AssamExam

 Current Affairs Assam – April 22 – 28, 2020

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of April 22 – 28, 2020 )

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April 22, 2020

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Cachar district introduces ‘Report Crowd’ web to ensure social distancing

• In a first, the Cachar district administration has launched a portal to contain and disperse crowd accumulation and enhance social distancing during the nationwide lockdown period meant to restrict the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
• The webportal named ‘Report Crowd’ which would be operational along with the official website of the district administration.
• The facility will ensure social distancing and enable the administration to disperse crowd across the district with the help of feed in the form of on-the-spot photographs with Geo tagging.
• The facility has been introduced with the technical assistance from software firm Clappia based in Bengaluru. The firm is offering free services during the lockdown phase.
• This kind of an portal is being introduced for the first time in Assam to ensure that social distancing is being adhered to at all cost.
• Anyone who finds a seemingly large assembly of people at one place can simply click a photo, go to cachar.gov.in and upload the photo at the URL cacharreport.clappia.com with little details about the photograph.

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Oxford University vaccine ‘ChAdOX1′ to commence human trials

• The UK government announced that the human trial of a potential COVID-19 candidate vaccine being developed by researchers at University of Oxford will begin from April 23.
• Earlier, scientists at the University of Oxford promised a super-fast vaccine during a virtual press conference, saying the vaccine will be available by September. According to lead researcher Professor Sarah Gilbert, their ‘ChAdOx1′ vaccine can work against the coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2.
• The UK government will provide 20 million pounds to the Oxford research team to help fund their clinical trials, with a further 22.5 million pounds for researchers at Imperial College London.
• In normal course of time, a vaccine takes anytime between 12-18 months. What probably separates ChAdOx1 – known as recombinant viral vector vaccine – from the rest is the time it promises to take in order to deliver mass quantities.
• The vaccine is an adenovirus vaccine vector and was developed at Oxford’s Jenner Institute. Adenoviral vectors are a very well-studied vaccine type, having been used safely in thousands of participants, from 1 week to 90 years of age, in vaccines targeting over 10 different diseases.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also pitched for the Oxford vaccine, saying ‘ChAdOX1′ is the frontrunner in the race to take on the deadly COVID-19 virus.

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UNICEF teams up with Microsoft for remote learning platform “Learning Passport”

• Microsoft has partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for expansion of a global learning platform to help children and youth affected by COVID-19 continue their education at home.
• The platform, called “Learning Passport”, which has been in development for the past 18 months, was due to start as a pilot programme this year.
• Now, all countries with a curriculum capable of being taught online will be able to facilitate online learning for children and youth with devices at home.
• The content available to schoolchildren includes online books, videos and additional support for parents of children with learning disabilities.
• UNICEF’s Learning Passport is uniquely positioned as a scalable learning solution to bridge the digital learning gap for millions of students to bring their classroom into their home during the pandemic.
• Children and young people continuing their education online can do so through a country-specific platform, accessed via their country’s learningpassport.unicef.org page.

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DRDO lab developes 10,000 face shields for PGI, Chandigarh

• The Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) here is developing 10,000 full face protective shields for examining infected COVID-19 patients for the PGI Hospital.
• TBRL is a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• The TBRL is also acting as a facilitator for the procurement of bio-suits developed by another DRDO lab for use by healthcare service providers.
• The TBRL is involved in development, production, processing and characterisation of different high explosive compositions, fragmentation studies of warheads, captive flight testing of bombs, missiles and airborne systems and ballistics evaluation of protective system like body armour, vehicle armour and helmets.

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 APRIL 23, 2020

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HRD Ministry’s online platform ‘Shodhganga‘ to help research scholars

• In a bid to help research scholars amid the nationwide lockdown, the Human Resource Development Ministry has come up with an online platform Shodhganga for them to access information on these and other study material.
• The move comes as scholars pursuing higher studies like PhDs and MPhil etc have been hemmed in by lack of research facilities, guides and lectures due to the lockdown.
• The platform would enable researchers confined to their respective homes to access study material and theses in vernacular languages, Hindi and international languages.
• As many as 2,69,734 Indian theses and 7,500 synopses have been provided for study and reference on the e-platform.

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NBRI develops alcohol-based sanitizer

• The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in Lucknow has developed an alcohol-based herbal sanitizer.
• The product has been developed under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR – Aroma Mission as per the World Health Organization”s guidelines.
• The herbal sanitizer contains Tulsi essential oil as herbal constituent which is strong and natural anti-microbial agent and 60 per cent of isopropyl alcohol for killing germs.
• Director of NBRI, Dr S.K. Barik said, the herbal hand sanitizer has been clinically tested and found to be highly-effective against surface microbes.
• Its impact lasts for about 25 minutes and it prevents the skin from dehydrating.
• The product will be available in the market very soon under the brand name of ”Clean Hand Gel”.
• The technology of the herbal hand sanitizer has been transferred to Lucknow based company Sadguru Biologicals Private Limited.

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Union Cabinet approved Rs 15,000 crore for ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package’

• The Union Cabinet approved Rs 15,000 crore for what it calls ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package’.
• The funds will be utilized in 3 phases while for immediate COVID-19 emergency response, provision of an amount of Rs 7,774 crore has been kept.
• The rest of the amount will be used for medium-term support for the next 1-4 years, which will be provided under the mission mode approach.
• The key objectives of the package include mounting emergency response to slow and limit COVID-19 in India through the development of diagnostics and COVID-dedicated treatment facilities.
• Centralized procurement of essential medical equipment and drugs required for treatment of infected patients, strengthen and build resilient National and State health systems to support prevention and preparedness for future disease outbreaks.
• Setting up of laboratories and bolster surveillance activities, biosecurity preparedness, pandemic research and proactively engage communities and conduct risk communication activities.

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Ordinance to make acts of violence against healthworker a non-bailable offence

• The Union Cabinet approved an ordinance making acts of violence and harassment against healthcare personnel deployed in combating COVID-19 a non-bailable offence, meeting a key demand of health professionals in the wake of recent attacks on them while discharging their duty.
• The maximum sentence under the new provision is seven years imprisonment and Rs 5 lakh fine. A person can be sentenced to anywhere between three months and five years of jail, besides a fine between Rs 50,000 and two lakhs, for such crimes.
• In cases where injuries caused are serious, the punishment will range from six months to seven years, and carry fine between Rs 1 to 5 lakhs.
• The ordinance will amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the amended law will also be invoked if health care personnel face harassment from their landlords or neighbours over suspicion that they may carry the coronavirus infection due to the nature of their work.
• The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, assault on health workers across the country has now become a non-bailable offence and the punishment can come within a year.
• This decision brings a change in the epidemic law which has been there since 1897.

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Union Cabinet approval to relax Aadhaar seeding in Assam, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh up to March 31, 2021

• The Union Cabinet has given its approval to relax the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding of data beneficiaries of Assam, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for release of benefits to them under PM-Kisan Scheme up to March 31, 2021.
• The government says the decision was taken to ensure the eligible beneficiaries do not fail to get the benefits for want of non-compliance of Aadhaar seeding of data.
• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme was launched by Modi on February 24 last year.
• The scheme aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions.
• Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 6,000 annually is released in three 4-monthly installments of Rs 2,000 each, directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. The scheme is effective from December 1, 2018.

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Karnataka passed law to punish healthcare warrior’s offenders

• Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala promulgated an Ordinance to punish offenders of healthcare warriors, fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the southern state.
• The Governor passed the Karnataka Epidemic Disease Ordinance, 2020 the state cabinet approved to punish all who attack healthcare warriors in the state, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and Asha women workers treating COVID-19 victims across the state.
• The new law empowers the state government to punish the offenders with a 3-year maximum jail term and attachment of their properties for damaging assets.
• The cabinet enacted the law a day after unruly mobs attacked doctors, Asha workers and police at Padarayanapura in the city’s south-west suburb when they went to shift secondary contacts of COVID patients to a quarantine centre in the city and similar violent acts on the healthcare warriors in the state.

