CISF launches ”e-karyalay” app for movement of files

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1.World Malaria Day: 25 April

World Malaria Day is observed every year on April 25 to raise awareness of the global effort to control and ultimately eradicate malaria.World Malaria Day, which was first held in 2008, developed from Africa Malaria Day, an event that had been observed since 2001 by African governments.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease which is caused by the bites of infected mosquitoes. It is the Female Anopheles mosquitoes who spread the Plasmodium parasite through their saliva, which causes malaria.

The theme of World Malaria Day 2020 is “Zero malaria starts with me”.

2.The International Delegate’s Day: 25 April

The International Delegate’s Day is observed every year on 25 April.This day is observed to raise awareness of the role of the representatives and delegates of the Member States to the United Nations.

International Delegate’s Day marks the anniversary of the first day of the San Francisco Conference, also known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization.

On 25 April 1945, delegates from fifty countries came together for the first time in San Francisco.

3.NASA develops ‘VITAL’ ventilator specifically to treat COVID-19 patients

NASA engineers have developed a new, easy-to-build high-pressure ventilator tailored specifically to treat COVID-19 patients. The device called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally) passed a critical test this week at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York.

NASA added that VITAL is designed to treat patients with milder symptoms, thereby keeping the country’s limited supply of traditional ventilators available for patients with more severe COVID-19 symptoms.

NASA is now seeking FDA approval for the device via an emergency use authorization.

VITAL can be built faster and maintained more easily than a traditional ventilator, and is composed of far fewer parts, many of which are currently available to potential manufacturers through existing supply chains.

4.CISF launches ”e-karyalay” app for movement of files   

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has launched an e-office application, that enables movement of files and documents without physical touch.The app has been launched for usage in the 1.62 lakh personnel-strong force to prevent coronavirus infection.

The application called ”e-karyalay” (electronic office) has been designed by the in-house technical team of the force.

This application has been hosted at CISF cloud with all security arrangements in place to safeguard the data.

Also, it will enable officials to work from home.

5.IIT Delhi develops COVID-19 dashboard ‘PRACRITI’ that accounts for the basic reproduction number

IIT Delhi researchers have developed a web-based dashboard for predicting the spread of COVID-19 in India.The mobile-friendly dashboard, named as PRACRITI (PRediction and Assessment of CoRona Infections and Transmission in India), gives detailed state-wise and district-wise predictions of COVID-19 cases in India.

The projections are given for a three-week period, which is updated on a weekly basis.

The researchers believe that such a platform will be highly useful for healthcare bodies, local and central authorities, to efficiently plan for different future scenarios and resource allocation.

A key parameter of interest on COVID-19 is the basic reproduction number R0 and its countrywide variability.

R0 refers to the number of people to whom the disease spreads from a single infected person.

PRACRITI provides the R0 values of each district and state in India based on the data available from sources such as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Govt. of India; National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and World Health Organisation (WHO).

6.Andhra govt revives ‘zero interest’ loan scheme for women self-help groups

The Andhra Pradesh government revived the ”zero interest” loan scheme for women self-help groups (SHGs) in the state.Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy re-launched the scheme by releasing a sum of Rs 1,400 crore for the SHGs.

The decision is expected to benefit over 8.78 lakh SHGs in the state involving over 93.80 lakh women.

Under the scheme, each SHG will receive sums ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 towards the interest component on their loans.

The zero interest scheme was first launched by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in united Andhra Pradesh in 2011, under which the state government bore the interest burden on loans extended to the women SHGs.

7.Country’s foreign exchange reserves surge by over 3 billion dollars

Country’s foreign exchange reserves surged by USD 3.09 billion to USD 479.57 billion in the week to April 17 due to an increase in foreign currency assets.According to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India, in the reporting week ended April 17, foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, rose USD 1.55 billion to USD 441.88 billion.

The RBI data showed that gold reserves increased USD 1.54 billion to USD 32.68 billion in the reporting week.

8.Vodafone Idea ties up with Paytm to launch ‘Recharge Saathi’

Vodafone Idea and Paytm, a digital payments and financial services platform, have launched ‘Recharge Saathi’ programme which helps individuals and small businesses to earn an additional income.The programme will enable any Paytm customers (following a registration) to start selling Vodafone and Idea recharges on Paytm app.

They can start selling mobile recharges by downloading and registering on the Paytm app.

Vodafone Idea will also give an assured cashback to merchant partners for multiple recharges.

Individuals and small businesses, such as pharmacists, milk booth operators, newspaper vendors and individuals, would be able to earn up to ₹5,000 every month under the programme.

9.Sanjay Kothari takes oath as Chief Vigilance Commissioner

President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC)-designate IAS Sanjay Kothari at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.Sanjay Kothari was secretary to the president before being nominated to the new role.

Mr Kothari was reportedly shortlisted as the Central Vigilance Commissioner in February this year by a high-powered panel headed by the prime minister.

10.FIH Pro League Season 2 extended by one year

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that the second edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League is being extended through to June 2021 due to ongoing uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 global health pandemic.The second edition of the Pro League was initially set to run from January to June 2020.

Around one-third of the planned matches were completed between January and early March.

India are currently fourth on the table with 10 points from two wins and as many number of losses and draws behind Belgium, Australia and the Netherlands.

11.Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson dies at 75

Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75.Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa.