DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: APRIL 8, 2020

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Daily Current Affairs (April 8, 2020) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

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National News

Digilocker designated as sole National Academic Depository by HRD Ministry:

• Ministry of HRD designated DigiLocker as the sole National Academic Depository (NAD). It directed the UGC to implement NAD as a permanent scheme within DigiLocker without levying user charges through MeitY.
• DigiLocker is safe to store electronic versions of documents.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announces 5T plan to tackle novel coronavirus crisis:

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

New Delhi

• Chief Minister: Arvind Kejriwal
• Governor: Anil Baijal

Krishi Vigyan Kendra: Door Delivery of fish Scheme:

• Krishi Vigyan Kendra operating under Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has launched a door delivery scheme in Kerala. Under the scheme, it is providing door delivery of fishes to several households in Kochi city.
• The Door Delivery scheme has gained a good response in the Kochi city with average daily supply hitting 510 kg. Under the scheme, the KVK is catering 350 homes.

Prime Minister , President and MPs Salary reduced by 30% , MPLAD funds suspended for 2 years:

• Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance which amends the salary, allowances as well as pension of the members of parliament. The approved ordiance reduces the allowances and pension by 30% starting from April 1, 2020, for a year due to the impact of the novel coronavirus. 
• All Members of Parliament (MPs), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers, will face a 30% salary cut from April 1, 2020, for a year.

Ordnance Factory Board to introduce “modified tents” to set up isolation units:

• Ordnance Factory Board that governs the defence manufacturing unit spread across India is to introduce “modified tents” to set up isolation units.
• The idea of modified tents was brought by the Ordnance Equipment Factory, Kanpur. It aims to create isolation wards that will act as tents. The tent is to be made of Poly Viscos and is water proof.

Chhattisgarh Police use app ‘Rakhsa Sarv’to keep an eye on home quarantined people:

• Police in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district have created a mobile application to keep tabs on those violating the home quarantine order.
• The police, with the help of Noida-based startup Mobcoder, developed the app ‘Rakhsa Sarv’, which enables them to track the quarantined people through Google Map. Details of the home-quarantined people are being fed in the app’s dashboard.

Chhattisgarh

• Capital: Raipur
• Chief Minister: Bhupesh Baghel

• Governor: AnusuiyaUikey

Telangana deploys Covid-19 monitoring app developed by start-up:

• Telangana government deployed an automated COVID-19 monitoring system app to identify & undertake live surveillance, track, monitor & provide real-time analytics to the CM & the health department. It has been developed by the start-up Vera Smart Healthcare. 

Telangana

• Capital:Hyderabad
• Chief Minister:K. Chandrashekar Rao
• Governor:TamilisaiSoundararajan

• National Parks(NP):KasuBrahmananda Reddy NP, Mahaveer Harina NP, Mrugavani NP.

Ministry of Human Resources Development launches “Samadhan” a challenge to fight against covid19 and future challenges :

• Innovation Cell of the Ministry of Human Resources Development and All India Council for Technical Education in collaboration with Forge and InnovatioCuris launched a mega online challenge – SAMADHAN – to test the ability of students to innovate.

MHRD

• Minister of Human Resource Development- Ramesh Pokhriyal Constituency- Haridwar, Uttarakhand

AICTE

• Headquarters- New Delhi 
• Chairperson- Anil Sahasrabudhe

International News:

USAID announces $2.9 million aid to India to fight Coronavirus:

• US (United States) Government, through its aid agency USAID (United States Agency for International Development), has announced a grant of USD (United States Dollar) 2.9 million to India to fight against Coronavirus.

USAID:

• Headquarters– Washington D.C., US (United States).
• Motto– “From the American people”.

Banking and Economy

SIDBI to provide emergency working capital of up to Rs 1 crore to MSMEs:

• Small Industries Development Bank of India will provide emergency working capital of up to one crore rupees to small and medium enterprises(MSMEs). 
• The limit of SAFE loans has been enhanced from 50 lakh rupees to two crore rupees.
• SAFE–SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate Emergency. Interest Rate-5%.

