Daily Current Affairs, 23rd April 2020

1) English Language Day observed globally on 23 April

•English Language Day is observed globally on 23 April every year. The Day marks the birthday and date of death of famed writer William Shakespeare. The day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to celebrate the English language and multilingualism.

•This Initiative was established by the UN’s Department of Public Information in 2010 “to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization”.

2) Cabinet Approves Ordinance To Amend Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897

•The Union Cabinet has approved the promulgation of an Ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The above step has been taken to protect the healthcare service personnel as well as property including their living/working premises against the violence during epidemics. The promulgation of an Ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 has been approved by the cabinet, keeping in view the recent instances of the most critical service providers i.e. members of healthcare services being targeted and attacked by miscreants, thereby obstructing them from doing their duties during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Who are “Healthcare service personnel”?

•Healthcare service personnel comprises of public and clinical healthcare service providers including doctors, nurses, paramedical workers and community health workers; any other persons empowered by the Act to take measures in order to prevent the outbreak of the disease or spread thereof; and any persons declared as such by the State Government via notification in the Official Gazette.

3) MHRD e-launches national program “VidyaDaan 2.0”

•National program “VidyaDaan 2.0” has been e-launched by the Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. The National program “VidyaDaan 2.0” has been launched to invite e-learning content contributions as the requirement of e-learning content for students has increased in the backdrop of situation arising out of Covid-19 pandemic.

About “VidyaDaan”:

•VidyaDaan is defined as a common national program for individuals & organizations across the nation to donate or contribute e-learning resources for school as well as higher education in order to ensure the continuity of quality learning. This donated/shared content will be utilized on the DIKSHA app. Via DIKSHA app, this donated/shared content will help children across India to continue their learning anytime and anywhere.

•VidyaDaan is having a content contribution tool that gives a structured interface for the contributors to register and share various types of content like explanation videos, presentations, competency-based items, quizzes etc. The shared content can be for any grade i.e. from grade 1 to 12, for any subject as specified by the states/UTs. The contributors to this portal can be any educationist, subject expert, school, college, University, Institute, government and non-government organisation, individual, etc.

4) ARCI develops advanced tool “NanoBlitz 3D”

•Scientists from International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) has developed an advanced tool “NanoBlitz 3D” in collaboration with Nanomechanics Inc., USA. NanoBlitz 3D can be used for the mapping of nano-mechanical properties of materials such as multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.

•One of the most important aspect of NanoBlitz 3D is its high-throughput, as it requires just a few hours of testing to generate more than 10,000 data points that can be processed using machine learning (ML) algorithms. This tool also helps in carrying out advanced data analysis like identifying and quantifying the mechanical properties of constituent phases, features or components of multi-phase alloys, composites as well as multi-layered coatings.

•The NanoBlitz 3D tool was launched in San Antonio, USA on the sidelines of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2019 Annual Meeting and Exhibition.

5) TCS BaNCS to power Israel’s 1st fully Digital Bank

•India’s IT giant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will launch Israel’s first fully digital bank. The digital bank has not been named yet and will be launched in 2021. The digital banking operations platform will be powered by the TCS BaNCS Global Banking Platform.

•Israel’s Ministry of Finance selected TCS to transform its banking sector. TCS helps Israel to build a banking service bureau that would serve as a shared, plug-and-play, digital banking operations platform – powered by the TCS BaNCS.

6) Facebook acquires 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio

•The social media platform & US tech titan Facebook has acquired a 9.99% stake Reliance Jio i.e. the telecom arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). Facebook has bought the 9.99% stakes for USD 5.7 billion (about Rs 43,574 crore). This deal of USD 5.7 billion has put the pre-money enterprise value of Jio Platforms at Rs 4.62 lakh crore. Jio Platform is the parent of phone and data unit Reliance Jio Infocomm including various other digital app platforms like JioMart, Jio-Saavn and JioCinema.

•Buying stakes in Reliance Jio will give Facebook a strong foothold in the Indian market, where its WhatsApp chat service is having 40 crore users.