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INDEX

1. INTERNATIONAL NEWS 2. NATIONAL NEWS 3. STATE NEWS 4. ECONOMY NEWS 5. RANKS AND REPORTS 6. OBITUARIES 7. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 8. SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES 9. DEFENCE 10. APPOINTMENTS 11. IMPORTANT DAYS 12. BOOKS AND AUTHORS 13. AWARDS 14. SPORTS

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Largest hole in the Ozone layer is now closed in the North Pole. ▪ Scientists who have been observing the ozone hole at Copernicus’ Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) has announced that the Ozone layer hole is now closed in the North Pole. They reported that the largest hole in the Ozone layer spreading over 1 million square kilometres above the Arctic has closed due to unusual atmospheric conditions. The hole in Ozone was first identified by scientists in March 2020.

2. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has abolished the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. ▪ The new order states that any individual who has received a death sentence for crimes committed while he or she is a minor will no longer face execution. Instead of the death sentence, the individual will undergo a prison sentence of no longer than 10 years in a juvenile detention facility. The new rule was announced by the president of the Saudi government’s Human Rights Commission, Awwad Alawwad.

3. G-20 has launched a new initiative “Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator” under the presidency of Saudi Arabia. ▪ The new initiative “Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator” will act as global platform for action to improve connections as well as to leverage interdependencies for collective partnership, mobilizing, problem-solving, and guiding investments for new COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics as well as vaccines. It also aims to provide equitable access of all the tools to all the members.

4. Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Jack Dorsey has pledged to donate $1 billion to charities working towards combatting the global COVID-19 pandemic.

5. The NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has announced the appointment of a group of experts on 31 March 2020. This group to support his work in a reflection process to further strengthen NATO’s political dimension.

6. The World Bank has offered $1 billion to the Indian government for India’s COVID-19 emergency response and health systems preparedness project which aims to develop the preparedness of India’s health care systems in the time of the pandemic. The project will respond and mitigate the COVID-19 threat and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness in India, as per the project document.

7. ADB increases its COVID-19 Response Package to $20 Billion

8. UN COP26 Climate Change Summit postponed to 2021. ▪ The United Nation’s COP26 climate change conference which was set to take place in Glasgow in November has been postponed till next year due to COVID-19. The decision to postpone the conference was taken by the COP Bureau of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

9. IBM has introduced ‘Watson Assistant for Citizens’ in India free of cost to address COVID-19 queries. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

▪ ‘Watson Assistant for Citizens’ is an Artificial Intelligence platform which provides reliable information on COVID-19 related queries.

10. The United States has announced $2.9 million aid for India through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to help India in its fight against COVID-19 as well to also provide care for those who are affected and help the local communities with the tools to stop the pandemic spreading in the country.

11. For COVID-19 related projects in its member states, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Development Fund (SDF) has allocated $5 million.

12. The 44th session of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has been postponed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

13. The Lebanese parliament has passed the legislation to legalize the cannabis cultivation for medical and industrial purposes. ▪ Earlier, the farming of cannabis was illegal in Lebanon, but now the cannabis farming would be regulated within the country. Legalizing the cultivation of Cannabis is expected to produce high value-added medicinal products. It is also a potentially lucrative export for Lebanese economy which is in dire need of foreign currency as it is grappled with a financial crisis.

14. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) has rolled out a ‘Lockdown Learners’ series in India under its flagship “Education for Justice” initiative. ▪ It has launched ‘Lockdown Learners’ series of online dialogues with educators and students in India. The ‘Lockdown Learners’ series emphasizes on COVID-19 and its impact on Sustainable Development Goals, peace and rule of law.

15. Iran has successfully launched its first-ever military satellite named “Noor” into the orbit. ‘Noor’ satellite has reached its orbit and is orbiting 425 km above the earth’s surface.

16. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed a high-pressure ventilator called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally) to treat COVID-19 patients.

NATIONAL NEWS

1. The promulgation of an Ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 has received the Union Cabinet’s approval. ▪ It has been approved by the cabinet, keeping in view the recent instances with the most critical service providers i.e. members of healthcare services being targeted and attacked by miscreants, thereby obstructing them from doing their duties during the current COVID-19 pandemic. It intends to make such acts of violence cognizable and non-bailable offences and also ensure that during any situation akin to the current pandemic, there is zero tolerance to any form of violence against healthcare service personnel as well as damage to property.

