Himachal Pradesh to provide free online medical consultation to sick people through e-sanjeevani-opd

1.World Creativity and Innovation Day: 21 April

World Creativity and Innovation Day is a global UN day celebrated on April 21.The day is observed to raise awareness around the importance of creativity and innovation in problem solving with respect to advancing the United Nations sustainable development goals, also known as the “global goals”.

The founder of the day was the Canadian Marci Segal.

2.Civil Services Day: 21 April

The National civil services day is observed on April 21.The civil service system is the backbone of the administrative machinery of the country.

The civil servants are responsible for implementing all the government policies and schemes successfully up to the root level.

April 21 was chosen to be celebrated as Civil Service Day to commemorate the day when the first Home Minister of Independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel addressed the probationers of Administrative Services Officers in 1947 at Metcalf House, Delhi.

In his address, he called Civil Servants, the ‘steel frame of India’.

3.Sown area of summer crops registers 36% rise over previous year

The government said that the sown area of summer crops has registered an increase of 36 per cent over the previous year.The rise has been mainly observed in rice cultivation.

Farming operations have been exempted from lockdown, but social distancing measures have to be maintained while doing farming related work.

The “Krishi Rath App” was launched to help farmers find the right transport services for their harvested food grains.

The food grain production has been fixed at an ambitious 298 million tonnes at the recently held Kharif Conference 2020.

4.HRD Minister reviews National online education platform ‘SWAYAM’

Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ held a detailed review of the National online education platform SWAYAM and the 32 DTH Television Education Channels SWAYAM PRABHA in New Delhi.In the lockdown condition there has been a tremendous increase in demand and the usage of SWAYAM Courses and SWAYAM PRABHA videos.

The Ministry in a statement said that 1902 courses are available currently in SWAYAM, which have been offered to 1.56 crore students since launch.

It was decided that all the 1900 SWAYAM Courses and 60 thousand  SWAYAM PRABHA videos would be translated into ten regional languages and made available to the students so that more benefits can be derived from the same.

On SWAYAM PRABHA, the Ministry said that it is a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting high-quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite.

5.Madhya Pradesh Anganwadi workers, Assistants to get benefit of Chief Minister COVID-19 Yoddha Kalyan Yojana

In Madhya Pradesh, around one lakh Anganwadi workers and Assistants of the state will get the benefit of Chief Minister COVID-19 Yoddha Kalyan Yojana.Under this initiative, they will also get a special health insurance cover of Rs 50 lakhs.

It is noteworthy that a special insurance scheme has been launched by the Central Government for health workers who are fighting against the COVID-19 epidemic.

Anganwadi workers are taking risks by conducting door-to-door surveys in every district. Besides, they are also visiting from house to house for provide nutritional food to the children.

In such a situation, they have contact with many people, which pose a risk of corona infection. Therefore, they should be given the benefit of this insurance scheme.

6.Himachal Pradesh to provide free online medical consultation to sick people through e-sanjeevani-opd

In order to provide health services in the wake of COVID-19 Pandemic, the Himachal Pradesh Health Department has come up with a unique idea of providing free online medical consultation to sick people at their residence through e-sanjeevani-opd.This free online health service has been started throughout the state and now people can consult to take health advice from the doctors of different medical colleges from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM on all working days.

In view of COVID-19 pandemic sick people were feeling uncomfortable to visit hospitals, hence for this, the state government with the health department has come up with an idea of ‘esanjeevaniopd’ through which general health advice will be provided to the people at their residence throughout the state.

To take advantage of this facility one should have a computer, laptop, tablet with webcam mike, speaker and internet connection.

7.New Development Bank’s to provide 1 billion dollar emergency assistance to India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman appreciated efforts of New Development Bank on fast tracking of financial assistance of about five billion dollars to BRICS countries including Emergency Assistance of one billion dollar to India to combat COVID-19 pandemic.The NDB was established by the BRICS countries -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2014.

NDB has so far approved 14 indian projects for an amount of 4,183 million dollar.

The purpose of the Bank is to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies.

8.US President Trump appoints Indian-American to country’s top science board

US President Donald Trump appointed Indian-American Sudarsanam Babu to the country’s top science board.Babu, who is from the prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been appointed as a member of the National Science Board for a six-year term.

Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board.

The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

9.Former IAS officer Kapil Dev Tripathi to be new Secretary to President

Former IAS officer Kapil Dev Tripathi has been appointed as the Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Mr Tripathi for a term co-terminus with the tenure of the President.

Mr  Tripathi, a 1980 batch IAS officer ( Retired)  of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is at present the Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).

10.Bombay, Orissa, Meghalaya high courts to get new chief justices

The Supreme Court Collegium recommended the appointment of new Chief Justices for Bombay, Orissa and Meghalaya High Courts.The top court panel decided to recommend the elevation of Calcutta High Court judge Dipankar Datta as Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

The collegium, headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, also decided to recommend elevation of Allahabad High Court judge Biswanath Somadder as Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court.

The collegium also recommended the transfer of Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq to Orissa High Court.

11.Leclerc wins F1 virtual Chinese Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc has claimed his second straight Formula One Virtual Grand Prix on the Shanghai track.The Ferrari driver started the Chinese GP in pole position and finished ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu.

The actual Chinese GP, originally scheduled for April 19, was postponed in February.

With the F1 season halted by the coronavirus pandemic, the sport launched a virtual series to keep fans entertained.

The F1 world championship has yet to get underway this season due to the spread of the coronavirus.

Nine of the scheduled 22 races have either been cancelled or postponed.

12.BMW India CEO Rudratej Singh passes away

Rudratej Singh, the President and CEO of BMW Group India, passed away. He was 46.Rudratej Singh joined BMW Group India on August 1, 2019.  Prior to that, he was serving as the Global President at Royal Enfield.

The 46-year-old had also worked with Unilever in India and international markets for more than 16 years.