Test: May 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The Central Government appreciated that Madhya Pradesh (MP) has become the first state in the country to provide a mid-day meal ration. Manoj Shrivastava, Additional Chief Secretary Panchayat and Rural Development, informed that this information has been given in the review meeting conducted by the Central Government.

In accordance with the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), “Global Energy Review 2020-The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on global energy demand and CO2 emissions” India’s energy demand has faced a 30% decrease due to 40 days lockdown to contain COVID-19. In India, energy demand would decline for the first time, following on from low demand growth in 2019.

Iran, recovering from the horrific outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), has now started efforts to get its economy back on track. In this sequence, the parliament of Iran has approved a bill on national currency denomination, which allows to cutting four zeros from its national currency Rial & to rename it as ‘Toman’ which is equal to 10,000 rials.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has extended the Bollywood actress & environmentalist Dia Mirza‘s term as its National Goodwill Ambassador for another two years till the end of 2022.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi (53), former head of Iraq’s intelligence agency, was sworn in as the country’s 6th Prime Minister (PM) after Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has resigned in November 2019 due to massive anti-governmental protests.

A five judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court passed a ruling that co­operative banks established under a State law or multi-State level societies come under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act of 2002. The judgement has been passed by a constitution bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra which also included justices Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, Mukesh kumar Rasikbhai Shah and Aniruddha Bose.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development bank, has approved a loan worth of $500 million for India’s ‘COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project’ to assist nation’s efforts to stop, detect, and respond to the risk posed by coronavirus (Covid-19). ADB Headquarters– Beijing, China.

The Yes Bank appointed Neeraj Dhawan, as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for a period of three years with immediate effect, replacing Ashish Agarwal, the current Chief Risk Officer.

As per the Reliance Industries Limited’s statement, the US-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners to buy 2.32% stake in Reliance’s Jio Platforms, for Rs 11,367 crore which will make Vista the largest investor in Jio Platforms after Reliance Industries and Facebook. After this investment, Jio platforms will have an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.

World Hand Hygiene Day is observed every year on May 5 globally. The day is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO). The main aim of the day is to make people across the globe more aware of the importance of hand hygiene in health care facilities, thus protecting health care workers and patients from infections. Theme for the year 2020: “SAVE LIVES: Clean your hands”.

Vandhe Bharat mission is the massive repatriation operation planned by the Indian government to bring back stranded Indians in different parts of the world in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. In the first phase that started on May 7, more than 60 “non-scheduled, commercial” flights will operate from about 12 countries to bring back 15,000 citizens. The second phase of the Vandhe Bharat mission in the third week of May is expected to cover European nations.

As per the study by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Among the metro cities, Mumbai has the highest internet population of 13 million, a growth of 12%. Delhi had 11.3 million while Bengaluru had 6.6 million along with 6.2 million in Kolkata and 6 million in Chennai.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nation (UN) postal agency released a commemorative postage stamp on the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, was the speaker on the occasion held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Finance Ministry has informed that Government has hiked its estimated gross market borrowing to Rs 12 lakh crore (additional Rs 4.2 lakh crore) from Rs 7.80 lakh crore for Financial Year (FY) 2020-21 as per the Budget Estimates (BE) so as to tackle the expected shortfall in revenue due to the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the economy.

The Defence Ministry has signed a contract worth around Rs 1,200 crore with Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division (TPSED) for Phase-II of Modernisation of AirField Infrastructure (MAFI) of 37 airfields for Indian Air Force (IAF), Indian Navy (IN) and Indian Coast Guard (ICG). The proposal is approved by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

ELSA Corp (English Language Speech Assistant Corporation) India, the education technology company based out of the US (United States), has appointed Indian Test team vice-captain Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane as its brand ambassador for India, Middle East, ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) and SAARC.

Glaxo SmithKline plc (GSK), a British multinational pharmaceutical company, has sold its 5.7 % stake in Indian FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) company Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) for $3.35 billion (about 254.8 billion rupees) in the stock market through a largest ever block deal. However, the names of the buyers could not be immediately ascertained. In an another big transaction, French firm Societe Generale S.A has acquired 1.29 crore shares in HUL worth of Rs 2,453.58 crore from British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Pte.

With increasing demand for face masks to contain transmission of deadly COVID-19 virus, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)- Delhi startup company named Nanosafe solutions has developed and launched an antimicrobial and washable face mask “NSafe” that can be reused upto 50 launderings.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that it has extended the terms of its president Narinder Dhruv Batra & the Executive Board(EB) members which is due to end in October 2020 has been extended until the 47th FIH Congress(initially planned on 28th October- 1st November 2020 in New Delhi in May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2020, i.e. on May 3, 2020, 17 journalists from 14 countries have been named for Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award 2020 who have disappeared or been arrested or threatened because of their reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic. Siddharth Varadarajan, one of the founding editors of non-profit online newspage The Wire, was handed a notice for appearance by a police team on April 10, 2020 following a story about a politician violating COVID-19 guidelines by participating in a religious ceremony. The Wire was accused of “causing a riot” and “leading to panic.”

Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad based Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) premier lab, developed an automated contactless Ultraviolet C (UVC) sanitisation cabinet called Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitiser (DRUVS). It has been designed to sanitise mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, cheque leafs, challans, passbooks, paper, envelopes, etc.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) announced its tie-up with Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) to develop the 1st fully indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by using the virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The strain has been successfully transferred from NIV to BBIL.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) formed a six-member committee to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for phased resumption of training across sporting disciplines at all the centers once the coronavirus-forced national lockdown is lifted. The six-member panel will be headed by SAI secretary Rohit Bharadwaj and will have CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Rajesh Rajagopalan, Executive Director (Operations) SS Roy, SS Sarla, Col BK Nayak and Assistant Director TOPS Sachin K as its members.

Eminent Historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan passed away at the age of 68 in a private hospital at Kolkata after testing positive for novel coronavirus on May 6th 2020.

Madhya Pradesh (MP) Home Minister Narottam Mishra launched the country’s 1st ‘First Information Report (FIR) Aapke Dwar Yojana ‘(FIR at your doorstep) at the new Police Control Room, Bhopal to enable people to file FIRs from their homes instead of visiting police stations. Launched helpline ‘Dial 112’ to facilitate immediate availability of ambulance, police and fire fighting services wherever needed.