Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2021

Notes:
World Development Report 2021 has been released with the theme of ‘Data for Better Lives’— Leveraging greater value from data to help the poor
This is the first World Development Report which focused solely on the role of data for development. As the Covid pandemic made the global data inequalities even greater, the report speaks on how do we tap the full value of data, to ensure equitable access for poor people.

Notes:
Saurabh Garg – a senior bureaucrat and 1991 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, has been appointed as the Chief Officer (CEO) of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This has been announced by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
The committee has appointed him in the rank of Additional Secretary.

Notes:
Renowned journalist and author Anil Dharker died recently in Mumbai at the age of 74 years.
He was the founding person and director of the Mumbai International Literary Festival which is celebrated in November every year. He was also the founder and director of Literature Live, which conducts literary events throughout Mumbai.

Notes:
The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.
Recently, the public procurement of goods and services has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore from the GeM since the platform was launched. The main reason is the sharp increase in buying activities by various ministries.

Notes:
The Government has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) till June 30, 2020.
The institutions are permitted to issue additional funding up to 40 per cent of outstanding loans as on Feb 29, 2020 as against 20 per cent earlier. ECLGS 3.0 also will be 6 years including moratorium period of 2 years. This is one year up from the previous tenure.

Notes:
The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has recently launched a portal named “MyNEP2020” of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) web portal.
This portal would be functional from 1st April to 15th May 2021. This portal seeks suggestions from various stake holders for the draft “National Professional Standards for Teachers” (NPST) and “National Mission for Mentoring Program membership” (NMM).

Notes:
The Department of Science and Technology announced that Scientists have developed a new technique to track the huge bubbles of gas, which are ejected from the Sun.
This new technique will be used in India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1. A software named Computer Aided CME Tracking Software (CACTus) and CMEs Identification in Inner Solar Corona (CIISCO) algorithm have been developed.

Notes:
The Government of India has announced scholarships to 2000 descendants of the Liberation War fighters of Bangladesh under its new Muktijoddha Scholarship scheme, which was announced it 2017.
The scheme aims to benefit 10,000 students from Bangladesh over a period of five years. This year, 1000 students each from the Higher Secondary and Undergraduate categories have been given as scholarship directly in their account.

Notes:
The Department of Economic Affairs, Union Finance Ministry decides the small saving schemes such as the PPF, NSC and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.
The Government announces interest rates for small saving schemes at the end of every quarter. Recently after announcing steep cuts in the rates, the Finance Minister rolled back the changes to previous rates for the next quarter.

Notes:
Recently, a new view of the black hole has been released by astronomers working with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). In this view, the astronomers have mapped the magnetic fields close to the hole.
The event horizon telescope first revealed the images of black hole, in the year 2018, which is located in the galaxy M87 at a distance of 55 million light-years.