Daily Current Affairs, 18th April 2020

1) World Heritage Day 2020 observed globally on 18 April

•World Heritage Day 2020 observed globally on 18 April every year. This Day is celebrated to preserve the human heritage and to recognise all the efforts of relevant organizations.

•The theme of World Heritage Day 2020 is “Shared Culture’, ‘Shared heritage’ and ‘Shared responsibility”. The theme focuses on global unity with the current worldwide health crisis.

2) Agriculture Minister launches “Kisan Rath” Mobile App

•Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched a mobile application “Kisan Rath”. This farmer friendly app has been launched to facilitate transportation of foodgrains and perishables during lockdown.

3) Rs.10 lakhs Compensation for all Postal employees

•Amid the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Postal employees including Gramin Dak Sevaks are performing various departmental duties as well as serving the social cause in the crisis times. Therefore, it has been decided to grant payment of compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs to all the Postal employees including Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) succumbing to the disease while brought on duty. The above guidelines have been implemented immediately and continues for the entire period till the crises of COVID-19 is over.

•During the lockdown situation due to COVID-19, the Postal employees including the Gramin Dak Sevaks are doing various duties such as providing mail delivery to customers, Post Office Saving Bank, Postal Life Insurance, the ease of money withdrawal at his/her doorstep from any bank and any branch under the AePS facility. Apart from above, they are also delivering COVID-19 kits, food packets, rations and essential medicines etc. across the nation by cooperating with local State administration as well as police authorities, hence serving the social cause as well as their departmental duties in the COVID-19 crisis times.




4) National Conference on Kharif crops 2020 held

•The National Conference on Kharif crops 2020 was held through video conference. The prime objective of the conference was to discuss various issues and to list out measures in consultation with the States about their preparedness for Kharif cultivation amid the lockdown situation.

•The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the conference. During the conference, the minister emphasized on achieving the aim of kharif target and take up doubling of farmers’ income in the mission mode. He also urged the states to explain two schemes namely “PM Fasal Bima Yojana” and “Soil Health Card scheme” to each farmer. He also announced the commencement of All India Agri Transport Call Centre in order to ensure that Agriculture is not affected due to the lockdown.

5) DRDO rolls out new products to enable COVID-19 disinfection process

•The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has rolls out new products to enable COVID-19 disinfection process. These new products includes Automatic Mist Based Sanitiser Dispensing Unit and UV Sanitisation Box and Hand-held UV device. DRDO is continuously developing solutions from its existing arsenal of technologies to contribute towards fight against COVID-19.

6) Indian High Commission (UK) hosts virtual meet for businesses

•The Indian High Commission in United Kingdom has organised a virtual roundtable COVID-19 meet for businesses “Covid-19: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward”. The virtual conference was held to address concerns around the economic impact of the coronavirus lockdown in the United Kingdom. It was held in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and purposed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the various stimulus steps unveiled by the UK government.

•The “Covid-19: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward” meet also deliberated on the issues faced by Indian businesses across various sectors such as financial services, hospitality, healthcare, information technology and IT services.

7) CSIR-NAL develops Personal Protective Coverall Suit

•CSIR constituent Lab in Bengaluru, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) has developed Personal Protective Coverall Suit in association with MAF Clothing Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru. The polyproplylene spun laminated multi-layered non-woven fabric based suit has been developed for the front line health workers in order to fight aginst COVID-19. The Personal Protective Coverall Suit will ensure the safety of front line health workers i.e. Doctors, Nurses, Paramedical staff and Health Care workers working round the clock on COVID-19 mitigation.

•The Personal Protective Coverall Suit has been been qualified for the use after going through stringent testing at SITRA, Coimbatore.