1.India’s Cleanest City Indore Becomes First City In India To Use Drones To Sanitize The City:
- Indore, the cleanest city in India becomes the 1st city in India to use drones to sanitize the city against COVID-19 scare.
- Indore Municipal Corporation has hired 2 drones from a private company to sprinkle chemicals with sodium hypochlorite and bio-clean in crowded areas like vegetable markets, streets.
2.Govt Offers Rs 1,500 To Women Jan Dhan Account Holders, Free Cylinders Under Ujjwala Scheme:
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 500 per month for the next three months to all the women Jan Dhan account holders to run their households.
- Around 20 crore such women account holders will be covered under this scheme.
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched on 28 August 2014.
3.Centre Signs Agreement For Sale Of Kamarajar Port, THDC And NEEPCO:
- Government resorted to ‘virtual signing’ to conclude strategic sales in Kamarajar Port, THDC India & NEEPCO. The Centre will receive Rs 13,500 crore from the three deals.
- Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), signed a share purchase agreement to sell the Central government’s 67 per cent stake in Kamarajar Port Ltd to Chennai Port Trust for Rs 2,383 crore.
4.Govt Hikes MGNREGA Wages By Rs 2,000 Per Worker, Offers Sops To Farmers:
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Centre is considering increasing wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) by Rs 2,000 per worker.
- Each person will get 5 kg of rice or wheat over & above the existing 5 kg being given.
5.Maharashtra Overtakes Tamil Nadu & Telangana In Organ Donation, Transplants For 2019:
- For the year 2019, the state of Maharashtra has donated the highest number of organs which resulted in beneficial for 449 patients. The state overtook Tamil Nadu and Telangana in the field of organ donation.
- Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation-State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO) along with four Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC) of Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra were the top performers.
6.IIT Gandhinagar Launches Project ‘Isaac’ To Engage Students In Creative Projects During Corona Lockdown:
- IIT Gandhinagar launched Project Isaac to engage students in creative projects to enhance their critical skills while they are confined to their homes due to COVID-19.
- It is inspired by Isaac Newton, who was similarly sent home due to the Great Plague of London.
7.Indian Govt To Launch CoWin-20 App To Track People And Curb Coronavirus Spread:
- Government is to launch CoWin-20 to track individuals by their smartphone locations & curb the community spread of COVID-19.
- It aims to trace the personal travel histories of individuals & figure out how many people might they have come in contact with.
- CoWin-20 app is now in beta testing for both iOS and Android.
8.India, First In The World To Start Antibody Tests For Corona Virus:
- India is set to start antibody tests for the coronavirus to confirm whether a person had previously been infected with the virus, a move that will help understand the epidemiology of Covid-19 in the nation.
- Methodology adopted by India is 1st in the world. It is a serological test.