2. An Integrated Geospatial Platform “SAHYOG” has been rolled out by the Department of Science and Technology. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

▪ Government of India has launched it to help in decision making during the present COVID-19 outbreak and support with area-specific strategies in order to handle the socio-economic impact in the recovery phase. It will also complement the “AAROGYA-SETU” mobile application for Contact tracing, Public awareness, and Self-assessment objectives. It is expected to bolster the public health delivery system of the State as well as Central Governments and facilitate the necessary geospatial information support to citizens and agencies by collecting the COVID-19 specific geospatial datasets via community engagement.

3. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched a campaign titled ‘Bharat Padhe Online’ for Crowd Sourcing of Ideas in order to improve the online education ecosystem of India.

4. A webinar series titled “#DekhoApnaDesh” has been launched by the Indian Tourism Ministry. ▪ This unique series has been launched by the tourism ministry to provide information on many destinations and culture & heritage of Incredible India.

5. Government of India (GoI) has allocated Rs. 15000 crores for ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package’. ▪ The funds will help in enhancing the production of Personal Protection Equipment, ventilators, ICU and other essential equipment. These interventions and initiatives would be implemented under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

6. ADB assures $2.2 bn support package to India to fight Covid-19 pandemic

7. COVIDCARE app launched by Arunachal Pradesh to combat COVID-19

8. An iGOT e-learning platform has been launched by the Government of India in order to combat COVID-19. ▪ The platform can be accessed at https://igot.gov.in and delivers curated, role-specific content, to each learner at his place of work or home and to any device of his choice. It is designed to population scale and will provide training to around 1.50 crore workers and volunteers.

9. The innovation cell of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched an online challenge called “SAMADHAN” to fight against COVID-19. ▪ The students participating in this challenge will search and develop such measures that can be made available to the government agencies, health services, hospitals and other services for quick solutions to the Coronavirus epidemic and other such calamities.

10. The Government of India has extened the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) by another one year i.e. up to 31st March, 2021 in view of the unprecedented current situation arising out of the pandemic Novel COVID-19. ▪ The policy was implemented on 1st April, 2015 for 5 years and was valid upto 31st March, 2020. Along with extension, the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry has also announced some changes in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP).

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

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12. The ‘Team Mask Force’ has been formed to spread awareness about wearing masks in public places. ▪ Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has created a video to promote wearing masks in public places and help the country to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

13. In an advisory to all states and Union Territories, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has extended the validity of documents that expired since 1st February 2020. ▪ The validity of these documents has been extended till 30th June 2020 due to COVID-19. The documents include fitness, driving licence, permits (all types), registration or any other concerned document under the Motor Vehicle Rules.

14. The Naval Dockyard at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh has designed ‘Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold (MOM)’. ▪ This oxygen manifold is designed to supply oxygen to multiple patients at a time, which could prove helpful in a contingency created by COVID-19 spread.

15. National Cadet Corps (NCC) has offered its volunteer cadets for national duty to fight COVID-19 under ‘Exercise NCC Yogdan’.

16. Indian Navy’s Naval Dockyard in Mumbai has designed and developed its own handheld infrared- based temperature sensor gun for the screening of personnel in a bid to limit the spread of COVID- 19. ▪ Since the outbreak of the virus, temperature guns and non-contact thermometers have become scarce in the country.

17. The Department of Science & Technology, Government of India has approved to set up a rapid response centre “CAWACH stands for Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH)” at a total cost of Rs 56 Crore at Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay. The Centre is a rapid response centre which has been set up to scout, evaluate and support the innovations and start-ups that address COVID-19 challenges.

18. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched “MHRD AICTE COVID-19 Student Helpline Portal” to address the issues faced by students due to closure of colleges and hostels amid national lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak. The portal will provide help and support by connecting those who are willing to provide help with those who need help.

19. Online Hackathon “Hack the Crisis-India”, a part of a global initiative has been launched to find the working solutions to overcome the COVID 19 pandemic.

20. PM, President and MPs Salary reduced by 30%, MPLAD funds suspended for 2 years.

21. During the 21 days nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19, pharmacists, popularly known as “Swasth ke Sipahi” of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra are delivering essential services and medicines at doorstep of patients and elderly, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) of the Government of India. The objective of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra was to provide quality and affordable healthcare to anyone in need.

