The Independent Member Federation Sanctions Panel (IMFSP) of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has imposed disciplinary sanctions on Thailand and Malaysia. And so both the countries have been banned from participating in weightlifting events at the Tokyo Olympics. Apart from this, IMFSP has also suspended the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) for three years, while the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) has been given a one-year ban.

Associations representing officers of Central Civil Services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) have formed an initiative called ‘CARUNA’ to support and supplement the government’s efforts in fighting coronavirus. CARUNA stands for Civil Services Associations Reach to Support in Natural Disasters.

The Lifeline UDAN was launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to help India fight against COVID-19. Under this initiative, flights were operated in transporting essential equipment and medicines all over the country.

Libya’s former Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril died from complications related to coronavirus. He was 73-year-old.

Tata Power Solar will build the 300 MW CPSU-II for NTPC at an all-inclusive price of Rs.1,730.16 crore.

The Commercial Operation Date (COD) for this grid-connected solar photovoltaic project is set for September 2021 (18 months). With this order, the order book of Tata Power Solar stands at approximately Rs.8541 crore, including external and internal orders.

The tenure of Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, as the incumbent Chairman of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has been extended by the Supreme Court of India by 3-months.

The government has notified the empowered group set up for coordination with the private sector, NGOs and international organisations for COVID-19 related response activities.
It has been constituted to address the issues pertaining to the identification of problems, effective solutions and formulation of plans.
The empowered group is led by Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog.

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)-Roorkee in association with AIIMS-Rishikesh has developed ‘Prana-Vayu,’ a low-cost portable ventilator.

The Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah has approved the release of Rs 11,092 crores to all States under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) for 2020-21 after the Chief Ministers raised the issue of lack of funds in the state during a meeting through video conferencing with Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.

World Food Programme (WFP) conveyed the rapidly growing novel Coronavirus pandemic so far, having little impact on the global food supply chain, but that could change for the worse if major food importers remain anxious. Headquarters: Rome, Italy

Ride-hailing platform Uber stated it has partnered with the National Health Authority (NHA) to provide transport service to frontline healthcare workers in the country, who are engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The Union Cabinet, on April 6, 2020, approved an ordinance to amend the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, to reduce the allowances and pension of all MPs by 30% for a period of one year, with effect from April 1, 2020. The President, Vice President, Governors of States have also voluntarily decided to take a pay cut of 30 percent as a social responsibility for one year

Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa, Padma Shri awardee and former “HazooriRaagi” at the Golden Temple, passed away at the age of 62 in Amritsar, Punjab. He was born on April 12, 1952 in Ferozepur, Punjab. He received Padma Shri award in 2009 for his contribution in Arts.

Nadia, a four-year-old tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York tested positive for COVID-19 recently. This is the first confirmed case of human-to-animal transmission of the virus in the United States.

The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, administered to millions of Indian children soon after birth to protect against tuberculosis, could be a “game-changer” in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.
The severity of coronavirus impact may be linked to national policies on BCG childhood vaccination.
However, this study is yet to be published from the New York Institute of Technology.

The ‘Challenge COVID19 Competition’ has been launched by the National Innovation Foundation(NIF) functioning under the Department of Science and Technology. The initiative invites ideas from innovators to contain the transmission of Coronavirus and for the gainful engagement of people during lockdown. The initiative was announced on 31 March 2020. The selected ideas will be incubated and supported by the Government of India.

Vice-Chairperson Infosys’ chief operating officer, UB Pravin Rao, has been appointed as the new chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) for the year 2020-21. He was appointed Rekha Menon of Accenture.

Coronavirus (COVID 19) is causing terrible havoc in the country and the world currently. In such a situation, India is coming forward to help less capable countries in fighting Covid 19. In this sequence, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched ‘Operation Sanjeevani’ and air-lifted 6.2 tonnes of essential medical supplies to Maldives via transport aircraft C-130J as assistance in fight against the virus.

The Uttar Pradesh government has said that six persons associated with the Tablighi Jamaat who have been accused of misbehaving with women staff at the district hospital in Ghaziabad will be charged under the National Security Act (NSA).National Security Act, 1980 allows preventive detention for months, if authorities are satisfied that a person is a threat to national security or law and order.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been conferred with an award by animal rights body PETA India for allocating funds to feed community animals in Odisha during the lockdown over the novel coronavirus pandemic.
It comes after the state government sanctioned Rs 54 lakh to feed stray animals in five municipal corporations and all 48 municipalities as they are struggling to find food during the lockdown.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India announced the ‘Hero to Animals Award’ for Patnaik. He received a framed certificate and a letter of appreciation.

World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April each year since 1950, to draw worldwide attention to a specific theme of major importance to global health each year. The Theme of 2020 World Health Day is Support Nurses and Midwives

The ministry of electronics and IT launched a mobile app called Aarogya Setu which will help people in identifying the risk of getting affected by the CoronaVirus. The app built through public private partnership “assesses themselves the risk for their catching the Corona Virus infection. It will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence,”

V-Safe Tunnel” has been installed in Telangana

NASA’s new satellite, CubeSat Imaging Radar for Earth Sciences (CIRES), will give early warning signals of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. This will help the concerned administrations to prepare ahead for disasters.

The Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar has launched three new features of National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) Platform to enable farmers to sell their harvested produce directly from warehouse which will prevent crowding in mandis amid COVID-19 outbreak. The 3 features are as follows Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (e-NWRs) module, Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) trading module, Logistic Module.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh released the National Preparedness Survey on COVID 19 – Responses of District Collectors and IAS Officers.
The survey was conducted in 410 Districts in the country within 3 working days beginning 25 Mar’20.
The objective is to develop a comparative analysis of COVID 19 preparedness across States.

In view of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Reserve Bank of India has notified a change in market timings. Beginning April 7th, markets dealing with government securities, call/notice/term money, corporate bonds, foreign currency, Indian Rupee Trades, commercial paper and Certificates of Deposit will be working from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Under ‘Lifeline Udan initiative’, 107 flights have been operated till April 3, 2020, for transporting over 138.81 tonnes of medical cargo across the country amid the lockdown.
The Lifeline Udan cargo includes COVID-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), masks, gloves and other accessories required.

Department of Science & Technology, Government of India in a rapid response to combat COVID-19 global pandemic approved setting up of a Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH) at a total cost of Rs 56 Cr to scout, evaluate and support the innovations and start-ups that address COVID-19 challenges. The Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), a technology business incubator at IIT Bombay supported by DST has been identified as the Implementing Agency of the CAWACH.

Sanjay Dhotre launched Hack the Crisis India overcome COVID 19 pandemic