Airtel Payments Bank partners with Bharti AXA General Insurance:

• Under the partnership, the insurer has rolled out 2 insurance plans: Bharti Axa Group health Assure & Group Hospital Cash offering lumpsum of ₹25,000 and daily benefit of ₹500/day respectively.
• MD & CEO of Bharti AXA: Sanjeev Srinivasan.
• Head Office: Mumbai.

RBI eases norms for state governments extends overdraft facility:

• RBI relaxed norms for state govt facing short-term mismatches by extending the duration of overdraft facility until 30 September. 
• The number of days for which a state or UT can avail this is extended to 21 working days from the current 14 days.
• No. of days for a quarter increased to 50 working days from 36.

GDP likely to grow just 2% in 2020-21: 

• ICRA has sharply revised its forecast for India’s growth in the current fiscal to 2% down from a range of 4.7% – 5.2%. 
• It also lowered its estimate for GDP growth in FY20 to 4.4% from 4.7% earlier.
• ICRA–Investment Information & Credit Rating Agency.

Jobless rate amid lockdown period hits 23.4% : 

• As per a survey released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) a leading business information company, the unemployment rate in India climbed to 23.4% as on April 5, 2020. 
• It estimated the jobless rate for March 2020 as 8.7%.
• MD & CEO of CMIE: Mahesh Vyas.
• UN estimated loss of 195 mn jobs.

PNB Housing Finance inks agreement with JICA to raise $ 100 million:

• PNBHF partnered with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to raise $75 mn with co-financing of $25mn by CitiBank based on Facility for Accelerating Financial Inclusion in Asia. 
• It will be used for affordable housing to low-income households.
• It is JICA’s 1st debt funding in housing finance sector in India.

PNBHF:

• Headquarters– New Delhi, India
• Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)– Sanjay Gupta

JICA:

• Headquarters– Tokyo, Japan
• President– KITAOKA Shinichi

Citibank:

• Headquarters– New York, United States
• CEO– Mary McNiff

CCI approves acquisition of GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited by JSW Energy Limited:

• Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition by JSW Energy Limited of GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act. 
• GMR is engaged in generation of power through its coal-based thermal power plant at Odisha.
• JSW Head Office: Maharashtra.

Hitachi’s proposed acquisition of 80.1% in power grid business of ABB Limited:

• CCI approved the proposed acquisition of 80.1% stake by Hitachi in the power grid business of ABB Limited. ABB Management will hold the entire power grid business of ABB.
• Hitachi is headquartered in Japan.
• ABB HQ: Switzerland.

Appointments

Shafali Verma named as brand ambassador by PepsiCo:

• Beverage Major PepsiCo has named Shafali Verma, 16 years old, Indian Women Cricketer, as one of its brand ambassadors for one year. Pepsi will be Shafali’s first contract with a major brand. 
• The beverage firm recently signed Bollywood star Salman Khan as its face for 2 years.

TDSAT Chairman’s tenure extended by three months:

• 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.

Obituary News

Kannada actor Bullet Prakash passes away:

• Popular Kannada comedy actor Bullet Prakash, who was known for his performances in films like Aithalakkadi and Aryan passed away.
• Prakash was fondly known as Bullet, as he was often seen riding a Royal Enfield Bullet.

American actor Forrest Compton passes away due to COVID-19:

• Veteran American actor Forrest Compton, who was popular for playing the role of district attorney Mike Karr in the long-running soap opera “The Edge of Night”, passed away due to COVID-19 complications.

1960s Bond Girl Honor Blackman Passed away at 94:

• Honor Blackman, one of the most memorable co-stars of the early James Bond films, has passed away. The actress shot to fame in her late 30s after playing Bond girl in Goldfinger.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – April 8, 2020

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