WEEKLY GK CURRENT AFFAIRS 5TH – 11TH APRIL 2020 : Current Affair for Competitive Exams with a PDF file

WEEKLY GK CURRENT AFFAIRS 5TH – 11TH APRIL 2020 : Current Affair for Competitive Exams with a PDF file



WEEKLY GK CURRENT AFFAIRS 5TH – 11TH APRIL 2020


Continue with our Weekly Current affair series this time we come with the current affair news summary from 5th April to 11th April 2020. These current affairs news are very important from the point of Competitive examination. So read the full article carefully. We mentioned the most important points related to each current affair news which makes you understand the news easily and to remember the important point easily related to that news. We will share a weekly update with you related to the weekly news.

Those who have missed our previous weekly current affair news article can check on our website through the following link: “ Weekly current affairs from 29th March to 4 April 2020” for full news.

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1. ‘CARUNA’ TO FIGHT COVID-19: Associations representing officers of Central Civil Services, including the IAS and IPS, have created an initiative called „Caruna [Civil Services Associations Reach to Support in Natural Disasters] to assist and supplement the governments efforts to battle against Corona Virus (COVID-19).
2. UBERMEDIC TO PROVIDE SERVICES TO HEALTHCARE WORKERS: National Health Authority (NHA) partnered with Uber India to provide 24/7 free UberMedic transport services to Indias frontline healthcare workers and hospitals engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Initially, Uber will facilitate the provision of 150 cars free of cost to support medical facilities in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Patna via UberMedic service.
3. IAF TRANSPORTS 6.2 TONS MEDICINES TO MALDIVES: Coronavirus (COVID 19) is causing terrible havoc in the country and the world at this time. So Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched „Operation Sanjeevani and air-lifted 6.2 tonnes of essential medical supplies to the Maldives via transport aircraft C-130J as assistance in fight against the virus.
4. PIB SETS UP COVID-19 FACT CHECK UNIT: A COVID-19 Fact Check Unit (FCU) has been constituted in the Press Information Bureau (PIB) under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to prevent dissemination of fake facts and news related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The unit is headed by the PIB Director General (DG), Nitin Wakankar.
5. INDIA’S 1ST HOME SCREENING TEST KIT FOR COVID-19: Bengaluru based startup Bione, a genetic and microbiome testing firm has launched Indias 1st home screening test kit for COVID-19 & is approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). To take the test using the kit one has to clean the finger with an alcohol swab and use the lancet provided to finger-prick & the provided cartridge reads the results within 5-10 minutes.


6. LOW-COST PORTABLE VENTILATOR ‘PRANA-VAYU’: IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)- Roorkee, Uttarakhand in collaboration with AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science) Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, has developed a low-cost portable ventilator called „Prana-vayu costing just Rs.25,000. The commercial product will be around 1.5 feet by 1.5 feet for better portability.
7. 2022 ASIAN GAMES MASCOT UNVEILED: The official mascots of the 19th Asian Games, to be from 10 to 25 September 2022, were unveiled at Hangzhou, China. The ceremony was conducted online due to the coronavirus pandemic. There are three mascots namely Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen, which represents the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage sites of Hangzhou in eastern China. These three mascots for the XIX Asiadare collectively known as the “smart triplets”.
8. PMKSY FOR FY 2019-20: The state of Tamil Nadu has topped the all-India level for micro-irrigation (MI), under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), with coverage of 2,06,853.25 ha for the year financial year 2019-20. The state is followed by Karnataka and Gujarat. This programme promotes the“more crop per drop” concept by focussing on water-saving technologies with an objective of “HarKhetkoPani”.


