Current Affairs Daily Digest – April 18 2020
1. Kisan Rath Mobile App launched to facilitate transportation of food grains
Agriculture Ministry launched Kisan Rath Mobile App. The main aim of the app is to facilitate transportation of food grains, and the National Informatics Centre develops it. The central government to ensure farmers and traders can find transport for Agriculture and Horticulture produce.
2. IMF Chief confirms World economy to suffer severe recession in 2020
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva confirmed the world economy was already sluggish before the coronavirus outbreak now bound to suffer a “severe recession” in 2020.
Addressing the Development Committee Meeting during the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the IMF Managing Director said a massive global contraction in the first half of this year was inevitable.
3. AIIB to lend USD 500 mn to India to help fight COVID-19 pandemic
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has announced that it is to finance $500 million projects in India to help the country improve its health care systems. With this, AIIB has doubled its funds under the COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility.
The aim of the move is to help reduce health care pressures in pandemic preparedness and health infrastructure in India. It will also provide liquidity, fiscal and budgetary support.
4. Delhi to begin clinical trial of plasma enrichment technique
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the Doctors will conduct the clinical trial of plasma enrichment technique to treat severely-ill coronavirus patients soon.
Under the method, Plasma from the blood of the people who have recovered from COVID-19 will be collected. It is believed that it might contain antibodies to the virus that causes the disease and might be effective against the infection.
5. Delhi Government introduces “Assess Koro Na” application
The Delhi Government launched “Assess Koro Na” application to conduct door to door survey. The application has been launched in COVID-19 containment zones. The data collected is uploaded to the servers in real time. The data are then analyzed immediately. The control centres will access this data and make quick decisions on fulfilling the needs such as ambulance services, medical expert, etc.
6. GoI launches “Krishi Rath” application for hassle free agri transportation
The Government of India launched the “Krishi Rath” application to help farmers to transport their agriculture produce to the mandis.The farmer has to post the quantity of agricultural produce he wishes to transport.
After posting, he will get the availability of truck and price quote for the load. The prices quoted are from the transport aggregators. Once the farmer confirms, he will get details of the transporter. He can then directly connect with him and negotiate for prices.
7. April 17: World Hemophilia Day
Every year April 17 is celebrated as World Hemophilia Day. The day is observed by the World Federation of Hemophilia. Apart from the organization, several other international organizations mark the World Hemophilia Day. This year the World Hemophilia Day is marked under the theme :
Theme: Get + Involved virtually and stay safe
8. RBI cuts Reverse Repo rate to 3.75%, Rs 50,000 crores for LTRO 2.0
The Reserve Bank of India announced a slew of measures after GoI extended the lock down till May 3, 3030. The Apex bank cut the reverse repo rate to 3.75%. It cut the repo rate to 4.4% from 5.15%. Also, the central bank has announced Rs 50,000 crore for Long Term Repo Operation (LTRO).
9. India to attend BRICS meeting on COVID-19
India is to attend BRICS foreign ministers meet by the end of April 2020. The members will discuss economic fallout due to the spread of COVID-19. The foreign ministers meet of the BRICS grouping is to be conducted through video link.
It is essential to conduct more of such meeting as the global economic growth is declining at its highest. The International Monetary Fund has projected the global growth rate to be -3% in the year 2020-21.
10. International Day For Monuments and Sites is observed on April 18
The International Day for Monuments and Sites also known as World Heritage Day is an international observance held on 18 April each year around the world with different types of activities, including visits to monuments and heritage sites, conferences, round tables and newspaper articles.
The aim is to promote awareness about the diversity of cultural heritage of humanity, their vulnerability and the efforts required for their protection and conservation.
11. India’s Aarogya Setu becomes world’s highest downloaded app in just 13 days
With the country entering the second phase of lockdown to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus spread in India, the government’s recently launched Aarogya Setu application that tracks Covid-19 cases around and helps in fighting the virus on an individual level, reached 50 million downloads just 13 days, making it the word’s fastest downloaded app, said NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant.
“AarogyaSetu, India’s app to fight COVID-19 has reached 50 mn users in just 13 days-fastest ever globally for an App,” Kant tweeted.
