‘Kisan Rath’ mobile app, just within one week of its launch.
6. Uttar Pradesh has become the 1st state with a software-based in-house facility of virtual courts, where requisite infrastructure in Allahabad High Court and all its courts for hearing cases through video conferencing.
7. Iran launched its first military satellite called “Noor” into orbit.
8. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has cancelled over $1 trillion debt owed by developing countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
9. The Fifteenth Finance Commission (XVFC) had online meetings with its Advisory Council on 23-24 April 2020.
10. Vodafone idea ties up with Paytm have launched the ‘Recharge Saathi’ program.
11. Sanjay Kothari took oath as Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).
12. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has launched an e-office application named ‘e-karyalay’.
13. Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ felicitated the team of scientists from IIT-Delhi who are involved in the development of COVID-19 probe free Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) Diagnostic Kit. COVID-19 Testing kit made by IIT-Delhi is in line with the Make in India initiative
14. The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and the Institute of Genetics and Integrated Biology (IGIB), along with a few other institutions is currently developing digital and molecular surveillance of the spread of novel coronavirus to understand the biology, epidemiology and disease impact.
15. The US space agency NASA engineers have developed “VITAL”, a new high-pressure ventilator tailored specifically to treat COVID-19 patients.
16. Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) has developed Chitra Magna, an innovative RNA extraction kit, innovative technology for isolating RNA from swabs for COVID-19 tests.
17. Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson passed away.

NEWS IN DETAILS

IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES

World Malaria Day is observed on 25 April

• World Malaria Day is an international event observed on 25 April every year.
• The day aims to spread awareness about malaria disease globally.
• It will also promote efforts to prevent malaria around the world.

World Malaria Day 2019 Theme:

• The theme of World Malaria Day 2020 is “Zero Malaria Starts with Me.”
• The movement aims to drive action and making change using the resources available.

History:

• World Malaria Day was initiated from Africa Malaria Day which was first held in 2008. The event Africa Malaria Day had been observed since 2001 by African governments.
• In 2007, at the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) proposed that Africa Malaria Day be changed to World Malaria Day. The day aims to identify the existence of malaria in the countries worldwide and to bring awareness among people globally to fight against malaria disease.

Extra Shots:

WHO: The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.

• Head: Tedros Adhanom
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
• Founded: 7 April 1948
• Parent organization: United Nations Economic and Social Council

International Delegates Day is observed on 25 April

• International Delegate’s Day is observed on 25 April.
• The day aims to raise awareness of the role of the representatives and delegates of the Member States to the United Nations.

History:

• International Delegate’s Day marks the anniversary of the first day of the San Francisco Conference which is also known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization. On 25 April 1945, delegates from 50 countries came together for the first time in San Francisco. The conference happened after the devastation of the second world war. The delegates aimed to set up an organization that would restore world peace and imposes rules on the post-war world order.

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UN: The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations.

• Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
• Founded: 24 October 1945, San Francisco, California, United States
• Official languages: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish;
• Secretary general: António Guterres

World Immunization Week

• Every year, last week of April is marked as the World Immunization Week.
• The Week is celebrated to increase awareness of immunization.
• This year, the week is being marked under the theme
• Theme: Vaccines work for All

2020 Campaign

• This year, during the World Immunization Week, the following are to be focused
• The values of vaccines are to be demonstrated to children
• The highlights to build on immunization progress is to be addressed.
• The importance of increasing investment towards vaccine programmes.

BANKING AND FINANCE CURRENT AFFAIRS

Singapore’s Caladium increases its stake in Bandhan Bank to 4.49%

• Singapore’s Caladium Investment has raised its stake in Bandhan Bank by 1.1% from 3.39% to 4.49%.
• Caladium Investment PTE Ltd will now hold 7.2 crore shares of Bandhan Bank.
• Caladium Investment raised its stake in Bandhan Bank through secondary market operations during the January-March period.
• The move shows the confidence in micro-lending business model of the bank, which posted a 120.85% year-on-year increase in the net profit at Rs 731 crore for the December 2019 quarter compared with Rs 331 crore in the same quarter in 2018.

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Bandhan Bank:

• Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
• MD & CEO: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
• Tagline: Aapka Bhala, Sabki Bhalai

NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Over 1.5 lakh farmers, traders register in Kisan Rath mobile app

• Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare reported that over 1.5 lakh farmers and traders registered on ‘Kisan Rath’ mobile app, just within one week of its launch.

