Daily Current Affairs 28 April 2020 With Video Lecture

Chetan Apurav
April 28, 2020
677

PM interacts with CMs to plan ahead for tackling COVID-19

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today interacted with Chief Ministers of states via video conferencing to discuss the emerging situation and plan ahead for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the fourth such interaction of the Prime Minister with the Chief Ministers, the earlier ones had been held on 20th March, 2nd April and 11th April, 2020.

Prime Minister underlined that the Lockdown has yielded positive results as the country has managed to save thousands of lives in the past one and a half months. He added that India’s population is comparable to that of the combined population of several countries. The situation in many countries, including India, was almost similar at the start of March. However, due to timely measures, India has been able to protect many people. He however forewarned that the danger of the virus is far from over and constant vigilance is of paramount importance.

He highlighted the importance for states to enforce guidelines strictly in the hotspots i.e. the red zone areas. He stated that the efforts of the states should be directed towards converting the red zones into orange and thereafter to green zones.

HIL moves Indian Missions to attract JV investments in Agro-chemical projects

For smooth running of its PSUs, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals has taken initiative on the directions of Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri DV Sadananda Gowda who has advised that Indian corporates especially PSUs under his Ministry should try to convert COVID-19 adversity into an opportunity of attracting investments from abroad.

Following on the advice, HIL, a CPSU under the Department, is looking for expanding its business area and has sent proposals to Indian Embassies/Missions in China, Japan and South Korea for inviting interested agro-chemical manufacturers in respective countries for investment in India for business tie-up with HIL including contract manufacturing or plan-on-lease arrangement.

Five out of eight Northeast States are Corona free

Five out of eight Northeast States are Corona free while the other three States have not added any new Corona positive case in the last few days. This was disclosed here today by Union Minister of State, Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh.

5 North Eastern States of Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura are totally Corona free.

3 other states of Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram had 8, 11 and 1 Corona positive cases respectively, which are waiting to become negative, while no new cases were added till last night

Union HRD Minister interacts with parents across the country through webinar

The Minister, through his webinar interaction, informed all the parents about various campaigns and schemes for online education being run by the Ministry

Ministry is trying to continue the education of all students through e-pathshala, National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER), Swayam, DTH channel Swayam Prabha etc.

Six courses of SWAYAM appear in best 30 online courses of 2019 in the Class Central list

The Class Central (a free online course aka MOOC aggregator from top universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, etc.) has released the list of best 30 online courses of 2019 out of which 6 courses are from SWAYAM.

The ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds‘ (SWAYAM) an integrated platform for online courses, using information and communication technology (ICT) which covers school (9th to 12th) to Post Graduate Level

Following 6 courses of SWAYAM have been listed in the best 30 online coursed of 2019.

1. Academic Writing: H.N.B Garhwal University (A Central University) Srinagar Garhwal
2. Digital Marketing: Punjab University Chandigarh.
3. ANIMATIONs: Banaras Hindu University.
4. Mathematical Economics: Doon University, Dehradun
5. Python for Data Science: Indian Institute of Technology Madras
6. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): Avianshilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore

Varanasi Smart City uses Drones to sanitize areas for controlling spread of COVID-19

Varanasi Smart City has engaged ‘Garuda Aerospace Private Limited, a Chennai Based company for spraying of sanitizer in the selected areas of Varanasi City under Smart Cities Mission.

Spraying of sanitizer through Drones is prioritized for Hot spots and Containment areas identified by the District Administration / Chief Medical Officer. This is followed by Isolation areas, Quarantined areas, Shelter Homes and other places where manual spraying is difficult. The areas where Drones are to be deployed is decided by a team of Varanasi Nagar Nigam officials.

AYUSH ministry to promote manufacturing of herbal formulation to boost immunity

Recipe of an herbal decoction has been handed out by the AYUSH Ministry to states and union territories, asking them to promote commercial manufacturing of the formulation which it claims can boost the body’s immunity amid COVID-19

The Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) said the formulation is in the interest of health promotion of masses, which has been endorsed by the prime minister.

Enhancing ease of doing business in Indian E&P sector

Simplification of processes under Production Sharing Contract is a testimony of GoI’s commitment towards enhancing Ease of Doing Business in the Indian E&P sector with focus on increasing domestic hydrocarbon production and investment

RBI announced liquidity measures for Mutual Funds

The current COVID-19 pandemic situation has led to a very unique situation across the globe. In an effort to break the chain and practice social distancing, many countries including India have been on a lockdown.

The nationwide lockdown also implies reduced economic activity. On Monday, April 27, 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that it remains vigilant and will take whatever steps are necessary to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 and preserve financial stability. According to their latest notification, the capital markets in reaction to COVID-19 are experiencing heightened volatility and have imposed liquidity strains on mutual funds (MFs). The situation has intensified in the wake of redemption pressures related to closure of some debt mutual funds and potential contagious effects. The stress remains confined to the high-risk debt mutual fund segment leaving the larger industry liquid.

In order to ease the liquidity pressures on mutual funds, RBI has decided to open a Special Liquidity Facility (SLF) for mutual funds of Rs. 50,000 crores.

Following are the salient features of Special Liquidity Facility for Mutual Funds (SLF-MF):

1. The RBI shall conduct repo operations of 90 days tenor at the fixed repo rate.

2. The SLF-MF is on tap and open ended.

3. Banks can submit their bids to avail funding any day from Monday to Friday (excluding holidays).

4. The is applicable from April 27, 2020 to May 11, 2020.

5. Funds availed under the SLF-MF shall be used by banks exclusively for meeting the liquidity requirements of mutual funds by

A. extending loans

B. undertaking outright purchase of and/or repos against the collateral of investment grade corporate bonds, commercial papers (CPs), debentures and certificates of Deposit (CDs) held by MFs.

6. Liquidity support availed under the scheme would be eligible to be classified as held to maturity (HTM), even in excess of 25 per cent of total investment permitted to be included in the HTM portfolio.

7. Exposures under this facility will not be reckoned under the Large Exposure Framework (LEF). The face value of securities acquired under the SLF-MF and kept in the HTM category will not be reckoned for computation of adjusted non-food bank credit (ANBC) for the purpose of determining priority sector targets/sub-targets.

8. Support extended to mutual funds under the SLF-MF shall be exempted from banks’ capital market exposure limits.