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22. The Government of India has constituted an Empowered Group for coordinating response activities with Private Sector, NGOs and International Organisations related to COVID-19 to coordinate response activities with Private Sector, NGOs and International Organisations related to COVID-19. The gorup will be headed by the chief executive officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant and will address the issues such as identification of problems, effective solutions and making of plans along with three groups of stakeholders.

23. GoI launches “Aarogya Setu” app to track Covid-19 ▪ “Aarogya Setu” is the official COVID-19 tracking app that has been launched by the Government of India. The “Aarogya Setu” app has been developed by the National e-Governance Division of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in association with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

24. Amidst the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Kanpur is developing portable ventilators which will be significantly cheaper than the ones available in the market. The prototype of this ventilator will be ready very soon and just after assembling, it can be used as a life support system. The ventilator is a very important medical equipment for COVID-19 Patients, especially those who are old and the virus can prove fatal to them.

25. A team of Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati has developed a drone to sanitise large areas such as roads, parks and footpaths. ▪ The drone comprises of automated sprayer which will help the authorities to sanitise large areas in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

26. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has launched a dedicated Twitter handle for COVID-19 updates. ▪ This dedicated twitter handle has been set up to share news and updates about the novel coronavirus. The account is named as #IndiaFightsCorona and it uses the handle @CovidnewsbyMIB. The twitter handle would be responsible for sharing authentic information and all updates on Novel Coronavirus. In its first tweet, the dedicated twitter handle has shared the helpline numbers for information on the COVID-19 pandemic.

27. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has launched “National Monitoring Dashboard on COVID-19 Grievances” which will receive and monitor all grievances related to COVID-19 on priority basis.

28. A low-cost portable ventilator called ‘Prana-Vayu’ has been developed by IIT-Roorkee in association with AIIMS-Rishikesh. ▪ The ventilator can be manufactured in just Rs 25,000 and will be applicable for a wide degree of congestions in the respiratory tract and can be used for all age group patients, especially the elderly.

29. An initiative ‘Caruna’ has been launched by the Civil services officers’ associations to support and supplement the government’s efforts in fighting coronavirus. ▪ The initiative named as ‘Caruna’ stands for Civil Services Associations Reach to Support in Natural Disasters. As per the initiative, the officers have set up teams in sync with the www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

11 empowered groups created by the Narendra Modi government to tackle all issues related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

30. “Lifeline UDAN” is an initiative which has been launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to help India fight against COVID-19. ▪ Under this initiative, 132 cargo flights have been operated so far across the country to transport medical cargo including remote and hilly areas. Medical supplies of more than 184 tons have been delivered till date during lockdown period with the support of Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private airlines.

31. Ministry for Human Resource Development has starts web-portal named YUKTI (Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) in New Delhi. ▪ The web portal and dashboard will help to monitor and record the efforts and initiatives of the Ministry of HRD. Its plan to cover different dimensions of COVID-19 challenges in a comprehensive and holistic way.

32. India’s Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharti has rolled out a new channel called DD Retro. ▪ The new channel “DD Retro” would be specifically dedicated to old classics of Doordarshan. The channel has been launched by Prasar Bharti in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic to keep viewers engaged.

33. IIT-Bombay has developed a digital stethoscope called “AyuSynk” to check patients who are infected with COVID-19. ▪ IIT Bombay converts conventional stethoscopes into digital ones. The conventional stethoscope may pose a risk of infection to healthcare professionals handling coronavirus patients.

34. DRDO develops kiosk “COVSACK” for COVID-19 sample collection.

35. CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories has developed Personal Protective Coverall Suit in association with MAF Clothing Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru. ▪ The polyproplylene spun laminated multi-layered non-woven fabric based suit has been developed for the front line health workers i.e. Doctors, Nurses, Paramedical staff and Health Care workers working round the clock on COVID-19 mitigation.

36. Government of India has launched a dashboard containing information of human resources for combating and containing Covid-19. This dashbaord has been created as an online portal on the website “covidwarriors.gov.in”.

37. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar (Punjab) has developed & designed a ‘WardBot’ to deliver medicines and food to COVID-19 patients in isolation wards without human intervention. WardBot also has a feature of self-sanitising on the return path and could be used for sanitising walls of the hospitals.

38. “Covid FYI” is a one-stop digital directory containing information of all COVID-19 related services and helplines released by official sources. ▪ This platform has been made by an international team of 16 members led by Simran Soni, a student of Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. Covid FYI a one-stop COVID-19 platform for accessing emergency services from official government sources. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

39. National program “VidyaDaan 2.0” has been rolled out by the Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ to invite e-learning content contributions as the requirement of e-learning content for students has increased in the backdrop of situation arising out of Covid-19 pandemic. VidyaDaan is a common national program for individuals & organizations across the nation to donate or contribute e-learning resources for school as well as higher education in order to ensure the continuity of quality learning. This donated/shared content will be utilized on the DIKSHA app.

40. Automobile giant Maruti Suzuki has developed low-cost ventilators for helping the government in the fight against COVID-19. The production is going on in Gautam Buddha Nagar of Uttar Pradesh, where the company is supporting a start-up Agva Healthcare to scale-up ventilator production.

STATE NEWS

1. Himachal Pradesh government has rolled out “e-sanjeevani-opd” for free online medical consultation to sick people who were feeling uncomfortable to visit hospitals in view of COVID- 19 pandemic. ▪ The “e-sanjeevani-opd” service will provide free online medical consultation to sick people at their residence throughout the state. To reap the benefits of “e-sanjeevani-opd”, a person should have a computer, laptop, tablet along with webcam mike, speaker as well as internet connection. To provide the free online medical consultation, a team of 16 doctors of various medical colleges of state will be available on all working days.

2. Madhya Pradesh government has launched the “Jivan Shakti Yojana” for women. ▪ Under this scheme, women in urban areas can earn by making masks at home. The government will pay them Rs 11 per mask.

3. The government of Gujarat has given the approval of the third edition of his government’s ‘Sujalam Sufalam Jal Sanchay Abhiyan’ amid Coronavirus lockdown. ▪ The scheme will see the deepening of lakes, check dams and rivers by removing silt. This will be done till June 10, 2020, with people’s participation also as under MNREGA. ▪ The scheme was started in 2018 after a weak monsoon. It is a conservation plan to deepen water bodies in the state before the monsoon.

4. Assam government has launched a new scheme called “Dhanwantari” for home delivery of medicines. ▪ The patients can send their prescriptions over the telephone or inform the health workers and the health department will ensure that it is delivered to them even if it is not in the list of available free medicines. This is the largest outreach programme taken up by any state government at this point of time.

5. The government hospital in Ernakulamhere, Kerala has deployed a robot named ‘KARMI-Bot’ to serve COVID-19 patients. ▪ The robot will be used to assist patients at the medical college’s COVID-19 isolation ward.

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6. The Government of Manipur commemorated “Khongjom Day” at Khongjom War Memorial Complex, Thoubal, Manipur. ▪ This day is observed to remember the people who valiantly fought in the Anglo-Manipuri War in 1891.

7. Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel, has recently launched a website ‘Cghaat’ to provide home delivery of fruits and vegetables during the lockdown.

8. Government of Manipur starts a new initiative titled ‘Food Bank’ in view of the threat of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). ▪ This initiative provides immediate aid within the sort of free food to the poor and needy who face scarcity of essential commodities due to the long statewide lockdown.

9. Delhi Government has launched the ‘Operation SHIELD’ to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the national capital. ▪ The Operation SHIELD will be implemented in 21 containment zones as a necessary action to protect the people of Delhi from COVID-19. In the Operation SHIELD: S stands for: Sealing of area; H stands for: Home quarantine; I stands for: Isolation of infected patients; E stands for: Essential services ensured; L stands for: Local sanitisation; D stands for: Door to door survey.

10. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given permission to Uttar Pradesh to start “Pool Testing” of COVID-19 samples in the state. ▪ With this, Uttar Pradesh will be the first state to start pool testing. At present 558 COVID-19 cases have been found in the state.

11. Jharkhand hospitals employ ‘COBOT-Robotics’ to serve COVID-19 patients

12. Goa becomes the 1st state to use Ayurveda to COVID-19 patients

13. The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has launched a 5T plan to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the national capital. ▪ According to the Delhi governemt, the 5T plan consists of 5 pillars namely: testing, tracing, treatment, teamwork and tracking.

