Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to invest $100 million equivalent in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund-NIIF’s Fund of Funds.
ADB joins the Government of India (GOI) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an investor in one of the instruments of NIIF of India. NIIF is an investment platform for Indian and international investors where they are mandated to invest equity capital in domestic infrastructure.

Notes:
As per the recent notification of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the limit for investment of Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) in corporate bonds is hiked to 15% of outstanding stock for FY2020-21.
FPIs can invest Rs 3.17 lakh crore in Indian corporate bonds, at present. After this hike in limit, they can invest up to Rs 4.29 lakh crore of corporate bonds for the half year April to September 2020, and Rs 5.41 lakh crore for the half year October 2020 to March 2021. The revised limits for FPI investment in Central Government securities (G-secs) and State Development Loans (SDLs) will be notified separately.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched a new initiative called ‘Lifeline Udan’ under which flights are operated to transport essential medical supplies across the country amid coronavirus lockdown.
The air carriers which are involved in Lifeline Udan operations include Air India, Alliance Air, Indian Air Force and Pawan Hans. Cargo hubs have been established at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata

Notes:
The United Nation’s COP 26 climate change summit was scheduled to be held in the city of Glasgow in Scotland in November 2020.
Amid the world-wide Coronavirus pandemic, the Climate change summit has been postponed to 2021. The British government announced that the exact date of the rescheduled conference will be decided later. This decision has been taken by the COP Bureau of the UNFCCC along with the UK and Italy.

Notes:
The Hercules aircraft of Indian Air Force recently delivered about 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines to Maldives as assistance to tackle the consequences of COVID 19.
The medicines were procured from various cities to be delivered to the neighbouring country. India has earlier sent a medical team along with essential medicines to Maldives. As the island country is mostly dependent on imports from India, essential food grains and consumables were also supplied.

Notes:
The South-Central Railway has recently started deploying ‘Doodh Duronto Special’ to ensure uninterrupted transport and supply of essential commodities during the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Though passenger train services have been suspended till April 14, 2020, these trains are being operated. Recently, the train has been dispatched from Renigunta to Delhi with 6 milk tankers and two parcel vans with mangoes and musk-melons. The special train is being run with an average speed of 110 km per hour.

Notes:
The National Health Authority (NHA) has signed an agreement with the ride-haling app Uber, for providing transport services to healthcare workers involved in treatment of covid-19 patients
Through its UberMedic service, the ride-hailing firm is to provide 150 cars free of cost to support medical facilities in certain cities. This initiative comes at the back-drop of the lock-down, where all forms of public and private transportation have been restricted. Hygiene measures such as roof-to-floor plastic sheeting enclosing the driver’s seat and disinfecting the car are ensured in every ride.

Notes:
A four-year-old female tiger named Nadia from the Bronx Zoo in New York City, has been tested positive for the coronavirus.
This is claimed to be the first known case where transmission of the coronavirus from human to an animal has been confirmed. The tiger is believed to have been infected by an asymptomatic zoo-keeper. Later, six other animals, including lions and tigers, have also been showing symptoms.

Notes:
The innovation cell of Ministry of HRD and AICTE have recently launched an online challenge for students called ‘SAMADHAN’, in collaboration with Forge and InnovatioCuris.
This challenge calls for students to search and develop quick solutions to the Coronavirus pandemic, that will assist the government agencies and health services. Under the programme, the students and teachers of the country will be motivated for conducting new experiments.

Notes:
A Central government enterprise under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, HLL Lifecare Limited has developed a rapid antibody diagnostic kit for COVID-19.
The kit has been validated and approved by the NIV and the ICMR and will be marketed under the brand name of “MakeSure”. The result would be obtained from the patient sample in 15-20 minutes using the kit. About two lakh kits for supplying to various government units are to be manufactured within the next 10 days.