First ‘Made in India’ COVID19 Test Kit to diagnose COVID-19 gets the commercial approval

1.Bangladesh govt to release Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for Six months

Government of Bangladesh has decided to suspend the sentence of the former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) with certain conditions on humanitarian grounds.Khaleda Zia will be allowed to receive treatment at her home but she would not be allowed to go abroad.

BNP Chairperson is in jail since 2018 after the court sentenced her to five years imprisonment in 2017 in connection with the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006.

She was the first woman in the country’s history and second in the Muslim majority countries to head a democratic government as prime minister.

2.PM Modi allocates Rs 15,000 Cr for Healthcare Infra to combat Covid-19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that the entire country will go into complete lockdown for 21 days.The government has allocated 15,000 crore rupees to strengthen health infrastructure to the spread of coronavirus.

Testing facilities, Personal Protective Equipments, Isolation Beds, ICU beds,ventilators,and  the number of other necessary tools will be increased rapidly.

3.First ‘Made in India’ COVID19 Test Kit to diagnose COVID-19 gets the commercial approval

First Made in India Test Kit to diagnose COVID-19 has got commercial approval by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).According to the developers, it would cost nearly one-fourth of the current procurement cost and is faster as it screens and detects the infection within 2.5 hours as compared with over 7 hours by others.

The kit has been developed by Pune-based molecular diagnostics company Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd.

The kit has been named as ‘Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kit’.

4.Madhya Pradesh: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan wins trust vote

In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan proved his majority by winning the trust vote in the Assembly.He previously served as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, between 2005 and 2018, and holds the record as the state’s longest serving Chief Minister.

He is often referred to as Mamaji

In the 230-member Assembly, the BJP has 107 legislators.

The Congress’ strength has now been reduced to 92 following the resignation of its 22 MLAs.

At present, 24 seats in the Assembly are lying vacant, reducing the size of the house to 206.

5.38th district to be formed in Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, a new district is going to be formed after bifurcating the Nagappattinam district.The new district will be headquartered at Mayiladuthurai, in the heart of the Delta region.

Mayiladuthurai, located at a distance of 281 kilometres from Chennai, is home to several temples dating back to the medieval Chola era.

There are currently 37 districts in Tamil Nadu, of which five new districts were formed only last year.

The state Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy made the announcement saying it would be the 38th district in the state.

6.IIT Madras to host India’s first ‘Global Hyperloop Pod Competition’

Indian Institute of Technology Madras is organizing India’s first Global Hyperloop Pod Competition to increase awareness and enthusiasm about Hyperloop in India.The competition is open globally and the final round will take place in the IIT Madras campus in July 2020.

The objective of this competition is to encourage student teams in India and abroad to develop a Hyperloop Pod and compete to build the fastest, most innovative and efficient design and prototype of the relevant technologies in the field.

Hyperloop is the 5th mode of transportation, a high-speed train that travels in a near-vacuum tube.

The reduced air resistance allows the capsule inside the tube to reach speeds of more than 1000 km/h.

7.Centre waives ATM withdrawal charges for three months

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman waived minimum balance charges for savings bank accounts to help citizens deal with the lockdown due to the coronavirus crisis.Also, debit card holders can now withdraw cash from ATMs of all banks free of charge for the next three months.

Sitharaman further extended the deadline for filing GST (goods and services tax) returns for March-May to June 30.

On late filing of GST returns, no late fee, penalty or interest will be charged for companies with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore.

The minister also said ‘Sab ka Vishwas’ indirect tax dispute redressal scheme has also been extended to June 30 and no interest on payment made till June 30 will be charged.

8.Indian-origin US author Ruchika Tomar wins 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award

Indian-origin American author Ruchika Tomar has been named the winner of the prestigious 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award for her debut novel ”A Prayer for Travelers”.The award, honouring a “distinguished” first novel, includes a USD 25,000 prize and a month-long Residency Fellowship at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, a retreat for artists and writers, valued at USD 10,000.

The PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel honours a debut novel of exceptional merit by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction.

9.Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021

Japan’s Prime Minister and the head of the International Olympic Committee Shinzo Abe agreed to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Games by a year in an extraordinary move.It is unprecedented in peacetime, as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic.

The move would be a devastating blow for the city of Tokyo, which had won widespread praise for its organization, with venues finished well ahead of time and tickets massively oversubscribed.

The Olympics, which has experienced boycotts, terrorist attacks and protests, but has been held every four years since 1948.

10.Savita Chhabra authors her debut book ‘Legacy of Learning’

Award-winning businesswoman, Savita Chhabra, Chairperson, HRIPL has launched her debut book, called ‘Legacy of Learning’.The book offers simplistic and relatable interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita in an attempt to connect the youth of India to the age-old, but relevant scriptures.

Empathising with the stressful lives that today’s generation of millennials and zillennials lead, the book offers fictional stories woven around chosen verses.

The book introduces readers to the importance of performing good karma and nudges them to be conscious about the purpose of their lives in every decision they make.