Top Current Affairs 19 and 20 April 2021

Top Current Affairs 19 and 20 April 2021

Top Current Affairs 19 and 20 April 2021: This post contains the latest current affairs for 19 & 20 April 2021 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.

National

Piyush Goyal launches the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

• Union Minister Piyush Goyal launched the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) on April 19, 2021.
• The Fund aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization.
• Government has approved Rs. 945 Crore corpus for the fund, which will be divided over the next 4 years beginning April 01, 2021, for providing seed funding to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India.
• The scheme is expected to support an estimated 3,600 startups through 300 incubators.
• Piyush Goyal is the Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution.

India marks four successful decades of scientific endeavour in Antarctica 

• In a remarkable achievement, the 40th Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (40-ISEA) hosted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences successfully returned to Cape Town on April 10, 2021, after completing a journey of ~12 thousand nautical miles in 94 days, including stopovers.
• With this achievement, India has successfully completed four decades of scientific endeavour in Antartica.
• The 40-ISEA comprised of Indian scientists, engineers, doctors, and technicians.
• The journey began from the Mormugao Port of Goa to Antarctica on January 07, 2021 onboard the MV VasiliyGolovnin, a chartered ice-class vessel.
• The team reached its destination station Bharati on February 27, 2021, and Maitri on March 08, 2021.
• Bharati and Maitri are India’s permanent research base stations in Antarctica. 

Italy launches first-ever mega food park & food processing unit in India

• Italy has launched its first ever mega food park project in India, comprising of food processing facilities, in a bid to further strengthen ties between the two nations.
• The pilot project named “The Mega Food Park” was launched virtually on April 17, 2021 at Fanidhar Mega Food Park, in Gujarat. 
• The project will develop a synergy between agriculture and industry of both countries, besides focusing on the research and development of newer, efficient technologies in the sector.

Banking & Economy

RBI constitutes six-member panel headed by former ED Sudarshan Sen to review ARCs

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a six-member panel to carry out comprehensive review of the working of Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) in the financial sector ecosystem.
• The panel will be headed by former Executive Director of RBI, Sudarshan Sen.
• Other members of the panel include:
  1. Vishakha Mulye – Executive Director, ICICI Bank;
  2. P N Prasad – former Dy. Managing Director, SBI;
  3. Rohit Prasad – Professor of Economics, MDI, Gurgaon;
  4. Abizer Diwanji – Partner, Ernst & Young; 
  5. R Anand – Chartered Accountant
• Terms of reference for panel

RBI approves re-appointment of Murali Natrajan as MD and CEO of DCB Bank

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of  Murali M. Natrajan as the Managing Director & CEO of private sector lender, DCB Bank, for further period of one year.
• The re-appointment of Mr. Natrajan is subject to the approval of shareholders, and will begin from April 29, 2021.
• Natrajan was first appointed as MD and CEO of DCB Bank in May, 2009.
• Prior to joining DCB, Natrajan has worked with foreign banks Standard Chartered and Citibank.

Rating Agencies downgrade India’s GDP forecasts for FY22 following surge in Covid Cases

• The leading brokerages have downgraded India’s GDP growth projections for the current fiscal year 2021-22, due to rise in COVID-19 cases, which pose risks to economic recovery.
• Given below in the GDP growth forecast by several rating agencies for FY22

Agencies	FY22 (revised estimate)	FY22 (previous estimate)
Nomura	12.6%	13.5%
JP Morgan	11%	13%
UBS	10%	11.5%
Citi Research	12%	12.5%

Sports

Max Verstappen Wins Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix 2021

• Max Verstappen (Red Bull – Netherlands) won the Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix 2021, held on April 18, 2021, in Imola, Italy.
• This win is his first victory of the season.
• The race was the second round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.
• The seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Great Britain) finished second, following crash and sustaining damage involving Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. 
• Lando Norris (McLaren – Great Britain) took third place.

India Clinches 14 medal including 5 Gold, 3 Sliver and Six Bronze at 2021 Senior Asian Wrestling Championship

• The 2021 Senior Asian Wrestling Championships was held from April 13 to 18, 2021 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
• The event was the 34th edition of the Asian Wrestling Championships.
• India won 14 medals to stand at third spot in the medal table. The medals include 5 Gold, 3 Silver & 6 Bronze Medals.
• Iran and Kazakhstan topped the medal tally with 17 medals each. [7G;5S;5B]
• Following are the medal winners from India

Days

World Liver Day: 19 April

• The World Liver Day is observed on 19 April annually to spread awareness about causes of liver disease and tips for its prevention so as to take holistic care of liver.
• The liver is the second largest and the second most complex organ in the body, after the brain.

UN Chinese Language Day: 20 April

• UN Chinese Language Day is observed on April 20 annually.
• The UN Department of Public Information established the day in 2010 to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization.
• April 20 has also been chosen to pay tribute to Cangjie, a mythical figure who is presumed to have invented Chinese characters about 5,000 years ago.

Obituary

Well-Known Kannada, Writer, Lexicographer, G Venkatasubbaiah, passes away at 107

• Veteran Kannada writer Ganjam Venkatasubbiah, who also was a grammarian, editor, lexicographer and literary critic, has passed away. He was 107.
• G. Venkatasubbaiah was commonly known as a walking encyclopedia of Kannada language and culture, in his literary circles.
• Professor G Venkatasubbaiah had compiled 12 dictionaries and had authored around 60 books. 
• He received the Padma Shri in 2017 for his proficiency in Kannada literature, poetry, essays and translations.
• Apart from this we was also a recipient of Kannada Sahitya Akademi Award and the Pampa Award among others.

BJP Leader & Former Union Minister Bachi Singh Rawat Passes Away at 71

• The senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Bachi Singh Rawat has passed away after he complained of difficulty in breathing. He was 71.
• Bachi Singh Rawat was a four-time MP from the Almora-Pithoragarh constituency in Uttarakhand.
• He had served as the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

National Award-winning filmmaker Sumitra Bhave passes away at 78

• Acclaimed Marathi filmmaker Sumitra Bhave has passed away suffering from age-related issues. She was 78. 
• Sumitra Bhave was popular as duo with filmmaker Sunil Sukthankar in Marathi cinema and Marathi theatre. 
• Bhave was known for her out-of-the-box content and also for the way she handled social issues in her films.
• The duo of Sumitra and Sunil together directed several popular films like Doghi, Dahavi Fa, Vastupurush, Devrai, Badha, Ek Cup Chya, Samhita, Astu, Kaasav, among others.
• They have won National Film Awards in Best Non-Feature Film on Family Welfare, Best Educational / Motivational / Instructional Film, Best Film on Other Social Issues, Best Feature Film categories.

Adobe co-founder and PDF developer Charles Geschke passes away at 81

• American computer scientist Charles Geschke, best known as the co-founder of graphics and publishing software company Adobe Inc, has passed away. He was 81.
• Geschke co-founded Adobe company in 1982 with fellow mate John Warnock.
• Geschke, who was widely known as Chuck, also helped in developing the popular Portable Document Format (PDF).