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First instalment for PMGKY beneficiaries released in the state

• The State panchayat and rural development department released the first instalment of ex-gratia of Rs 500 to each of 8,51,642 beneficiaries.
• Out of these beneficiaries 7,05,022 are old age pensioners, 1,12,040 are widow pensioners and 34,580 beneficiaries are under the disabled pension scheme.
• This financial assistance is provided under the special package of the Government of India, rolled out under the Pradhan MantriGaribKalyanYojana (PMGKY) to help the vulnerable section of people in view of the nationwide lockdown.
• Under this assistance programme, Rs 1,000 each will be paid in two instalments of Rs 500.
• For this, the beneficiaries of old age pension, widow pension and disabled pension under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) will be covered.

April 2020 Current Affairs Monthly PDF  |  Assam 2020 Yearbook  | March 2020 Quiz Monthly PDF

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 APRIL 24, 2020

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Assam Govt announces austerity steps

• Citing an eighty per cent drop in revenue collection in April due to the lockdown, the State Government announced a slew of austerity measures, which included reduction in establishment expenditure, ban on government functions and suspension of industrial exemptions, to “rationalize expenditure and optimize available resources” during the crisis period.
• The government, however, did not slash the salaries of employees, but has put on hold new projects and will give priority to complete old ones.
• Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the current fiscal situation was a worry for the State government as the revenue collection for the month of April fell to Rs 193 crore (SGST Rs 68 crore, CGST Rs 61 crore, IGST Rs 62 crore and cess Rs 2 crore) as compared to Rs 932 crore (SGST Rs 406 crore, CGST Rs 276 crore, IGST Rs 193 crore and cess Rs 55 crore) in the corresponding month last year.
• The revenue collection has dropped by eighty per cent. From tax on foreign liquor, the State got Rs 6 crore in April as compared to Rs 65 crore in March. Similarly, from fuel taxes, the State got Rs 60 crore compared to Rs 360 crore in the previous month.
• The committed expenses of the State government – which includes salaries, pension and interest on loan – is around Rs 3,600 crore every month.

Some of the austerity measures taken are

• The Administrative Department cannot implement any new SOPD scheme without the approval of the Finance department. Sanctioning power delegated to the Administrative departments relating to the issuance of administrative approval and financial sanction in respect of SOPD Schemes has been withdrawn until further orders.
• The Establishment Expenditure for the first quarter of the Financial Year 2020-21 has been capped at 10 per cent of the total budget instead of 20 per cent.
• All expenses pertaining to industrial exemptions, subsidies and incentives of various sectors have been suspended until further orders. No reimbursement of GST to industries will be allowed in the first quarter of the current financial year.
• Purchase of vehicles has been banned until further orders, except in case of ambulances and vehicles required for police duty. This will, however, be permitted only with the approval of the Chief Minister.
• Holding of conferences, workshops, seminars, fairs and functions etc has been totally banned in the first quarter in the physical mode. There will be a ban on holding of meetings and conferences in five star hotels.
• No executive class will be allowed except in the case of Governor of Assam, Chief Minister, Chief Justice, other Judges of Gauhati High Court and Chief Secretary.
• No officer will be allowed to attend any foreign training course, workshop, seminar outside India for which expenditure has to be borne by the State Government.
• Remuneration of Chairman and Vice Chairman of all PSUs/ Corporations/ Boards will be reduced by 25 per cent from May 1.
• Release of MLA Area Development Fund will remain suspended in the first four months of the current financial year or until further orders.

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MHRD launches academic calendar for upper primary stage

• The Union Human Resource Development Ministry launched an alternative academic calendar for upper primary stage which consists of classes 6 to 8. The calendar has been developed by NCERT under MHRD’s guidance.
• The calendar contains a week-wise plan consisting of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to theme or chapter taken from syllabus or textbook.
• MHRD claims that the calendar would map the themes with the learning outcomes.
• The purpose of mapping of themes with learning outcomes is to facilitate teachers and parents to assess the progress in the learning of children and also to go beyond textbooks.
• The activities given in the calendar focus on learning outcomes and can thus be achieved through any resource including the textbooks children are using in their state or Union Territories.
• The calendar also covers experiential learning activities such as Arts, Education, Physical Exercises, yoga, pre-vocational skills, etc.
• It would include activities related to four languages as subject areas, that is Hindi, English, Urdu and Sanskrit along with link for Chapter wise e-content available on the e-pathshala, NROER and DIKSHA portals of government of India.
• The calendar however has been designed for four weeks only, but the ministry says it would extend it if needed.

