CeNS develops a compact solid-state sensor to detect the heavy metal ions in water

1.World Haemophilia Day: 17 April

World Haemophilia Day is observed every year on 17 April.The day is observed to raise awareness regarding the disease and other hereditary bleeding disorders.

17 April is also the birthday of Frank Schnabel, a businessman born with severe haemophilia who was the founder of the World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH).

Haemophilia is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to make blood clots.

2020 Theme: ‘Get + involved’

2.S Korea governing party sees big gains in parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections in South Korea have resulted in a big win for the governing Democratic Party.Moon’s Democratic party and its allies took 180 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the opposition United Future Party (UFP) won 103.

South Korea was among the first countries to hold a national election during the pandemic. The citizens are still being asked to maintain social distancing, wear protective masks, clean their hands with sanitiser and don plastic gloves.

At each of the 14,000 polling stations, voters had their temperature checked before they were allowed to enter. Those found to have fevers cast their ballots in separate booths that were disinfected after each user.  

S Korea Capital: Seoul

President: Moon Jae-in

Currency: South Korean won

Prime minister: Chung Sye-kyun

3.Centre unveils PUSA decontamination, sanitizing tunnel

Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary inaugurated a ‘PUSA decontamination and sanitizing tunnel’ developed by the government research body ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute in the national capital.The sanitization protocol includes hand washing with foot operated soap and water dispenser and fogging in a sanitizing tunnel for 20 seconds.

In this tunnel, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QAC) are used at concentrations of 0.045 per cent, which is recommended by the health department.

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India’s national Institute for agricultural research, education and extension.

The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was originally located in Pusa Bihar as the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911.

Indian Agricultural Research Institute HQ: New Delhi

4.CeNS develops a compact solid-state sensor to detect the heavy metal ions in water

The Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) has developed a compact solid-state sensor to detect the heavy metal ions in water.It is a portable device which can help onsite detection in remote areas.

Heavy metal ions such as lead, mercury and cadmium pose severe potential threats to living beings as they can easily be accumulated in the body and cannot be detoxified by any chemical or biological processes.

The health hazards associated with heavy metal ions in water demands the development of efficient and portable sensors for rapid onsite detection of these ions.

A team of researchers led by Dr. Pralay K. Santra have developed a compact solid-state sensor to detect the heavy metal ions, e.g., lead ions (Pb2) down to 0.4 parts per billion (ppb) for efficient onsite detection.

5.Bihar Reports 3 Acute Encephalitis Syndrome Cases

Amid coronavirus outbreak, Bihar has now reported 9 cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome cases, also known as brain fever.Last month, a three-year-old boy died due to acute encephalitis syndrome at ICU of state-run Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur around 48 hours after his admission.

Last year over 140 children had died due to AES in the district.

As per official data, 121 deaths were reported at the government-run SKMCH, which handled the largest number of patients in the district.

AES is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms such as high fever, vomiting and in extreme cases, brain dysfunction, seizure, and inflammation of the heart and kidney.

6.Viswanathan Anand joins WWF India as ambassador for environment education

Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand has joined WWF (World Wide Fund) India as its ambassador for the environment education programme.WWF India is celebrating its 50 years of conservation in India.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, governments, development organisations, corporates and individuals around the world are doing their bit to prevent the spread of the disease.

The environment education programme currently reaches out to over 5,00,000 children across 2000 schools in the country.

7.Asia expected to witness zero % growth in 2020 : IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Asia is expected to witness zero percent growth in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.It will be its worst growth performance in almost 60 years

The IMF in a blog titled ‘COVID-19 Pandemic and the Asia-Pacific Region: Lowest Growth Since the 1960s’ further said the impact of the coronavirus on the region will be “severe and unprecedented”.

This is the worst growth performance in almost 60 years, including during the Global Financial Crisis, when the growth stood at 4.7 percent; and the Asian Financial Crisis when it stood at 1.3 percent.”

It further noted that “Asia still looks to fare better than other regions in terms of activity”.

8.RBI slashes reverse repo rate by 25 bps to 3.75 per cent to inject liquidity

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a reduction in reverse repo rate by 25 basis points from 4 percent to 3.75 per cent.This announcement has been made to facilitate bank credit flows amid the coronavirus crisis and subsequent countrywide lockdown which has brought economic activity to a virtual halt.

However, it kept the repo rate unchanged.

Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks, and reverse repo rate is the rate at which it borrows from them.

9.RBI launches latest round of quarterly survey on manufacturing sector

The Reserve Bank of India launched the latest round of quarterly order books, inventories and capacity utilisation survey (OBICUS) of manufacturing sector.The RBI has been conducting the OBICUS of the manufacturing sector on a quarterly basis since 2008.

The information collected in the survey includes quantitative data on new orders received during the reference quarter, backlog of orders, pending orders, total inventories with a breakup between work-in-progress (WiP) and finished goods (FG) inventories and item-wise production.

10.IWF President Tamas Ajan resigns during corruption investigation

Tamas Ajan has resigned as president of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) while an investigation into alleged corruption is ongoing.Ajan, from Hungary, had been at the IWF since 1976, serving 24 years as general secretary and 20 as president.

American Ursula Papandrea will continue to lead the sport’s governing body as Acting President.

11.BSNL CMD P K Purwar takes charge of MTNL

BSNL chairman and managing director P K Purwar has taken over additional charge of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited.This is the third time Purwar has been given charge of MTNL CMD in the last six years.

The appointment of Purwar comes at a time when both the PSU are reeling under heavy debt despite the government offering them a relief package.

While MTNL has been able to resolve salary related issues and has only debt of around Rs 20,000 crore, BSNL is yet to clear dues of employees and vendors.

12.Mascot for Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games unveiled

The mascot for the 4th Asian Para Games scheduled to be held from October 9 in 2022 in Hangzhou, China was unveiled.The design of ‘Fei Fei’ is inspired by the motif of the ‘Divine Bird’ in the Liangzhu Culture.

The mascot is the fusion of Hangzhou’s heritage and its drive for technological innovation, carrying the longing for harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

The 4th Asian Para Games will be held from October 9-15, 2022, featuring 22 sports with Taekwondo and Para-Canoe to make their Games debuts.

13.Freedom fighter R V Bhuskute dies

Freedom fighter R V Bhuskute, who had participated in the Quit India Movement, died of prolonged illness in Maharashtra’s Raigadh district.Bhuskute, who had participated in the Quit India Movement, wrote several books on land laws and worked for the release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers in tribal areas of the state.

The Quit India Movement also known as India August Movement or Bharat Chodo Andolan was launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) by Mahatma Gandhi on August 8, 1942.