Top Best Current Affairs 17 April 2020 (2)

73rd foundation day of Himachal Pradesh celebrated on April 15.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated that it has already issued over 10.2 lakh refunds totalling to around Rs.4,250 crore as of 14 April 2020. The move is in pursuance to the Government of India's decision to issue pending income tax refunds up to Rs.5 lakh in order to help taxpayers in a COVID-19 pandemic situation, on 8 April.

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the virtual session of the 2nd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting on 15 April. The meeting was held under the Saudi Arabian Presidency. The Ministers discussed the global economic outlook amid the evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis.As per the direction, Saudi prepared the G20 Action Plan in Response to COVID-19.

The Government of India decided to divide all districts across the country into hotspots, non-hotspots and green zones. The announcement was made by Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the Health Ministry.As of 15 April, the Ministry has identified 170 hotspot districts, 207 non-hotspot districts reporting cases and 359 green zone districts not reporting any cases across the country.

Industries operating in rural areas (i.e. outside the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities) allowed to resume production from April 20.

The Union Home Ministry has issued an advisory stating that the Zoom videoconferencing app is "not safe" for private persons and entities.

The US State Department said in a report on April 15, 2020 that China may have secretly set off low-level underground nuclear test explosions despite claiming to observe an international pact banning such blasts.

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the "National Conference on Kharif crops 2020" through a video conference. All States were directed to achieve the Kharif target as doubling of farmers' income should be taken up in mission mode. Major Kharif crops are rice, maize, cotton, jowar, bajra etc. Major Rabi crops are wheat, gram, peas, barley etc.