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India gifts USD 5 million medical aid to world to combat Covid-19

• India has gifted USD 5 million worth of medicines and other Covid-19 related supplies to the world so far as countries continue to combat the global pandemic.
• India has sent five million Hydroxycholorquine (HCQ) tablets to countries in the neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean Rim, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, Eurasia and Western Asia North Africa regions.
• The government is also providing 1.32 million paracetamol (PCM) tablets to its neighbouring and other partner countries.
• India is also providing a big basket of other medical aid which includes essential drugs and life-saving antibiotics; medical consumable; and other equipment for laboratories and hospitals.
• India has approved commercial consignments of around 285 million HCQ tablets to 40 countries and around 500 million PCM tablets for 60 countries have also been cleared.
• As part of government’s response to the Covid-19 situation, 11 empowered groups have been set up for an integrated approach.
• MEA has been playing a key role in the empowered group that deals with ensuring availability of essential medical equipment and supplies.

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 APRIL 25, 2020

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Rural Development Ministry released Rs 36,000 crore to states in April 2020

• The Centre has already released more than Rs 36,000 crore to the states/UTs in the current financial year (FY2020-21) for the development schemes of the villages, said Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar.
• Tomar held a meeting with all the rural development ministers and concerned officials of the states and Union Territories via a video conference and urged them to scale up of the works.
• Under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan MantriAwaasYojanaGramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), in the light of the relaxations granted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in the non-containment areas w.e.f. April 20.
• The ministry has sanctioned Rs 33,300 crore under MGNREGA out of which Rs 20,225 crore has been released to liquidate all the outstanding dues of previous years towards wages and materials.
• The said sanctioned amount is sufficient to meet the expenses under MGNREGA till June, 2020.
• The minister assured the states and UTs that adequate financial resources are available for the rural development programmes.
• Tomar also urged the states and UTs to proactively start rural development schemes relating to employment generation, infrastructure creation and strengthening of rural livelihoods while taking all necessary Covid-19 related precautions.
• He emphasised that under MGNREGS, the focus should be on water conservation, water recharge and irrigation work in convergence with the schemes of the Ministry of Jal Shakti and Department of Land Resources.
• Under PMGSY, the focus should on quick awarding of tenders in sanctioned road projects and starting pending road projects.
• The contractors, suppliers, workers etc. should be galvanised to quick start the works.

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IIT Delhi researchers develop dashboard to predict Covid-19 spread

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi have developed a web-based dashboard to predict the spread of deadly Covid-19 in India.
• The mobile-friendly dashboard, named as PRACRITI – PRediction and Assessment of CoRona Infections and Transmission in India, gives a detailed state-wise and district-wise predictions of viral cases in the country.
• The projections are given for a three-week period, which is updated on a weekly basis.
• The researchers believe that such a platform will be highly useful for healthcare bodies, local and central authorities, to efficiently plan for different future scenarios and resource allocation.
• A key parameter of interest on Covid-19 is the basic reproduction number R0 and its countrywide variability. R0 refers to the number of people to whom the disease spreads from a single infected person.
• If an active Covid-19 patient infects two uninfected persons, the R0 is two. Hence, reduction of R0 is the key in controlling and mitigating Covid-19 in India.
• The model also accounts for the effect of different lockdown scenarios, such as the effect of locking down the district boundaries and implementing different levels of lockdown within a district.
• These predictions can help the districts and states having higher R0 to take rigorous measures to control the spread of Covid-19, while for those with low R0 they need to sustain measures and remain very vigilant.
• The predictions in the dashboard are based on a newly-developed mathematical model that divides the population into four classes i.e. susceptible, exposed, infected, and removed.

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WHO, global partners join forces to develop COVID-19 technologies

• The World Health Organization (WHO), together with a group of global partners, launched a groundbreaking collaboration to accelerate both the development and equitable access to new essential technologies for COVID-19.
• WHO Director-General TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus and other global leaders made an unprecedented commitment to work together to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for COVID-19.
• Participants in conference also include leaders from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI-the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, UNITAID, the Wellcome Trust, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IFRC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• The group will seek to implement innovative diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines at record speed and at record scale in a bid to defeat COVID-19.