9. COVID-19 TREATMENT FREE FOR AB-PMJAY BENEFICIARIES: National Health Authority (NHA) announced that more than 50 crore eligible citizens under the health insurance scheme of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) will avail free testing through private labs and treatment for COVID-19 in empanelled hospitals to increase the supply of testing and treatment facilities in the country.
10. IOB & HDFC BANK FOR PM CARES FUND COLLECTION: After SBI, now State-owned Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and private lender Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank have been nominated for the collection of donations for Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund). The HDFC group has contributed Rs.150 crores to the PM-CARES Fund.
11. LOW-COST VENTILATOR CALLED ‘JEEVAN LITE’: Aerobiosys Innovations Private Limited, a start-up incubated at The Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship (CfHE) in the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H)– Telangana, has designed a low cost portable emergency ventilator called „Jeevan Lite. Also Indian Railways has developed a low-cost ventilator „Jeevan at its premier coach production unit,Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala in Punjab.
12. NASA’S ARTEMIS: NASA unveiled its plan to setup „Artemis, the first human base camp on Moons South Pole by 2024 through a 13-page report titled “NASAs Plan for Sustained Lunar Exploration and Development”. The report was submitted to the National Space Council, an advisory group to United States (US) President Donald Trump, presided over by Vice President Mike Pence.
13. IWF BANS THAILAND & MALAYSIA: The Independent Member Federation Sanctions Panel (IMFSP) of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has banned Thailand and Malaysia from participating in weightlifting events at the Tokyo Olympics due to multiple doping offences.
14. NATIONAL MARITIME DAY 2020: APRIL 5: World Maritime Day (WMD) is observed on the last week of September on Thursday annually and this year the day will be celebrated on September 24, 2020.
15. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF CONSCIENCE 2020: APRIL 5: IDC) is observed for the 1st time to recognize the need to establish stability, well-being, peaceful and friendly relations on the basis of respect for human rights.
16. CABINET APPROVED 30% SALARY CUT OF MPS: Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has approved an ordinance of 30% cut in the salaries of all Members of Parliament (MPs) for FY 20-21 and a two-year suspension (2020-21 and 2021-22) of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme so that the amount saved can go to the Consolidated Fund of India to fight COVID-19. Through this suspension, Rs 10 crore from each MPLAD fund will go to the Consolidated Fund of India. The amount saved from the scheme would be Rs.7,900 crore.
17. NATIONAL ACADEMIC DEPOSITORY (NAD): DigiLocker, an online document wallet has been designated as the sole National Academic Depository (NAD) by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) to enable educational institutions to store digital copies of academic awards, mark sheets and certificates on the cloud-based service. University Grants Commission (UGC) will implement NAD as a permanent scheme within Digilocker.


18. USAID ANNOUNCES $2.9 MILLION AID TO INDIA: The 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.

19. RBI RELAXED THE NORMS OF STATE/UT TO AVAIL OVERDRAFT: RBI has decided to increase the number of days that a State/UT can continue to overdraft to 21 working days from the current stipulation of 14 working days as they are facing cash flow mismatches due to coronavirus. In addition overdraft in a quarter has also been increased to 50 working days from the current stipulation of 36 working days.

20. ‘FORCE MAJEURE’ NOT APPLICABLE TO COVID-19: In a move to reassure COVID-19 health policy holders, the Life Insurance Council of India has confirmed that the clause of „Force Majeure will not apply in case of COVID-19 death claims and it is applicable for both state-run and private life insurance players.
21. NEW CHAIRMAN OF NASSCOM: The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) appoints Infosys Chief Operating Officer(COO) UB Pravin Rao as its chairman & chairman and senior managing director of Accenture in India Rekha M Menon as its vice president for 2020-21.
22. WORLD HEALTH DAY 2020: APRIL 7: Theme of the year 2020: Support nurses and midwives. The WHO designated 2020 as International Year of Nurse and Midwife
23. DELHI CM ANNOUNCES 5T PLAN: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced a 5T plan which includes- Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Teamwork & Tracking and monitoring to control the spread of COVID-19 in the state,
24. DGFT LIFTED EXPORT RESTRICTION ON 24 PHARMA INGREDIENTS, MEDICINES: Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under Ministry of Commerce & Industry has removed export restrictions on 24 pharma ingredients including 12 active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and 12 formulations by exercising the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992.

