Test: May 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 3 - UPSC MCQ

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda launched the ‘GOAL’ – Going Online As Leaders of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in partnership with Facebook at a Webinar in New Delhi. GOAL is designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth with digital mode.

Delhi Police launched India’s first ‘Thermal Corona Combat Headgear’ to ensure the safety of frontline warriors and enforce social distancing. The initiative has been launched by the Delhi police in collaboration with Indian Robotics Solution. This equipment helps police personnel to detect the temperature of a large number of people from a distance of 10-15 metres.

In Jharkhand, the State Education Department (dept) in collaboration with Doordarshan (DD) started online classes and educational programmes to provide school education to students of the state through video and thematic lectures. The special educational lectures are designed for students from class 1 to 12 with special slots allotted for each class.

Israel named a street in Tel Aviv after Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore on his 159th birth anniversary to honor his valuable contributions in the field and to mankind. He was born on May 7, 1861, in Calcutta. In Bengal Rabindra Jayanti is celebrated on the 25th day of the Bengali month of Boishakh.

World Bank approves Rs 7500 crore (1 billion USD) to increase India’s COVID-19 Social Protection response Program to help the nation’s efforts in providing assistance for the poor and needy who are affected by the pandemic.

According to a report “Updated Assessment of the Potential Economic Impact of COVID-19” released by Asian Development Bank (ADB), global economy is expected to lose between $ 5.8 trillion to $ 8.8 trillion (equal to 6.4 % to 9.7 % of global gross domestic product (GDP)) due to the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

At the World Trade Organisation(WTO) members virtual meeting, the 6th Director-General Roberto Azevedo(62-year-old), a former Brazilian diplomat & 1st Latin American director announced that he will step down from the 7-year tenure(since 2013) on 31st August on personal grounds, cutting his second term in office short by exactly one year.

China has won the 1st edition of FIDE Chess.com online Nations Cup 2020 chess tournament took place from 5-10 May 2020, through a chess.com platform. China’s team, which won the prize money of $48,000, became the champion on the basis of scoring the most points in the league stage despite playing a 2–2 draw against the US (United States) in the final.

The Government of India and West Bengal Government have inked two loan agreements for the “West Bengal Major Irrigation and Flood Management Project” to improve irrigation services and flood management in the Damodar Valley Command Area (DVCA) of West Bengal. One agreement is inked with the World Bank (WB) for a loan of $145 million. The other agreement was inked with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for $145million. The Government of West Bengal has infused $123.8 million for this project. The total worth of the project is $413.8 million.

The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration approved the appointment of senior vice president (SVP) of HDFC bank Zubair Iqbal as the new Managing Director (MD) of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, for a period of 3 years. In another order, Rajesh Kumar Chibber, who is currently MD and Chairman of J&K bank, has been reappointed as the Chairman for the period of 3 years.

A Group of Ministers (GoM) panel headed by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot on employment and skill development has drafted a set of proposals that includes land pooling to corporatize agriculture, opening up Employees’ Provident Fund(EPF) and Employees State Insurance Corporation(ESIC) for the unorganised sector, merging the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ,2005 (MGNREGA). with skill development programmes to create a wage subsidy programme.

The book titled as “Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City” authored by Chinese literary writer Fang Fang is a compilation of online diary entries and social media posts that document 60 days of lockdown during COVID-19. The book was released in India in an ebook format on May 15, 2020, published by HarperNonFiction, the audio will follow on May 26.

Centre will notify a list of weapons/platforms for ban on import with year wise timelines for boosting defence production in India, as a part of Make in India initiative. There will be indigenisation of imported spares, and separate budget provisioning for domestic capital procurement. This will help reduce huge Defence import bill. Foreign Direct Investment limit in defence manufacturing under automatic route is being raised from 49% to 74%. Corporatisation of Ordnance factory board (OFB) was also announced. To ensure time-bound defence procurement, centre will set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) to support contract management.

A programme named “PM eVIDYA” is to be launched immediately. It is a multi-mode access to online education consisting of: DIKSHA for school education in states/UTs: e-content and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform) One earmarked TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel) Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and Podcasts Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired. Top 100 universities will be permitted to automatically start online courses by 30th May, 2020.

The Genoa-based Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) has developed “i-Feel you”, an intelligent bracelet which will help users respect social distancing rules. The technology was launched at a video conference which involved the participation of Liguria governor Giovanni Toti and IIT President Giorgia Metta.

Benjamin Netanyahu has been sworn as the Israel Prime Minister (PM) for the 5th time after signing of power-sharing deal with rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz of Blue and White Party. He will now chair the post until 13 November 2021.

International Museum Day (IMD) is celebrated every year on May 18 globally, to create awareness on the importance of museums for the development of society. The day is organized by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and has been celebrated since 1977. Theme for the year 2020: “Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion”.

According to the study published in the journal MycoKeys, Ana Sofia Reboleira, a biologist from the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark, has discovered a new species of a parasitic fungus ‘Troglomyces Twitteri’ by using image of millipede circulating on social media platform Twitter.

In a latest, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a detailed warning to people against the trojan called ‘EventBot’ which has been identified as malware or trojan that steals personal financial information and can affect Android smartphone users in the country. A trojan is essentially a type of malware that is attached to what seems to be a legit programme.

There are many who want to be a “personnel in uniform” and experience the military life but did not want a full career in the Army. For them, in a game changer move, our Indian army is considering a proposal to allow civilians, including young working professionals, to join the force for 3 years as officers and in other ranks (ORs) in areas like logistics and front-line formations under the “Tour of Duty” or “Three-Year Short Service” Scheme.

Government has accepted and implemented 3 important recommendations of the Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure so as to speed up road construction, which leads to socio-economic development in the border areas.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket Committee, chaired by former Indian cricketer & commentator, Anil Kumble has recommended a ban on the use of saliva to make the ball shine due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. However, the committee considered ball-shining as safe from the use of sweat.

Veteran Marathi writer, playwright, actor, director and Producer Ratnakar Matkari passed away at 81 in a hospital at suburban Marol, Mumbai. Last week he was tested positive to coronavirus. He was born on 17th November 1938 in Mumbai, India.

In order to retain more money in the hands of the employer and the salary payer, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India (GoI), had decided to reduce the Employees’ provident fund (EPF) contributions to 10% from the existing 12% for three months till July 2020.

After the Department of Agriculture, Govt of Maharashtra announced a 3-year empanelment of insurance companies and intermediaries for implementation of crop insurance scheme, the Integrated Risk Insurance Brokers Limited (IRIBL), announced ‘Mee Annapurna’ for farmers welfare across Maharashtra.