Daily GK Updates - 24th April, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. UNODC Launches ‘Lockdown Learners’ Series for Indian students & teachers: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) has launched a ‘Lockdown Learners’ series in India for online dialogues between students and educators on COVID-19 and its impact on Sustainable Development Goals, peace and rule of law. The United Nations body has launched the dialogues under its flagship Education for Justice initiative. The aim of this initiative is to sensitise students on concerns of vulnerable groups as well as emerging issues such as cybercrime, misinformation, gender-based violence, discrimination, corruption among others. It will also provide a platform for students to receive mentorship and knowledge support through activity-based learning, and use their talent and skills to promote awareness and share their ideas and solutions to address some of these problems

Note: Note: Director-General of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes: Ghada Fathi Waly.

2. ‘Serve-the-Seniors Initiative’ helpline launches by JKSLSA: Jammu and Kashmir State Legal Services Authority (JKSLSA) has launched a helpline under ‘Serve-the-Seniors Initiative’. The objective of starting this helpline, comprising is to help and facilitate the senior citizens who live alone and are unable to step out to get medicines, groceries and other essentials in this hour of crisis.

Note: Lt. Governors of Jammu and Kashmir: Girish Chandra Murmu.

3. CSIR develops ‘Feluda’, a low-cost paper strip COVID-19 test: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) has developed ”Feluda” a low-cost COVID-19 test strip. The test is developed by 7-member team of researchers at CSIR-IGIB led by Dr Souvik Maiti and Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty.  The test like pregnancy test strips and is expected to cost around Rs 500 against the usual RT-PCR test that costs Rs 4,500 in private labs. The test uses the cutting-edge gene-editing tool- Crispr-Cas9 to target and identify the genomic sequences of the novel coronavirus in the samples of suspected individuals.

Note: Director-General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research: Shekhar C. Mande.

Director of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology: Anurag Agrawal.

4. Defence Minister launches First Covid-19 Mobile Testing Laboratory: Raksha Mantri, Rajnath Singh has launched India’s 1st COVID-19 sample collection mobile Lab through video conference. India’s 1st COVID-19 sample collection mobile Lab launched has been named as “Mobile BSL-3 VRDL Lab”. This Lab has been developed by Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), in collaboration with ESIC, Hyderabad 15 days with due permission of ICMR. The Mobile Viral Research Lab is the combination of a BSL 3 lab and a BSL 2 lab to meet international guidelines with electrical controls, LAN, Telephone cabling, and CCTV.

Note: Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation: G Satheesh Reddy; Headquarters of DRDO: New Delhi.

5. National Panchayati Raj Day: 24 April: In India, the National Panchayati Raj Day (National Local Self-Government day) is observed annually on 24 April by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to celebrate the Panchayati Raj System in the country. The first National Panchayati Raj Day or the National Local Government Day was declared by the then Prime Minister of India Shri Manmohan Singh, on 24 April 2010. PM Modi address Gram Panchayats through video conferencing and launch e-GramSwaraj Portal and Swamitva Scheme, this year.

Note: Union Minister of Panchayati Raj: Narendra Singh Tomar.

Rajasthan was the 1st state with Panchayati Raj in 1959

6. NBT & FICCI organizes WEBINAR on Post-COVID Publishing Scenario: National Book Trust, India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has organized a WEBINAR on Post-COVID Publishing Scenario in New Delhi. This webinar was organized on the occasion of WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY and featured the participation of Union Minister of HRD Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.

Note: Chairman of National Book Trust (NBT): Prof. Govind Prasad Sharma

Union Minister for Human Resource Development: Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.

7. Union HRD Minister launched #MyBookMyFriend campaign: Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has launched a campaign “#MyBookMyFriend”. The campaign “#MyBookMyFriend” has been launched on social media on the occasion of World Book Day. #MyBookMyFriend campaign will run for 7 days and during this time all people are urged to join this campaign. Citing the importance of books, the minister urged all the students to read some books of interest in addition to course books during the period of lockdown. He also appealed to the students to share the book which they are reading at the moment using #MyBookMyFriend on social media.

8. HP to adopt three-pronged strategy to tackle coronavirus: Himachal Pradesh government is all set to adopt a three-pronged strategy to tackle the menace of coronavirus. Under this, three types of institution will be recognized. Asymptotic people would be kept in Covid care centres, moderate symptomatic people would be kept in Covid Health Centres and severe symptomatic would be kept in Covid Hospitals. Health department had also set up Whatsapp number 01792227328 to provide other health services in addition to Covid19.

9. Manipur govt commemorates ‘Khongjom Day’: Manipur Government commemorated ‘Khongjom Day’ at Khongjom War Memorial Complex, remembering the people who valiantly fought in the Anglo-Manipuri War in 1891 on Arpil 23. This day is commemorated to pay tribute to the war heroes of Anglo-Manipuri War 1891 who had sacrificed their lives fighting against the British to protect freedom of Manipur. The site is about 35 KM south of Imphal in Thoubal district where the battle was fight between Manipuri and British.