Kisan Rath:

• Kisan Rath was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on 17 April 2020.
• The app facilitates Farmers and Traders in identifying the right mode of transportation for the movement of farm produce ranging from food grain including cereal, coarse cereal, pulses, etc, Fruits & Vegetables, oilseeds, spices, fiber crops, flowers, bamboo, log and minor forest produce, coconuts, etc.
• The procurement of Pulses and Oilseeds on MSP is currently in progress in 20 States.
• A quantity of 1,79,852.21 MT of Pulses and 1,64,195.14 MT of Oilseeds has been procured by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED) and Food Corporation of India (FCI) valued at Rs.1605.43 crore through which 2,05,869 farmers have been benefited.
• The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’ Welfare have reported that a total of 80,474 farmers and 70,581 traders are registered on this App, so far.

Extra Shots:

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture in India. The three broad areas of scope for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation.

• Founded: 1947
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Jurisdiction: India
• Ministers responsible: Narendra Singh Tomar, (Cabinet Minister),Parsottambhai Rupala, (Minister of State),Kailash Choudhary, (Minister of State)

STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS

UP becomes 1st state with in-house facility of virtual courts

• Uttar Pradesh has become the 1st state with a software-based in-house facility of virtual courts, where requisite infrastructure in Allahabad High Court and all its courts for hearing cases through video conferencing.
• The courts can conduct multiple court proceedings through virtual courts within the court premises without any internet connection.
• The facility is completely secure, the connectivity is flawless & only existing infrastructure was used and no additional costs were incurred to provide the facilities.

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Uttar Pradesh:

• Capital: Lucknow
• Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
• Governor: Anandiben Patel
• State formed in: 24 January 1950
• Literacy Rate: 67.68%
• Nation Park: Dudhwa National Park

INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Iran launched Noor, its first military satellite

• Iran launched its first military satellite called “Noor” into orbit.
• This launch has raised tensions with the US at a time the two countries are already facing off in the Persian Gulf.

Noor:

• The satellite took off on top of a relatively unknown rocket called “Ghased” or “Messenger,” from Iran’s Central Desert and reached an altitude of 425 kilometers (265 miles), above the Earth.
• The Noor satellite was launched by a three-stage rocket that was powered by a combination of solid and liquid fuels.
• The US has accused Iran of violating the 2015 UN security council resolution.
• As per the resolution, Iran can not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

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Iran (Capital/Currency): Tehran/ Iranian rial

• President: Hassan Rouhani.

UNCTAD cancels USD 1 trillion debts owed by developing countries

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has cancelled over $1 trillion debt owed by developing countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It aims to help them overcome the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Highlights:

• UNCTAD report stated that over 64 low-income countries currently spend more on debt service than their health systems. For developing countries debt has become inevitable, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• UNCTAD estimated financing and liquidity requirements due to the pandemic sums up to at least $2.5 trillion.
• The high-income developing nations have debt service obligations of between $2 to $2.3 trillion in 2020 and 2021. Also, the UNCTAD stated that the middle and low-income countries have debt service obligations of $700 billion to $1.1 trillion.
• Earlier, the G20 countries allocated $8 trillion into a stimulus for their own economies. The G20 nations agreed to suspend the bilateral debt service payments by the world’s poorest countries until the end of 2020.

Extra Shots:

UNCTAD: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body. UNCTAD is the part of the United Nations Secretariat dealing with trade, investment, and development issues.

• Headquarters location: Geneva, Switzerland
• Head: Mukhisa Kituyi
• Formation: 30 December 1964; 55 years ago
• Founder: United Nations General Assembly
• Founded: 30 December 1964
• Parent organizations: United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Secretariat

SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

The 15th Finance Commission held meeting with its Advisory Council

• The Fifteenth Finance Commission (XVFC) had online meetings with its Advisory Council on 23-24 April 2020.
• The meeting was chaired by N. K. Singh, Chairman XVFC, and was attended by all members and senior officials of the Commission.

Highlights:

• The Members of the Advisory Council discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdown on the Indian economy.
• The officials discussed the impact of the pandemic on financial institutions and business enterprises and the loss of global demand for Indian products because of a steep global recession.
• Discussions on measures to restore the supplies of intermediates and cash flows and the demand for output.
• Small scale enterprises were cash-starved even prior to the onset of COVID-19.
• The Council devised a support mechanism to help the activity levels and cash flows to overcome the economic issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Currently, the activity levels and cash flows are affected, it is important that a support mechanism is devised to help them overcome this problem.
• To help Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) which are also affected by the slowdown, the commission planned to deepen the NPAs in the financial sector and introduce measures to guarantee help.
• The council planned to seek Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) help to ensure that financial institutions are well-capitalized.

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The Fifteenth Finance Commission is an Indian Finance Commission constituted in November 2017 and is to give recommendations for devolution of taxes and other fiscal matters for five fiscal years, commencing 2020-04-01.

• Founder: Ram Nath Kovind
• Founded: 27 November 2017
• Deputy Minister responsible: Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance
• Minister responsible: Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance
• Preceding Commission: Fourteenth Finance Commission
• Commission executives: N. K. Singh, IAS, Chairman; Ajay Narayan Jha, IAS, Member; Prof. Anoop Singh, Member; Dr. Ashok Lahiri, Member; Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member (part-time); Arvind Mehta, IAS, Secretary
• Parent departments: Ministry of Finance, Government of India

AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED

Vodafone Idea ties up with Paytm to launch ‘Recharge Saathi’

• Vodafone idea ties up with Paytm have launched the ‘Recharge Saathi’ program.
• This program will help individuals and small businesses to earn additional income.
• Vodafone Idea will also give an assured cashback to merchant partners for multiple recharges.
• Under this programme, any Paytm customer can sell Vodafone and Idea recharges on Paytm app after registration.
• This will help him earn some amount as commission. Individuals and small businesses such as pharmacists, milk booth operators, newspaper vendors and individuals would be able to earn up to Rs5,000 every month under the programme.

Extra Shots:

Vodafone Idea Limited is an Indian telecom operator with its headquarters based in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Vodafone Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G, 3G and 4G VoLTE mobile services under two brands named Vodafone and Idea.

• CEO: Ravinder Takkar
• Headquarters: Gandhinagar

Paytm is an Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology company, based out of Noida, India.

• Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
• Founded: August 2010, Noida
• CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
• Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
• Parent organization: One97 Communications

APPOINTMENT

Sanjay Kothari took oath as Chief Vigilance Commissioner

• Sanjay Kothari took oath as Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).
• The oath office was administered by President Ram Nath Kovind on 25 April 2020 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, and others were also present at the ceremony. Social distancing was also ensured there as chairs were kept apart.

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CVC: Central Vigilance Commission is an apex Indian governmental body created in 1964 to address governmental corruption. In 2003, the Parliament enacted a law conferring statutory status on the CVC.

• Formed: February 1964
• Objectives: To address governmental corruption
• Jurisdiction: Government of India
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• First executive: Nittoor Srinivasa Rau
• Current executive: K. V. Chowdary

DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS

CISF launches app ‘e-karyalay’ for movement of files

• Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has launched an e-office application named ‘e-karyalay’.
• This application helps to enables the movement of files and documents of CISF without physical touch.
• This has been done to prevent coronavirus infection due to frequent touching of files by many persons.
• This application has been hosted at CISF cloud with all security arrangements in place to safeguard the data.
• ‘Dak’ or letters management section of the app handles all sorts of communication between various levels of functional hierarchy.

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CISF: The Central Industrial Security Force is a Central Armed Police Force in India. It was set up under an Act of the Parliament of India on 10 March 1969 with a strength of 2,800. CISF was subsequently made an armed force of the Republic of India by another Act of Parliament passed on 15 June 1983.

• Headquarters location: New Delhi
• Minister responsible: Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
• Motto: Protection and Security
• Governing body: Ministry of Home Affairs (India)
• Operations jurisdiction: India
• Agency executive: Rajesh Ranjan, IPS, Director General of CISF

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal felicitated IIT-Delhi researchers who developed COVID-19 Testing kit

• Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ felicitated the team of scientists from IIT-Delhi who are involved in the development of COVID-19 probe free Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) Diagnostic Kit. COVID-19 Testing kit made by IIT-Delhi is in line with the Make in India initiative

PCR Diagnostic Kit:

• IIT-Delhi developed a testing kit at a very low cost for the people of India.
• The kit will empower healthcare services and support the government in the time of crisis.
• The Diagnostic Kit developed by the researchers for the detection assay for COVID-19 has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. With this, IIT-D became the first academic institute to have obtained ICMR approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic assay.

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MHRD: The Ministry of Human Resource Development, formerly Ministry of Education, is responsible for the development of human resources in India.

• Ministry executives: R. Subrahmanyam, (IAS Officer); Rina Ray, (IAS Officer)
• Founded: 26 September 1985
• Officeholder: Ramesh Pokhriyal (Union Minister)
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Jurisdiction: India
• Departments: Department of Higher Education, Department of School Education and Literacy

CCMB, IGIB develops digital surveillance to monitor and control COVID-19 spread

• The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and the Institute of Genetics and Integrated Biology (IGIB), along with a few other institutions is currently developing digital and molecular surveillance of the spread of novel coronavirus to understand the biology, epidemiology and disease impact.

Highlights:

• The surveillance centre would be established at IGIB where all the labs, research centres, and hospitals will share their data through cloud sharing.
• The surveillance will be done at three levels namely the virus, the patient, and the clinical course of the patient.
• Surveillance at the virus level refers to the genome of the virus. For this, CCMB plays a major role, as it would provide the genome sequences.
• The second part deals with the patient data, which is details of the patients looking at the clinical samples.
• Thirdly, the clinical course details would be clinical care data or hospital data that leads to outcomes. Some patients require ventilators, while others are able to recover on their own.
• The data will be used by the GoI to be linked to the Aarogya Setu app. The idea is to provide benefits to the maximum number of people.

Extra Shots:

CCMB: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology or CCMB is an Indian fundamental life science research establishment located in Hyderabad that operates under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

• Director: Rakesh Mishra
• Headquater: Hyderabad
• Founded: 1977

NASA develops VITAL, a new ventilator tailored specifically to treat COVID-19 patients

• The US space agency NASA engineers have developed “VITAL”, a new high-pressure ventilator tailored specifically to treat COVID-19 patients.
• The ventilator can be easily built.

VITAL:

• VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally) ventilator has passed a critical test at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York.
• VITAL has been designed to treat COVID-19 patients with milder symptoms. It will keep the country’s limited supply of traditional ventilators available for patients with more severe COVID-19 symptoms.
• After FDA approval, the ventilator can be used to treat COVID-19 patients.
• VITAL can be built faster and easily. It can be maintained more easily than a traditional ventilator.
• The ventilator is composed of far fewer parts, many of which are currently available to potential manufacturers through existing supply chains.

Extra Shots:

NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• Preceding agency: NACA (1915–1958)
• Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Founded: 29 July 1958, United States

SCTIMST develops Chitra Magna, an innovative RNA extraction kit

• Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) has developed Chitra Magna, an innovative RNA extraction kit, innovative technology for isolating RNA from swabs for COVID-19 tests.

Chitra Magna:

• SARS-COV-2, the causative virus of COVID-19 pandemic, is an RNA virus. It is a long single-stranded polymeric substance present in all living cells that carries the genetic information of the organism necessary for life. One of the critical steps in detecting this virus is by confirming the presence of the RNA of the virus in the sample taken from the throat or nose. The sample collected is transported under specified conditions in a viral transport medium to the testing laboratory.
• The protocol for the kit uses magnetic nanoparticles to capture and concentrate the RNA from the patient sample. The magnetic nanoparticle beads bind to the viral RNA and, when exposed to a magnetic field, give a highly purified and concentrated level of RNA. The yield of the PCR or LAMP test is dependent on getting an adequate quantity of viral RNA. Hence the innovation will enhance the chances of identifying positive cases. The Institute has filed for a patent for this technology, which is simpler than in imported kits.
• Chitra Magna can be used to extract high purity RNA from patient samples not only for LAMP testing but also for the RT-PCR test. The first step of isolating high quality and high concentration of RNA without degradation is critical to the outcome of the PCR or LAMP test in which RNA is converted to DNA.
• This will overcome the non-availability of kits which has often become a severe bottleneck for RT-PCR testing in large numbers across the country.

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SCTIMST:

• SCTIMST was established in 1976 by GoI. The autonomous premier institute functions under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science & Technology. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is one of the research Institutes and centers in India.

OBITUARIES

Former Australian all-rounder Graeme Watson passes away

• Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson passed away.
• He was a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler.
• He featured in five Tests from 1966-67 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972.
• The all-rounder earned a national call up during the 1966-67 tour of South Africa.

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