Current Affairs in short : 7 April 2020

World Health Day is celebrated each year on 7th April globally.

On 7 April, UNESCO commemorates the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Ministry of Human Resources Development launches "Samadhan" a challenge to fight against covid19 and future challenges.

A dashboard giving real-time data on COVID 19 cases was inaugurated in Bengaluru on 7 April 2020.

WhatsApp to limit forwards of frequently-forwarded messages to just one chat to stop the spread of misinformation about coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Kerala has installed Walk-in Sample Kiosks (WISK) for mass collection of samples for Covid-19 testing in Ernakulam district.

Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul, Justice Sanjay Dhar and Justice Puneet Gupta sworn in as a permanent Judges of common High Court for UTs of JammuAndKashmir and Ladakh.

NASA is working on the Artemis program that aims to land humans on the moon by 2024.

2020 World Team TableTennis Championships scheduled for March will now be held from September 27 to October 4. 

Indian-American journalist Brahm Kanchibotla died of COVID-19 in April 2020.

Britannia Industries has partnered with Dunzo to deliver its range of biscuits, croissants, ghee, and dairy whitener, among others to its consumers.

Mahmoud Jibril, the former head of the Libyan rebel government that overthrew longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has died from the coronavirus.

Infosys’ chief operating officer, UB Pravin Rao, has been appointed as the new chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), for 2020-21.

Veteran Malayalam music composer MK Arjunan, popularly known as Arjunan master, passed away in Kochi in April 2020.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most widespread coral bleaching on record.

Government has relaxed export curbs on 24 pharma ingredients and medicines including vitamin B1 and B12.

Current Affairs in short : 6 April 2020

Shooting World Cup scheduled to be held in Delhi in May cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic.

Mahavir Jayanti is being celebrated across the country on 6 April 2020.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) has set a record by moving 70 rakes carrying 1.93 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) continuously in single-day movement during the lockdown.

Indian Railways Convert 126 Coaches Into Isolation Wards In Mysuru For Coronavirus Patients.

Anurag Srivastava on Monday took charge as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from Raveesh Kumar.

DRDO approves the international standard PPEs(Personal protective equipment) manufactured by the Northern Railways.

A 3.1 magnitude earthquake shook HimachalPradesh’s Chamba district on Monday morning.

Actress Lee Fierro , best known for playing Mrs Kintner in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws , has died of complications due to coronavirus. She was 91.

Training of Gaganyaan astronauts in Russia put on hold due to lockdown in wake of coronavirus outbreak.

UGC directs all universities, colleges to set up mental health helplines to address psychosocial concerns of students during lockdown imposed to combat coronavirus.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that 29 June 2021 has been set as the new deadline for the qualification period of the Tokyo Olympics.

NITI Aayog CEO  Amitabh Kant chairs Empowered Committee to review coordination between various stakeholders for COVID-19 related response activities.

HCL Technologies has set up a control centre in Noida to help respond to citizens’ queries about coronavirus.

Havas Group India has announced the appointment of Neeraj Bassi as its chief strategy officer with immediate effect.

In partnership with Bharti AXA General Insurance, Airtel Payments Bank has launched health insurance plans which offer financial protection against coronavirus as well.

The United Nations celebrates 6th of April every year as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

Kobe Bryant was selected to be inducted into the 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In Telangana, a unique disinfectant named ‘V Safe Tunnel’ has been installed at the state Director General of Police’s office to sanitize people within 20 seconds from any possible bacteria and other microbes.

A tiger at New York’s Bronx Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19 and is believed to have contracted the virus from a caretaker who was asymptomatic at the time.

More than 50 crore poor will be eligible for free COVID-19 testing and treatment under Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- PMJAY.

Current Affairs in short : 5 April 2020

1. The students of All India Council for Technical Education have launched " COVID-19 Student HelpLine Portal " to face the problems faced by the students of Whinn colleges due to the lockdown in the country due to Corona epidemic 


2. NCC Volunteer Cadets To Fight COVID-19 Under ' Exercise NCC Yogdan '.


3. UNGA Adopts ' Global Solidarity To Fight The COVID-19 ' Resolution.


4. Indian Railways have begun preparing to resume all its services from April 15 after a 21-day suspension of its passenger trains in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. 


5. Haryana Govt Bans Sale Of Chewing Gums Till June 30 .


6. India is seeking as much as $6 billion of loans from multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank to bolster its efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak. 


7. SBI Mutual Fund Becomes India’s Largest MF In Jan-Mar.




8. Railway makes low cost prototype of Ventilator. JEEVAN, is a low-cost energy efficient ventilator made by the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.


9. Himachal Pradesh Bans Sale Of Chewing Gums Till June 30.


10. India seeks $6 billion of loans from ADB, AIIB to fight coronavirus pandemic


11. Civil Servants across services including IAS, IPS, IRS have launched a unique CARUNA Initiative to support government in the right against COVID-19 pandemic. 


12. Mizoram Govt Has Launched " mCOVID-19 " Mobile App .


13.  IOC Sets June 29 , 2021 As New Deadline For Qualification Period Of Tokyo Olympics.


14. Madhabi Puri Buch, Whole Time Member (WTM) at SEBI, has been given a six months extension by the government,


15. Govt Bans Export Of Diagnostic Kits With Immediate Effect.


16. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Gets PETA Award.


17. April 5, 2020 will mark the first International Day of Conscience, which is a United Nations day. This day serves to remind people to self-reflect, follow their conscience, and do the right things.


18. The organizers of the World Games 2021 have decided to postpone the mega sporting event by an year to avoid clash with Tokyo Olympics.


19.  Thailand , Malaysia Banned From Weightlifting At Tokyo Olympics.


20.  Goa Bans Eggs , Chickens From Other States.

Current Affairs in short : 4 April 2020

1. The Government of India launched Corona Kavach application to map the location of a COVID-19 positive patient through GPS.


2. Odisha government, in collaboration with the UNICEF, launched an online cultural competition [Mo Prativa (My talent)] among children to keep them engaged at home during the lockdown period.


3. Manipal Cigna Health Insurance company has announced the launch of its Arogya Sanjeevani Policy, ManipalCigna.


4. The interest rates on small saving schemes have been slashed by the central government for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2020-2021. 


5. The FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup, which was scheduled to be played in India between November 2nd and 21st, has been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.


6. The official mascots of the 19th Asian Games were unveiled at a digital launch ceremony in Hangzhou, China.


7. Bill Withers, the celebrated artist whose hits include “Lean on Me” and “Lovely Day,” has died of heart complications. 


8. Minister of State Human Resource Development and IT Sanjay Dhotre today launched Hack the Crisis – India, an Online Hackathon to find working solutions for overcoming COVID-19 pandemic.


9. The United Nations’ International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is observed on April 4 each year.


10. Government extends tenure of NCLT acting President Bethala Shanta Vijaya (B.S.V.) Prakash Kumar for another 3 months. 


11. ARMMAN, an India-based non-profit organization, has been awarded the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 2020.


12. National Health Authority (NHA)inked a pact with ride-hailing app Uber to provide transport services for frontline healthcare workers involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

1. The government has tested an application named, Geo-fencing app to trigger emails and SMS alerts to an authorised government agency, if a person has jumped quarantine or has escaped from isolation, based on the person’s mobile phone’s cell tower location.

Current Affairs in short : 3 April 2020

1. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed a bio-suit for the safety of the paramedical, medical, and other personnel engaged in combating COVID-19 safe from the deadly virus.


2. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) provided interim approval on the use of rapid antibody tests for COVID-19 patients in the Country.


3. Ministry of Defence (MoD) has received foreign direct investment (FDI) of $8.82 million (around Rs.51.93 crore) during the period April 2000 and December 2019. 


4. China is to host the third edition of the Asian Youth Games (AYG) in Shantou in November 2021.


5. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited appointed Dilip Kumar Patel as its Director Human resources.