14. Chhattisgarh Police create app ‘Rakhsa Sarv’ for quarantined people. ‘Rakhsa Sarv’ enables them to track the quarantined people through Google Map.

15. To sanitize people, ‘V Safe Tunnel’ installed in Telangana

16. The state government of Karnataka has launched a mobile application ‘Corona Watch’. ▪ The mobile application aims to track the movement history of persons tested positive, before their detection in order to take precautions and to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The app will also provide the date and time of visit to spots by the patients.

17. Himachal Pradesh government has started “Active Case Finding Campaign” in the state. ▪ The campaign has been rolled out in the state to provide information about the symptoms of COVID-19 to the people at their doorsteps.

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18. A ‘Modi Kitchen’ has been set up in the Kovai (Coimbatore), Tamil Nadu. ▪ The kitchen which has a capacity to serve 500 meals per day will remain operational till 14th April 2020.

19. The Centre has extended the tenure of Reserve Bank Deputy Governor BP Kanungo by a year with effect from April 3, 2020. ▪ Kanungo, whose term was to end on April 2, had taken charge as a deputy governor in April 2017.

20. An online cultural competition “Mo Prativa” has been launched by the Odisha government in collaboration with the UNICEF in order to keep children engaged at home during the lockdown period. ▪ The competition will enable childern to participate in various activies such as painting, writing of slogans, short stories, poems etc on the themes: Being at home during lockdown & My responsibility as a young citizen during COVID-19.

21. The Delhi Government has launched ‘Assess Koro Na’ mobile application and advised the officials to use the new ‘Assess Koro Na’ app to do door-to-door survey in COVID-19 containment zones. ▪ This mobile application will speed up decision-making by analysing the real-time data and hence removing a major obstacle in the efforts to contain the virus.

22. The Administration of Pathanamthitta district in Kerala has launched a vehicle called ‘Tiranga’ (Total India Remote Analysis Nirogya Abhiyaan) for rapid screening of COVID-19 symptoms. ▪ The vehicle is provided with thermal scanning, an infrared thermometer mounted on the bonnet, a two-way microphone system by which individuals inside and out of doors the vehicle can ask one another, a mobile camera which will click photos of their identity cards.

23. Uttar Pradesh has become the 1st state with a software-based in-house facility of virtual courts, where requisite infrastructure in Allahabad High Court and all its courts for hearing cases through video conferencing.

ECONOMY NEWS

1. Fitch Solutions has slashed India’s economic growth forecast to 1.8% for the financial year 2020- 21. ▪ Fitch Solutions has lowered India’s economic growth forecast from 4.6% stating large-scale loss of income across the economy due to domestic outbreak of COVID-19, causing contracted private consumption. It has also predicted the contraction in fixed investments as capital expenditure has been reduced by businesses to conserve cash amid elevated economic uncertainty.

2. The Asian Development Bank has released its annual economic publication “Asian Development Outlook 2020” ▪ In which it has projected India’s growth to slow down to 4% in the current fiscal year i.e. 2020- 2021 citing weak global demand and the government’s novel coronavirus containment efforts for the slowdown in Indian economy. But for fiscal year 2021-2022, ADB has projected India’s growth to strengthen to 6.2%, boosted by government reforms.

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3. IMF chief names Raghuram Rajan in her External Advisory Group. ▪ Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva has named a group of prominent individuals to serve as her new External Advisory Group which includes former RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan and others to its new External Advisory Group. Raghuram Rajan was the RBI governor for three years and presently working as a professor at the prestigious University of Chicago.

4. People’s Bank of (PBOC) has raised its stake in Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) from 0.8% to 1.01%. The stake raising process was done as a secondary market transaction.

5. Rating agency CRISIL has cut the GDP growth rate forecast for India for 2020-21 (FY21) to 1.8% from the previous prediction of 3.5%. ▪ CRISIL has projected a total loss of Rs 10 lakh crore or Rs 7,000 per person due to the impact of lockdowns to control COVID-19 pandemic.

