Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2021

Notes:
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has appointed Vaishali S Hiwase as the first woman officer to command a Road Construction Company (RCC).
The officer would command the company, to provide connectivity in a high-altitude area along the India-China border. She is a M Tech graduate and has already carried out a demanding tenure in Kargil.

Notes:
China has launched the Tianhe module, which is a key component of the new permanent space station of the country. The launch was made using the country’s Long March-5B rocket.
The component launched to space consists of living quarters for crew members. China has proposed to make the space station operational by the year 2022.

Notes:
The Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has proposed to permit operations of self-driving cars by end of the year 2021. The automated lane-keeping systems (ALKS) to be operationalised in the UK would be first in the world to be legalised.
The ALKS technology controls the position of driver less cars in a single lane and limits its speed to 60 kmph.

Notes:
The International Energy Agency releases the Global Electric Vehicle Outlook. As per the new report, the number of electric cars, buses, vans and heavy trucks on roads is expected to hit 145 million by 2030.
The report also highlighted that the electric vehicle fleet could increase to 230 million by the end of the decade, if governments speed up their efforts to meet international climate goals. It also said that around three million new electric cars were registered last year, a 41% rise compared to 2019.

Notes:
The Indian Government has revised the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020 and allowed the import of oxygen concentrators for personal use, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country.
According to a notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), oxygen concentrators have been added to the list of exempted categories, where customs clearance is sought as ”gifts”. They can be procured through post, courier or e-commerce portals and the exemption is allowed till July 31, 2021.

Notes:
The Benin Bronzes are a group of over a thousand metal plaques and sculptures which were placed in the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, the present-day Nigeria.
Germany announced that it would start returning the artefacts known as the Benin bronzes that are held in its museums to Nigeria from next year. British soldiers seized thousands of the sculptures in 1897 during a raid on the Kingdom of Benin. They were then auctioned to many other countries.

Notes:
Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak has been qualified to participate in the Tokyo Olympics after qualifying through the continental quota.
The 26-year-old from West Bengal had earlier claimed a bronze in vault at the Asian Artistic Gymnastic Championships in 2019.

Notes:
Mamata Banerjee was sworn as Bengal Chief Minister for the third time. She has been the Chief Minister of the state since 2011.
Veteran leader Sheila Dikshit is the longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, as well as the longest-serving female chief minister of any Indian state. She served for a period of 15 years since 1998.

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.

Notes:
Manas Bihari Verma – a reputed aeronautical scientist and Padma Shri Awardee died recently of suffering a massive heart attack. He was 78 years old.
He has been the man behind the country’s first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’ and has closely worked with former president Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam.