Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2021

Notes:
The Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute, Budni is a premier institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
It is located in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Recently, the first-ever electric tractor in the country has been tested at the institute. This new electric tractor will be more environmentally friendly than other types of tractors.

Notes:
Michael Collins, who was the pilot of NASA’s Apollo 11 which carried Neil Armstrong to the moon, died recently. He was 90 years of age and he battled cancer disease.
He was a recipient of the Presidential Medal for Freedom in 1969 the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his brave manoeuvring of the Apollo 11 mission spacecraft.

Notes:
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has become the third strongest and the tenth most valuable insurance brand globally.
According to a report by Brand Finance Insurance 100 2021, LIC’s brand value increased by almost 7 per cent to $8.65 billion. There are 5 Chinese Insurance companies in the top 10 with Ping An Insurance at the top place.

Notes:
The Finance Ministry has recently released in advance the first instalment worth Rs 8,873.6 crore of the state disaster response fund (SDRF) for the current fiscal, to the states.
SDRF contribution is released in two equal instalments to the states, as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission. Normally, the first instalment of SDRF is released in the month of June. Around half of the amount released, can be used by the states for COVID-19 containment measures.

Notes:
Australian ace tennis player Ashleigh Barty has won the single title of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2021 held at Stuttgart (Germany).
She became the first Australian to win the tournament’s singles title. She has also won the doubles title immediately after the singles tournament, together with Jennifer Brady of USA.

Notes:
The Indian Navy has launched the Operation Samudra Setu-II, under which Indian Naval warships would ship liquid oxygen filled cryogenic containers from foreign nations.
As a part of the operation, two naval ships INS Kolkata and INS Talwar have been deployed to bring oxygen from Bahrain to Mumbai.

Notes:
India and UK announced 1 billion pounds (USD1.4 billion) of private-sector trade and investment. It also includes a 240 million pounds investment by the Serum Institute of India
The Serum Institute, in collaboration with Codagenix, has begun early-stage trials of a one-dose nasal vaccine against Covid-19. Trade between the India and UK accounts for about 23 billion pounds annually.

Notes:
A team of researchers in Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have studied “N-protein” in Covid virus. It has been found that this N Protein promotes the incorporation of the spike protein into viral particles.
The infectivity levels of the virus have been found to significantly vary with the levels of N Protein present in it.

Notes:
The United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released the new climate normal. The data reveal that weather across the US is getting warmer.
NOAA releases the climate normals every 10 years and they reflect the data from the past 30 years. The recently released data set comprises of the average temperature, precipitation and rainfall from 1991 to 2020.

Notes:
The RBI Governor announced certain measures to address the liquidity challenges posed by the pandemic.
Small Finance Banks are now permitted to lend smaller Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) (with asset size of up to ₹500 crore) for on-lending to individual borrowers as Priority sector lending. This facility will be available up to March 31, 2022. At present, this lending process is not considered as PSL.