6. Moody’s Investors Service has cut India’s GDP growth forecast for the calendar year 2020 to 0.2%, from 2.5% projected in March. ▪ Moody’s has predicted India’s GDP growth rate to be 6.2% for 2021. Only China, India, and Indonesia are projected to witness economic growth in 2020 by Moody’s. Moody’s has cut its growth projection for India amid the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

7. The Reserve Bank of India has announced a set of measures to mitigate the effect of COVID-19. ▪ Among the major announcements, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to reduce the reverse repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 4% to 3.75% with immediate effect. While the policy repo rate, MSF rate and the Bank rate will remain same as per decision taken in RBI’s 7th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2019-20.

8. To enhance its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India has signed a $1.5 billion loan with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). ▪ The loan amount will be used in fulfilling India’s immediate priorities. These priorities comprises of disease containment and prevention, social protection for the poor as well as economically vulnerable sections of the society, especially women and disadvantaged groups.

RANKS AND REPORTS

1. A report titled “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019” has been released by swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). ▪ The report analysed the global military spending in 2019 stating that the global military spending in 2019 was 2.2% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) i.e. 7.2% higher in 2019 than it was in 2010. As per the report, the top 5 largest spenders in 2019 were: United States ($732 billion), China ($261 billion), India ($71.1 billion), Russia ($65.1 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($61.9 billion).

2. Forbes billionaires list “The Richest in 2020” topped by Jeff Bezos.

3. World Bank has released a report titled “South Asia Economic Focus”. ▪ The report forecasts a sharp economic fall in each of the region’s eight countries. The cause of the sharp economic fall has been stated as the halting economic activity, collapsing trade as well as www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

greater stress in the financial and banking sectors which is a result of COVID-19 outbreak. The report states that the regional growth will get dropped to a range between 1.8% and 2.8% in 2020, down from 6.3% that was projected 6 months ago.

4. The “Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker” has identified India’s response to Covid- 19 as one of the most stringent in the world. ▪ This data is based on tracking 73 countries. This tracker is created by researchers from Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The tracker is designed to systematically record government responses worldwide and aggregate the scores into a common ‘Stringency Index’.

5. The UN ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020 has projected India’s GDP for FY21 at 4.8% and warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to result in significant adverse economic impact globally. The title of the UN report ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020: Towards sustainable economies’.

OBITUARIES

▪ Father of modern Iraqi architecture Rifat Chadirji passed away due to COVID-19. ▪ He was credited to design some of Iraq’s most valuable structures and iconic “Freedom Monument” in the now protest hub of Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.

▪ Spanish Princess Maria Teresa has become the first royal to pass away due to COVID-19. ▪ She was born on July 28, 1933, and studied in France and became a professor at Paris’ Sorbonne as well as a professor of Sociology at Madrid’s Complutense University. She was known for her outspoken views and activist work, which led to her nickname the “Red Princess.”

▪ The legendary historian and educationist, Professor Arjun Dev passed away. ▪ He was born on November 12, 1938, in Leiah, West Punjab (now in Pakistan). He served as a historian at the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT).

▪ A Padma Shri awardee and former ‘Hazuri Raagi’ at the Golden Temple, Bhai Nirmal Singh passed away after testing positive for COVID-19.

▪ The Emmy award-winning singer-songwriter and the co-founder of the 2000s pop-rock band ‘Fountains of Wayne’, Adam Schlesinger passed away due to COVID-19.

▪ Nobel Prize-winning physicist Philip Warren Anderson passed away.

▪ Tony Lewis, one of the men behind the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method passed away. ▪ Lewis received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to cricket and mathematics in 2010.

▪ World renowned virologist of South Africa, Gita Ramjee passed away after contracting the novel coronavirus. ▪ She was a “Vaccine” scientist and an HIV prevention research leader.

▪ Former Attorney General of India Ashok Desai passes away. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

▪ Former Libya Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril who was the former head of the Libyan rebel government that ousted the long term ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, passed away due to COVID-19.

▪ Padma Shri award winning Actor Irrfan Khan passes away.

▪ National Film Award winning Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor has passed away.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope, has completed 30th year in orbit on 25 April 2020. ▪ This telescope was built by the United States space agency NASA with contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA).

2. A high-speed magnetic Random Access Memory (RAM) has been developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. ▪ Magnetic Random Access Memory is faster, energy-efficient and it stores more data in a smaller volume as compared to existing data storage technologies.

3. NASA has unveiled its plans to setup the first human base camp “Artemis” on Moon’s south pole by year 2024. ▪ The space agency is working on the Artemis program that aims to land humans on the moon by 2024. 4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected the “Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE)” mission to look into how the Sun generates and releases giant space weather storms (known as solar particle storms) into planetary space. ▪ The study will help to protect the astronauts that travel to the moon & mars by providing better information on how the Sun’s radiation affects the space environment in which they travel.

5. A bio suit named as “Personal Protective Equipment” has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). ▪ The bio suit has been fabricated by DRDO to keep the medical, paramedical and other personnel engaged in combating COVID-19 safe from the deadly virus.

SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

1. The G-20 Extraordinary Agriculture Ministers Meeting was held through Video Conferencing. ▪ The meeting was held on the issue of COVID-19 as well as its impact on food security, safety and nutrition. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar participated in the Extraordinary virtual meeting of G-20 Agriculture Ministers organised under the presidency of Saudi Arabia.

2. The National Conference on Kharif crops 2020 was held through video conference to discuss various issues and to list out measures in consultation with the States about their preparedness for Kharif cultivation amid the lockdown situation. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

▪ The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the conference and emphasized on achieving the aim of kharif target and take up doubling of farmers’ income in the mission mode.’

3. India attends the 11th session of Petersberg Climate Dialogue. Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate change, Prakash Javadekar representing India in the first virtual Petersberg Climate Dialogue. ▪ The dialogue was hosted by Germany. It was co-chaired by the United Kingdom.

DEFENCE

1. “Pitch Black 2020”, a premier multilateral air combat training exercise between India and Australia has been cancelled by Australia due to the current and anticipated impacts of the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19.

2. The United States has announced the sale of Harpoon air-launched anti-ship missiles and Mark 54 lightweight torpedoes to India in order to enhance India’s deterrent capabilities against “regional threats” and also to strengthen its homeland defence.

3. Under the ‘Operation Sanjeevani’, the Indian Air Force has air-lifted 6.2 tonnes of essential medical supplies to the Maldives via transport aircraft C-130J as an assistance in the fight against the COVID 19. ▪ The medicines procured from various cities were delivered by a Hercules aircraft of Indian Air Force.

4. A 430 feet long bailey “Daporijo bridge” over the Subansiri River has been constructed by Border Roads Organisation in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri district. ▪ It will provide adequate movement of supplies for 451 villages and approximately 3,000 security force personnel deployed along the India-China border.

APPOINTMENTS

1. Deepak Mittal has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the State of Qatar, while Piyush Srivastava goes to Bahrain in the same capacity. ▪ Both of them are 1998 batch Indian Foreign Service officers.

2. The Government of India has appointed T.S. Tirumurti as the next Ambassador or Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. ▪ He will replace Sayyad Akbaruddin as the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at New York.

3. Suresh N Patel took oath as the Vigilance Commissioner in the anti-corruption watchdog CVC. ▪ He took the oath of office by Central Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari through video conference. ▪ He will have a tenure of over two years, till late December 2022, in the CVC. Sharad Kumar is working as the other vigilance commissioner. ▪ The tenure of a vigilance commissioner is of four years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

4. Sanjay Kothari took oath as Central Vigilance Commissioner of India. ▪ He has been selected as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner by a high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Prior to this, he has served as the Secretary to the President.

5. Kapil Dev Tripathi has been appointed as the new Secretary to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. Kapil Dev Tripathi is a 1980-batch retired IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

6. New Chief Justices for the Bombay, Orissa and Meghalaya High Courts (HC) have been recommended by the Supreme Court (SC) Collegium led by the chief justice of India, Sharad Arvind Bobde. S. No. Name High court 1 Dipankar Datta Bombay High Court 2 Biswanath Somadder Meghalaya High Court 3 Mohammad Rafiq Orissa High Court

7. WWF (World Wide Fund) India has appointed World chess champion Viswanathan Anand as its ambassador for the environmental education programme. Anand lends his support to the conservation and protection of the environment.

8. UB Pravin Rao appointed as new chairman of NASSCOM.

IMPORTANT DAYS

1. The World Health Day is a global health awareness day which is being celebrated on 7th of April every year. ▪ The theme of World Health Day 2020 is “Support Nurses And Midwives”. The WHO has named the year 2020 as the ‘International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’.