10. DRDO designed UV-C Light based sanitisation box and device: DIPAS and INMAS, DRDO laboratories have designed and developed Ultraviolet C Light based sanitisation box and hand held UV-C (ultraviolet light device (with wavelength 254 nanometres). The UV-C box is designed for disinfecting personal belongings like mobile phone, tablets, purse, currency, cover of office files, etc. The hand-held device having 8-watt UV-C lamp disinfects office and household objects like chairs, files, postal delivered items etc.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indian High Commission in Bangladesh holds webinar on trade promotion: Indian High Commission in Bangladesh, and India Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) has jointly organized a webinar on trade promotion. Riva Ganguly Das, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh called upon the business leaders of India and Bangladesh to share innovative ideas in response to the emerging economic scenario amid Corona pandemic in the world.

Note: Prime Minister of Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina; Capital: Dhaka; Currency: Taka.

2. International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace: 24 April: The International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace is marked on 24 April since 2019. The day was declared by the UN General Assembly in December 2018 and was observed for the first time on 24 April 2019. The Assembly proclaimed the day while considering that preserving the values of multilateralism and international cooperation is fundamental to promote and support the three pillars of the UN - Peace and Security, Development and Human Rights. The Day is a reaffirmation of the UN Charter and its principles of resolving disputes among countries through peaceful means.

Note: Secretary-General of the United Nations: Antonio Guterres.

3. SpaceX successfully launches 60 Starlink satellites: SpaceX successfully launched a new batch of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit and nailed a rocket landing at sea to cap the mission with Falcon 9 rocket. It was launched from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The launch marked the 84th Falcon 9 flight, making SpaceX's workhorse rocket the most flown U.S. rocket in use.

4. Iran Successfully Launches Military Satellite ‘Noor’ into Orbit: The Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the country’s armed forces, successfully launched a small military spacecraft into orbit named Noor on 22 April 2020. Noor can be translated to Light, in Farsi. The small military craft flew into orbit on top of a multi-stage Qased rocket. This successful launch is likely to increase Tehran’s capability to strike enemy targets.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. World Games unveil new logo for 2022 edition: The 11th edition of World Games which is to be held in Birmingham, Alabama, US (United States) has unveiled an updated logo and title after being delayed a year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Olympic-style competition for sports and events that are not on the Summer Games program will now be known as The World Games 2022. The event was initially scheduled for July 2021, but it will now be held in July 2022 to accommodate the one-year postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Note: International World Games Association Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland; International World Games Association President: Jose PerurenaLopez; International World Games Association Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Joachim Gossow.

2. Iran’s Alireza Firouzja beats Magnus Carlsen in Banter Blitz Cup final: 16-year-old Iranian refugee, Alireza Firouzja beats World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the final of the Banter Blitz Cup 2020 and to claim the $14,000 prize. Firouzja, an Iranian now living in Paris, is the second-youngest player to reach a rating of 2700 from Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the body that governs international chess competition. He is ranked 21st in the world.

Note: FIDE Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland; FIDE President: Arkady Dvorkovich; FIDE Founded: 20 July 1924.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. Fitch Ratings predicts India’s GDP growth for FY21 at 0.8%: Fitch Ratings has reduced the GDP growth rate prediction for India for FY21 (2020-21) to 0.8%. For FY22 (2021-22), Fitch Ratings has predicted the GDP growth for India at 6.7%. The predictions were made in the latest Global Economic Outlook (GEO) report released by Fitch Ratings.

2. Fitch Ratings Expects Global Economy to Shrink by 3.9% in 2020: The Rating agency Fitch Ratings has slashed the global growth forecast and expects the world GDP to fall by 3.9 percent in 2020, citing COVID-19-induced recession is crushing the global economy. The sharp downward revision is driven by a massive decline in Asian economies, led by China and India, both of which are estimated to post growth rate of less than 1 percent this year.

3. India’s GDP growth likely to range between -0.9 to 1.5 pc in FY21: CII: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has projected India’s GDP to range between -0.9 percent to 1.5 percent in the current financial year 2020-21. The industry body released a paper titled ‘A plan for economic recovery’ in which it has laid out its growth expectation under three scenarios and suggested “urgent” fiscal interventions. In the baseline scenario, GDP is expected to grow at just 0.6 percent on an annual basis due to restriction on economic activities. In the optimistic scenario, GDP is forecast to register a growth of 1.5 percent in the best case, based on faster pick-up post the lockdown period. In case of a more prolonged outbreak, where the restrictions in existing hot-spot regions get extended, while new regions are identified as ‘hot-spots’ leading to intermittent stop and start in economic activity, GDP is likely to decline by -0.9 percent.

OBITUARIES

1. Renowned thespian Usha Ganguly passes away: Eminent theatre director, actor and activist, Usha Ganguly passed away at her residence in south Kolkata due to massive cardiac attack. She was 75. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for direction in 1998. She has also been honoured by the West Bengal Government as the best actress for the play Gudia Ghar. She was credited for introducing an alternative Hindi theatre in West Bengal, in the 1970s and 1980s.

2. Former Rajya Sabha MP Basanta Das passes away: Former Rajya Sabha member from Odisha Basanta Das passed away following a prolonged illness. He was Rajya Sabha member from 1990 to 1996 as Janata Dal nominee. He was also chairman of Bhawanipatna Municipality from 1985 to 1990.