6. The Moong dal price has been raised by about 20% although the supply of other staples is normal. The reason is because of the smaller harvest and disruption in transportation has caused shortages of moong dal.


7. Government of India (GoI) extended the deployment of 100 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies in Delhi to strengthen security during the ongoing lockdown in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.


8. Rajasthan CM Shri Ashok Gehlot has suggested to PM Modi that the centre should release ₹1lakh crore to the state Rajasthan to enables them to tackle COVID-19.


9. The United States of America has deployed 'Patriot 'air defence to Iraq to protect American troops recently targeted by Iranian missiles


10. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has advised National Informatics Centre (NIC) to assist the States /UTs in limited registration of BS-IV vehicles all over India except Delhi/National Capital Region (NCR) on the lines with Supreme Court order dated 27.3.2020.


11. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), the manufacturing unit of Indian Railways based in Asansol, West Bengal (WB), has set the Limca Book of Records for producing record 431 locomotives in the financial year 2019-2020 (FY20) in 292 working days.

1. PM Narendra Modi video message: PM Modi has urged people to switch off lights and light diyas and candles for 9 minutes at 9 pm on April 5th.

India State of Forest Report, 2019

On the 30th of December 2019, the State of Forest Report 2019 was released. According to this report, Karnataka state tops in the forest cover increase.

On 30th December 2019, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar released the biennial “India State of Forest Report (ISFR)”, in New Delhi.

ISFR provides comprehensive information about the forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, carbon stock and forest fires.

The total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 sq. km which is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country. The tree cover of the country is estimated as 95,027 sq km which is 2.89% of the geographical area.

The total Forest and Tree cover of the country is 8,07,276 sq. km which is 24.56% of the geographical area of the country.

The current assessment shows an increase of 3,976 sq km (0.56%) of forest cover, 1,212 sq km (1.29%) of tree cover and 5,188 sq km (0.65%) of forest and tree cover put together, at the national level as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR 2017.

Forest cover within the Recorded Forest Area/ Green Wash (RFA/GW) has shown a slight decrease of 330 sq km (0.05%) whereas there is an increase of 4,306 sq km of forest cover outside the RFA/GW as compared to previous assessment of 2017.

The top five States in terms of increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km), Kerala (823 sq km), Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq km) and Himachal Pradesh (334 sq km).

Forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 2, 84,006 sq km, which is 40.30% of the total geographical area of these districts. The current assessment shows an increase of 544 sq km (0.19%) in 140 hill districts of the country.

The total forest cover in the tribal districts is 4,22,351 sq km, which is 37.54% of the geographical area of these districts. The current assessment shows a decrease of 741 sq km of forest cover within the RFA/GW in the tribal districts and an increase of 1,922 sq km outside.

Total forest cover in the North Eastern region is 1,70,541 sq km, which is 65.05% of its geographical area. The current assessment shows a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq km (0.45%) in the region. Except Assam and Tripura, all the States in the region show decrease in forest cover.

Mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10%) as compared to the previous assessment.

The total growing stock of wood in the country is estimated 5,915.76 million cum comprising 4,273.47 million cum inside forest areas and 1,642.29 million cum outside recorded forest areas (TOF). The average growing stock per hectare in forest has been estimated as 55.69 cum.

Total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as 1,60,037 sq km. There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo bearing area as compared to the estimate of ISFR 2017.

In the present assessment, total carbon stock in forest is estimated as 7,124.6 million tonnes. There is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase is 21.3 million tonnes, which is 78.1 million tonnes CO2 eq.

Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.

The total mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km.

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) represents the largest pool of carbon stock in forests, which has been estimated 4,004 million tonnes. The SOC contributes 56% to the total forest carbon stock of the country.

There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.83% of the area within the RFA/GW of the country. The total number of wetlands located within the RFA/GW is 8.13%. Amongst the States, Gujarat has largest area of wetlands within RFA in the country followed by West Bengal.

Dependence of fuelwood on forests is highest in the State of Maharashtra, whereas, for fodder, small timber and bamboo, dependence is highest in Madhya Pradesh. It has been assessed that the annual removal of the small timber by the people living in forest fringe villages is nearly 7% of the average annual yield of forests in the country.