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UNICEF for normal resumption of immunisation in most Assam districts

• UNICEF expressed hope that the immunisation programme resumes soon in a normal way in most districts of Assam, barring areas classified as ‘red and containment zones’.
• In many places, children are missing on critical vaccines due to recommendations and requirements around physical distancing and isolation, or due to reduced access to overstretched health services.
• These circumstances are putting children, especially the most vulnerable, at a risk of outbreaks of other diseases such as measles. Immunisation is vital now, more than ever.
• UNICEF has advised parents to get children vaccinated as soon as the COVID-19 outbreak is brought under control and routine services resume.
• While essential doses for institutional deliveries have continued uninterrupted in the State during the lockdown, Assam is among the few states that resumed routine immunisation last week at the sub-centre level.
• According to UNICEF, immunisation is one of the most effective public health interventions.
• UNICEF has supported the National Health Mission, Department of Health, Government of Assam, with training of 45,000 ASHA and ANM workers on the COVID-19 outbreak.
• The training covered issues around safe practices, community surveillance, home quarantine, using a mask, facts and myths, among other aspects.
• UNICEF works on-ground closely with partners including the Government of Assam, other UN agencies and civil society organisations, to ensure availability of vaccines and their access to children, especially the most vulnerable.

April 2020 Current Affairs Monthly PDF  |  Assam 2020 Yearbook  | March 2020 Quiz Monthly PDF

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 APRIL 26, 2020

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Assam to allow inter-district movement

• The Assam government will allow inter-district movement of nearly one lakh people.
• The steps have been taken to facilitate the stranded people in 33 distrcts across Assam to return home, join offices or visit hospitals while strictly adhering to the lockdown norms, including social distancing and hygiene.
• Around 50,000 people are expected to use their own vehicles for one-way trip and over 40,000 are likely to be provided free-of-cost public transportation through the Assam State Transport Corporation buses by the state government.
• The deputy commissioners of respective districts are issuing one-way passes to the people to travel by their vehicles.

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Ministry of Home Affairs allows to open standalone shops

• The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a clarification saying that only standalone shops are allowed to open as per the directive and that the order does not apply to Covid-19 containment zones or liquor stores.
• In urban areas, all standalone/neighbourhood shops & shops in residential complexes are allowed to open.
• Shops in markets/market complexes & shopping malls are not allowed to open.
• The ministry also clarified that sales by ecommerce companies will continue to be restricted to essential goods only.
• It also cleared that liquor stores will be shut as the relaxations do not apply to them.
• No shops have been allowed to open in multi-brand or single brand malls.
• Shops were allowed outside the city limits except those in malls with 50 per cent workforce while wearing of masks has been made compulsory.

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Moody’s slashes India growth forecast to 0.2% for 2020

• Moody’s Investors Service slashed India’s growth forecast to 0.2 per cent for the 2020 calendar year from the earlier projection of 2.5 per cent released in March.
• Stating that the economic costs of shutdown of the global economy are accumulating rapidly, Moody’s in its Global Macro Outlook 2020-21 (April 2020 Update) projected that all G-20 advanced economies would contract by 5.8 per cent in 2020.
• Among the emerging economies in G-20, Moody’s projected India to grow at 0.2 per cent in 2020 and 6.2 per cent in 2021. This compares to 5.3 per cent growth clocked in 2019.
• Late last month, the government had announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore stimulus package comprising free foodgrains and cooking gas to poor and cash dole to poor women and elderly. A second package, aimed at industries, is said to be in works and is likely to be announced shortly.
• China is projected to grow by 1 per cent in 2020 and 7.1 per cent in 2021, as against 6.1 per cent in 2019.
• Moody’s in the report titled ‘Global recession is deepening rapidly as restrictions exact high economic cost’, said there are significant downside risks to its growth forecasts in the event that coronavirus pandemic is not contained and lockdowns have to be reinstated.
• India, China and Indonesia are the only 3 G-20 countries which are projected to grow in 2020, while the others will see a contraction, according to the report.
• The US economy is projected to contract by 5.7 per cent, the UK by 7 per cent, Italy by 8.2 per cent, Japan by 6.5 per cent and France by 6.3 per cent.
• Moody’s said the economic costs of the coronavirus crisis amid the near shutdown of the global economy are accumulating rapidly. Even with a gradual recovery, 2021 real GDP in most advanced economies is expected to be below pre-coronavirus levels.

