Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2021

Notes:
Significant Economic Presence (SEP) principle was introduced in the Finance Bill 2018-19. It widened the scope of ‘business connection’ to include download of data or software, if aggregate payments from such transactions exceed a prescribed amount, or a prescribed number of users.
India recently notified a revenue threshold of Rs 2 crore and a limit of 300,000 users for non-resident technology firms such as Google, Facebook, to pay tax in India.

Notes:
World champion and Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu and Canada’s Michelle Li have been nominated as athlete ambassadors for International Olympic Committee’s ‘Believe in Sports’ campaign.
This duo has also been the global ambassadors for Badminton World Federation’s ‘i am badminton’ campaign.

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.

Notes:
West Bengal provided work to 11.8 million people through MGNREGA in FY21, which is the highest in the country.
It utilised around Rs 10,403.13 crore for implementing the scheme and stands third in spending the funds after only to Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Around 27.3 million households demanded work under MGNREGA in April 2021.

Notes:
A new and endemic trap-jaw ant species named ‘Strumigenys ayersthey’ has been discovered in Ecuador.
The ant species can be distinguished by its smooth and shining cuticle surface and long trap-jaw mandibles. Ecuador is known for its highest animal and plant species diversity due to the three bio-regions present: The Amazon basin, the Chocó-Darién bioregion and the Tumbesian drylands.

Notes:
Micro-blogging platform Twitter is testing a new Tip Jar feature globally where iOS and Android users can send money directly to their favourite accounts.
Initially, only a small group of people including non-profits, journalists and creators around the world who use Twitter in English will be able to add Tip Jar to their profile and receive tips.

Notes:
A technical group on social stock exchanges (SSEs) was constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), under the chairmanship of Harsh Bhanwala, former chairman of NABARD in the month of September.
Recently, the group has recommended that political and religious organisations, professional/trade organisations and infrastructure and housing companies (except affordable housing) should not be allowed to raise funds through SSEs.

Notes:
Interpol has launched a mobile app named “ID-Art app”. This app would help identify stolen cultural property, reduce illicit trafficking, and increase the chances of recovering stolen works and artefacts.
This has been designed to be used by law enforcement agencies across the globe to get access to the Interpol’s database of stolen works of art. It can also be accessed by the general public.

Notes:
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, with 220 miles long. It has been the historical breeding grounds of the fish species – Twaite shad.
Being a member of the herring family, it is one of the UK’s rarest fish. Earlier, thousands of the fish migrated towards the river. After the decline in the count, a conservation project is trying to create new routes in the river, around several weirs. This migration would help other species in the ecosystem.

Notes:
China has recently announced that is set to create “a line of separation” at the Mt Everest summit. This is expected to prevent climbers from the Chinese side from being infected by those climbing the summit from Nepal.
Earlier, a number of Covid-19 cases were diagnosed among those climbing the mountain from Nepal. The peak climbing is usually undertaken by the climbers between April and early June before the monsoon arrives.