The information on area affected by five major invasive species in States/UTs based on analysis of NFI data has been given in the present ISFR.

Fire prone forest areas of different severity classes have been mapped in the grids of 5km x 5km based on the frequency of forest fires. The analysis reveals that 21.40% of the forest cover of the country is highly to extremely fire prone.

 Some Key Facts : 

An increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2017.

Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).

The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated 5,915.76 million cum of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cum outside.

There is an increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment. Out of this the increase in growing stock, there is an increase of 55.08 million cum inside the forests and 38.30 million cum outside the forest areas.

The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare. There is an increase of 0.32 million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.

Under the current assessment the total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3 million tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.

Wetlands within forest areas form important ecosystems and add richness to the biodiversity in forest areas, both of faunal and floral species. Due to importance of wetlands, FSI has carried out an exercise at the national level to identify wetlands of more than 1 ha within RFA. There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.8% of the area within the RFA/GW of the country.

Current Affairs in short : 2 April 2020

 ➡️The World Bank has announced $1 billion to the Government of India for a proposed India COVID-19 emergency response and health systems preparedness project.
➡️Maharashtra State government announced a 60% pay cut for all government employees with an aim to financially assist the state in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
➡️Lifeline Udan flights have transported over 15.4 tonnes of essential medical supplies across India amid coronavirus lockdown.
➡️Wimbledon organizers cancelled the Wimbledon Championships 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
➡️Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) developed a one-step curable anti-microbial coating which can kill virus of any type.
➡️The annual output of Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, fell heavy rains at coal mining regions disrupted production.
➡️World Autism Awareness Day is observed on 2 April.
Theme:  "The transition of adulthood".
➡️Centre issued Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020. The order was issued by the Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA).
➡️D. Lakshminarayanan, whole-time director of Sundaram Finance Ltd., has been elevated as the MD of Sundaram Home Finance.
➡️Indian government has launched a dedicated coronavirus tracking app called Aarogya Setu.
➡️Pravin Jadhav, MD and CEO of Paytm Money, has resigned from the company.
➡️The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has launched a dedicated Twitter handle for COVID-19 updates.
➡️The Karnataka govt has launched the Corona Watch app, which can be downloaded from www.karnataka.gov.in
➡️The Scientists and Students in Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru have developed a prototype of an indigenous ventilator under project Praana.
➡️The price of non-subsidized 14.2 Kg LPG was slashed by 61 rupees and 50 paise per cylinder in line with a fall in benchmark international rates.
➡️Jammu and Kashmir Administration has set up a 24×7 Control Room at Lakhanpur for hassle-free movement of trucks carrying essential supplies.
➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️

Current Affairs in short : 1 April 2020

1. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that the world has clearly entered a recession due to the coronavirus pandemic.


2. The World Bank has offered $1 billion to the Indian government for a proposed India Covid-19 emergency response and health systems preparedness project.


3. The Tokyo Olympic Games have been rescheduled to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021


4. Sudhir Rajkumar, a senior official from India, has resigned from his position of Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF)


5. Maharashtra State government announced a 60% pay cut for all government employees with an aim to financially assist the state in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.


6. The Ministry of Tourism has launched a portal ‘Stranded in India’ as a support network to help foreign tourists who are stuck in various parts of India. Its web address is strandedinindia.com.


7. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed a casualty evacuation bag to transport or isolate persons infected with COVID-19.


8. The Union Home Ministry has granted a special Rs 10-crore fund to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), enabling it to undertake relief works for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic.


9. Odisha celebrates Utkal Dibasa on 1st April to mark the day the state was born as a separate entity on linguistic basis.This year marks the 83rd utkal Divasa, or the foundation Day of odisha.


10. Spanish Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Parma has become the first royal to pass away due to Covid-19 complications


11. Veteran Japanese comedian Ken Shimura passed away due to coronavirus.


12. Tamil folk singer and actress Paravai Muniyamma passed away.

Daily Current Affairs April 2020

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