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Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 to support for environmental protection

• Earth Day is celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
• In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.
• On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by 195 nations at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
• An Earth Anthem penned by Indian poet-diplomat Abhay Kumar, which has been translated into 50 languages is used by many schools and organizations across the world to celebrate Earth Day.

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 APRIL 27, 2020

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Governor’s Rule imposed in Bodoland Territorial Council

• Governor’s Rule has been imposed in the Bodoland Territorial Council. Principal Secretary to the State Government Rajesh Prasad was appointed as Administrator of BTC.
• The term of the general council of BTC expired on 27^th April and elections to the council, which were scheduled for April 4, had earlier been deferred on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• “… whereas the election in BTC was deferred indefinitely… and whereas the Governor of Assam is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the administration of the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India. Now, therefore, the Governor of Assam, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 16 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India, is pleased to assume to himself, with immediate effect, the administration of the said districts and all functions and powers vested in or exercisable by the BTC,” stated a notification issued by the Governor.
• It added the order shall take immediate effect “and shall, unless terminated earlier or extended further, remain in force for a period of six months.”
• It was announced that the Governor “may appoint a person or authority to discharge the functions and powers of the BTC, including the functions and power exercised by the Executive Committee, Chief Executive Member, Deputy Chief Executive member, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Executive Members.”
• The Governor has appointed Rajesh Prasad, senior IAS officer and Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam, to exercise all the functions and powers exercisable by the BTC and its Executive Committee, Chief Executive Member and other representatives.

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University of Hyderabad start-up wins BIRAC funding for Covid-19 project

• OncoSeek Bio Pvt Ltd will receive funding support for developing an in vitro Lung Organoid model, from BIRAC which comes under the Union Science and Technology Ministry’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• OncoSeek’s project is one of 16 selected so far from the 500 proposals received for the Covid-19 research consortium.
• Under this grant proposal, the company plans to use their novel platform to screen drugs/peptides/molecules/agents/compounds targeted against the virus or the host cell.
• It plans to create this capability in the next 6 months.
• OncoSeek is a start-up incubated at ASPIRE-BioNEST at UoH since 2019, and works on developing in vitro and in vivo platforms for specific diseases for therapeutics screening.
• BioNEST at the University of Hyderabad is a life sciences incubator, set up with the support of the BIRAC, an enterprise under the DBT, to provide a plug-and-play life science ecosystem of incubation.

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Tarun Bajaj to be DEA secretary and Rajesh Verma next MCA secretary

• The Centre has decided to appoint Tarun Bajaj as the Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), under the Finance Ministry, on AtanuChakrabarty’s retirement on April 30.
• Bajaj, a 1988 batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, is the Additional Secretary at Prime Minister’s Office.
• A Gujarat cadre officer of the 1985 batch, Chakarborty was appointed the DEA Secretary in July 2019 when then Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg was shifted to the Power Ministry.
• Rajesh Verma as the next Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). He will take over on retirement of Injeti Srinivas.
• Srinivas, a 1983 batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, will retire on May 31 after over two-year tenure as the Corporate Affairs Secretary.
• Verma is the Special Secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare.
• AramaneGiridhar, the Additional Secretary at the Cabinet Secretariat, will take over as the Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as Sanjeev Ranjan will move to the Ministry of Shipping as its new Secretary.

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CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal appointed as Secretary Department of Education

• CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal was appointed as Secretary in the Department of Education and Literacy.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Anita’s appointment.
• The committee has also extended, by three months, service of Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan. A 1983-batch IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, Sudan was to retire on April 30.
• Sudan, who has been working on aligning all departments to execute the Narendra Modi government”s policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19, will continue to function as Secretary in the Department of Health and Family Welfare of MoHFW during the period.

