Current Affairs - Update of 09.04.2020

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1. Unemployment rate in India rose to 23.4%

  • Early estimates of jobs data indicate that the coronavirus effect may have left devastating impact on the economy sending urban unemployment rate soaring to 30.9%
  • Overall unemployment rose to 23.4%
  • The figures, based on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy's weekly tracker, have held steady for two weeks now.

2. Radhakishan Damani got richer under lockdown

  • The net worth of Radhakishan Damani, who controls Avenue Supermarket Limited, has surged 5% this year to $10.2 billion
  • This has made him the only billionaire with gains among the 12 richest Indians
  • Shares of Avenue Markets, which contribute nearly all of the wealth of Damani's net worth, has advanced 18% on 2020.

3. WhatsApp: New limits on message forwarding

  • WhatsApp has placed new limits on message forwarding as part of an effort to curb the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic
  • The new policy limits users to forwarding certain mean to one chat at a time
  • The aim is ti limit the rapid propagation of content which is provocative but likely to be false.

4. CM Arvind Kejriwal announced a 5T Plan

  • Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced a 5T plan to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus
  • The 5T plan includes Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Teamwork, and Tracking
  • The government is planning to conduct 1 lakh rapid tests among people in the city's COVID-19 hotpots
  • The tests will start from 10 April 2020 after the rapid test kits arrive.

5. SIDBI to provide working capital to MSMEs

  • The Small Industries Development Bank of India - SIDBI will provide emergency working capital of upto Rs 1 crore to Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) against their confirmed government orders
  • The SIDBI Assistance to Facilities Emergency response against coronavirus - SAFE PLUS will be offered collateral free and disbursed within 48 hours.

6. Edible oil imports declined to 32.44% in March

  • India's edible oil imports declined 32.44% to 9,41,219 tonne in March 2020 due to government restrictions on purchase of refined palm oil from overseas market
  • India, the world's leafing vegetable oil buyer, had imported 13,93,255 tonne in March 2019
  • The share of palm oil is more than 60% of the country's total vegetable oil imports.

7. MP police starts 'home delivery' of FIRs

  • Madhya Pradesh police have started home-delivery of FIRs
  • Those booked for violating the lockdown are now getting the challans at their doorstep
  • Seoni district, which borders Nagpur, launched this initiative on 6 April 2020
  • Police of UP's Muzzaffarnagar were the first to start this 'doorstep delivery' in the first week of April 2020.

8. Thailand & Malaysia weightlifters banned

  • the Independent Member Federation Sanction Panel (IMFSP) and International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has imposed disciplinary sanctions on Thailand and Malaysia
  • It has banned both the countries from participating in weightlifting events at the Tokyo Olympics
  • The IMFSP also suspended the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) for 3 years

9. PNB Housing Finance tied-up with JICA

  • PNB Housing Finance has signed an agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • It has been signed to raise 75 million dollars with co-financing of 25 million dollars by Citibank of Finance Mortgage loans in the affordable housing segment
  • This will provide affordable housing to low-income households in India based on th Facility for Acceleration Financial Inclusion in Asia.

10. JSW Energy Limited to acquire GMR Limited

  • The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited by JSW Energy Limited
  • CCI gave its approval under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002, in its meeting held on 7 April 2020 via video conferencing
  • The proposed combination envisages the acquisition of the entire shareholding of GMR Kamalanga Energy of JSW Energy Limited.