• The APIs which got free from restrictions include vitamins B1, B6 and B12, tinidazole, metronidazole, acyclovir, progesterone, chloramphenicol.

25. SMART CITIES TO PROVIDE ONLINE CONSULTATION: Smart cities are collaborating with certified doctors and health experts to provide online medical consultation facilities to citizens. The city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat has been ranked as the top Smart City in India for its execution of smart projects in handling COVID-19 pandemic.

26. SIDBI OFFERS EMERGENCY WORKING CAPITAL OF UP TO RS 1 CRORE TO SMES: The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has announced that it will provide emergency working capital of up to Rs 1 crore to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate Emergency response against coronavirus (SAFE) loan limit has been increased to 2 crores from Rs 50 lakhs.It is a financial assistance program launched by SIDBI for MSMEs that engage in the manufacturing of products (hand sanitizers, masks, gloves, head gear, bodysuits, shoe covers, ventilators, goggles, among others) or offer services to combat the novel coronavirus.

27. MOBILE DOCTOR BOOTH CALLED ‘CHARAK’: The West Central Railways Coach Rehabilitation Workshop (CRWS) in Madhya Pradeshs (MP) Bhopal city,has created a mobile doctor booth called “CHARAK” to eliminate the possibility of physical contact between the doctor and the coronavirus (COVID-19) infected patient. Also Ministry of Health to divide health centers into 3 categories for corona patients

28. ‘BREAKTHECHAIN’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST CORONAVIRUS: Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a British-Dutch manufacturing company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, has joined hands with the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) for a mass communication campaign titled „#BreakTheChain or #VirusKiKadiTodo based on 3 themes – social distancing, hand washing and generosity, to inform people about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic and empower them to protect it.

29. UNSC MET FOR 1ST TIME TO DISCUSS COVID-19: The United Nation Security Council (UNSC) met for the first time through closed video-conference session with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the issues that fall under the UNSCs mandate.

30. APPLE ACQUIRES DARK SKY WEATHER APP: Apple has acquired the Dark Sky, a weather app, which forecasts hyper-local weather predictions and ability to minute by minute, its iPhone Operating System (iOS) app which costs USD 3.99 will not be modified, and the Android and Wear OS app cant be downloaded anymore.

31. FIFA’S RANKING 2020: According to the FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association)/Coca-Cola World Ranking 2020, released on April 09, 2020, Indian football team retained its 108th position with 1187 points. While Belgium ranked first and world champion France is in 2nd place and Brazil is at 3rd spot.

32. INDIAN-AMERICAN VETERAN JOURNALIST BRAHM KANCHIBOTLA PASSED AWAY AT 66: On April 6, 2020, The Indian-American veteran journalist Brahm Kanchibotla passed away at 66 due to coronavirus in a hospital on Long Island in New York, United States(US).

Key Points:
i. In recent years, he has been writing for two Indian-American publications, the Indian Panorama and the South Asia Times.

ii. During his 28-year career in the US, he worked for 11 years as a content editor for Merger Markets, a financial publication, and also worked for News India-Times Weekly.

iii. He emigrated to the US in 1992 after having worked for several publications in India.

33. WORLD HOMEOPATHY DAY 2020: APRIL 10: This year the day marks the 265th birth anniversary of the father of the Homeopathy systems of medicines Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, discovered the way to heal through the use of homeopathy. The term „homeopathy comes from the combination of the two Greek words, homeo- meaning similar & pathos- meaning suffering or disease.
Theme of the year 2020: “Enhancing the scope of Homeopathy in Public Health”.

34. RBI LAUNCHES TWITTER CAMPAIGN: RBI launched a Twitter campaign to adopt digital modes of payment that are convenient and safe and reiterated the multiple digital payment options such as NEFT, IMPS, UPI and BBPS that are available 24*7.The face of the campaign is Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.



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