2. National Safe Motherhood Day is observed on April 11 every year. ▪ National Safe Motherhood Day is an initiative of the White Ribbon Alliance India (WRAI), to enforce that women must have the availability and adequate access to care during pregnancy childbirth and postnatal services. ▪ India is the 1st country in the world to have socially declared a National Safe Motherhood Day.

3. World Heritage Day 2020 observed globally on 18 April every year to preserve the human heritage and to recognise all the efforts of relevant organizations. ▪ The theme of World Heritage Day 2020 is Shared Culture, Shared heritage and Shared responsibility.

4. Earth Day or International Mother Earth Day is observed globally on 22 April every year. ▪ Earth Day 2020 will be celebrated all over the world to spread awareness for Earth’s wellbeing and to encourage people to support environmental protection. ▪ World Earth Day 2020 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the day since it started being observed in 1970. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

▪ Earth Day was renamed officially by the UN in 2009 as International Mother Earth Day. The theme of Earth Day 2020: Climate Action.

5. Nation celebrates National Panchayati Raj Day on 24 April every year. ▪ The Ministry of Panchayati Raj organizes the National Panchayati Raj day or the National Local Self Government Day. India celebrates the first National Panchayati Raj Day or the National Local Government Day on April 2010.

6. The International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace observed globally on 24 April. ▪ ‘International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace’ was first observed by the United Nations (UN) on April 24, 2019.

7. World Malaria Day is observed globally on 25 April every year. ▪ This day is observed to spread awareness among people globally to fight against malaria. The theme of World Malaria Day 2020 is “Zero malaria starts with me.”

8. World Intellectual Property Day is observed globally on April 26 every year. ▪ It was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the world”. ▪ The theme of World Intellectual Property Day 2020 is “Innovate for a Green Future”.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS 9. Sports journalist, V. Krishnaswamy, authored a book titled “Shuttling to the Top: The Story of P.V. Sindhu”, released. ▪ The book narrates the journey of badminton player PV Sindhu, from her early life to becoming a world champion and what lies ahead.

AWARDS 1. Adam Higginbotham’s book “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster” wins the William E. Colby Award. ▪ The award is given for an outstanding book on military or intelligence history.

2. Animal rights body People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has conferred Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik with ‘Hero to Animals Award’ for allocating funds to feed community animals in Odisha during the lockdown over the novel coronavirus pandemic.

SPORTS 1. Ben Stokes named Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World 2020

2. The world’s governing body for football, FIFA has decided to postpone the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup tournament due to the coronavirus outbreak.

3. The 2021 World Athletics Championships which was originally scheduled to held in Eugene, Oregon from August 6-15, 2021 will now be held in 2022 as the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. www.ranaacademyshimla.com COACHING OF VARIOUS CENTRAL & contact no. 7018596250, 9805332278 STATE LEVEL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

4. The Wimbledon 2020 has been cancelled for the first time since World War II due to coronavirus pandemic.

5. The Olympic Council of Asia has unveiled the official mascots of the 19th scheduled to be held in in 2022. ▪ The three robots namely Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen which are collectively known as “The Smart Triplets” are the official mascots of the 19th Asian Games, unveiled by Olympic Council of Asia at a digital launch ceremony held in Hangzhou, China. The Smart Triplets symbolizes the internet prowess of Hangzhou city and province.

6. The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided that the IPL 2020 Season will be suspended till “further notice”. ▪ This decision is taken in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The IPL was set to start on March 29 and end on May 24, but it was first postponed till April 15 after a surge of coronavirus positive cases in India.

7. “Feifei” to be the mascot for Hangzhou 2022 , China. ▪ The 4th Asian Para Games are going to be held from October 9-15, 2022, featuring 22 sports with Taekwondo and Para-Canoe to form their Games debuts. 8. The mascot helps to bring the Games to life for everybody, from the athletes to the spectators.

9. World Badminton Champion, P V Sindhu has been named as one of the ambassadors for Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s “I am badminton” awareness campaign.

10. India lost the hosting rights of the men’s World boxing championship 2021 to Serbia. ▪ International Boxing Association (AIBA) has terminated the agreement signed in 2017 by India. India will also have to pay the cancellation fee penalty of USD 500.