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Free zinc, vitamin tablets for Covid-19 field duty officials in Tamil Nadu

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami announced free zinc and multi-vitamin tablets for government officials who are on Covid-19 field duty to boost their immunity.
• Palaniswami said masks, personal protective equipment are given to officials of revenue, health, police and others who are on Covid-19 field duty.
• In order to improve their immunity, zinc and multi-vitamin tablets will be provided free of cost for 10 days.

April 2020 Current Affairs Monthly PDF  |  Assam 2020 Yearbook  | March 2020 Quiz Monthly PDF

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APRIL 28, 2020

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Assam starts implementation of State Policy for Transgenders

Assam State Government has started implementation of the Assam State Policy for Transgenders. Officials of the Social Welfare Department said that from now on, a number of welfare schemes will be come into force for the transgender community under the policy. The policy was a long-pending demand of the transgender community.

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India hands over HCQ tablets, emergency medical gear to Bangladesh

• Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Riva Ganguly Das, handed over emergency medical supplies consisting of one lakh Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets and 50,000 sterile surgical gloves to Bangladesh.
• The Indian High Commission in Dhaka said that the second tranche of assistance came from the Covid-19 emergency fund which was created at the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his March 15 video conferencing with the leaders of the SAARC countries.
• Bangladesh Health Minister Zahid Maleque appreciated the continued support of India in providing medical supplies, protective gear and capacity building in the fight against Covid-19.
• The Indian High Commissioner reiterated India”s continued support to Bangladesh in its fight against Covid-19.
• The supplies were dispatched to the Central Medical Stores Depot of Bangladesh government.
• The Covid-19 emergency fund was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his video conference with SAARC leaders on March 15.  It was set up with an initial contribution of $10 million from India.

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IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras-incubated Startup Antariksh Waste Ventures has developed an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled smart bin system to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones).
• From waste collection, transport, segregation, disposal to recycling, every process needs to be overhauled quickly and technology will play a vital role in this transformation.
• Timely cleaning of bins will be a key priority while faced with a shortage of labour.
• The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.
• The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.
• The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

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Kerala students win CODE19 hackathon with virtual classroom project

• A virtual classroom created by students from Government College of Engineering in Kannur, Kerala, to make learning easier and intuitive in COVID-19 times has won $10,000 (approxRs 7.6 lakh) as winner of the 72-hour online hackathon called CODE19.
• The hackathon was organised by California-based MotwaniJadeja Foundation this month to find solutions to India”s challenges against the new coronavirus pandemic and the foundation awarded $34,000 in total to various teams from across the country.
• iClassroom has been created by 19-year-old Abhinand C and 20-year-old Shilpa Rajeev.
• With iClassroom, students and teachers can interact with each other, clear their doubts, mentor others and conduct online classes.
• Code19 was held in collaboration with Bengaluru-based HackerEarth. The Association of Designers in India (ADI) helped in providing mentors through its network.
• The second price worth $5,000 went to TeleVital, a solution for contactless health assessment of a patient created by a 6-student team from Manipal Institute of Technology.
• The solution records a patient”s heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, etc. without any contact-based measurement tool.
• Three teams won $3,000 each at third place. The projects were SoloCoin from a team from various colleges across India, led by project lead ArbobMehmood of UPES University, Dehradun; Covid19 Fact Checker created by a team from AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune; and Grape Community, created by Ranjoy Sen, a 35-year-old software professional from Bengaluru.
• 10 best innovative solutions were awarded $1,000 each.

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IIT-Kanpur’s corona killer box that sanitizes every thing

• Scientists at the IIT-K have come up with a corona killer box that will sanitize all essential commodities that are brought into homes from outside.
• Vegetables, fruits, sugar, milk, pulses, mobiles, rupees and keys etc. can be sanitized in the box within minutes.
• The ultraviolet rays released from this can kill the bacteria and viruses in objects within minutes.
• The sensor-based box also has an alarm which can be set for a specified period of time.
• This box has several ultraviolet lights, which range between 240 and 260 nanometers. The approximate price of a box is around Rs 5,000.
• The IIT is contacting companies for its manufacture and large-scale production will naturally reduce the cost of the box.

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