Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
India is the largest borrower of Asian Development Bank and the fourth largest shareholder of ADB. The institution has approved nearly $30 billion to India.
Recently, the Asian Development Bank has announced a 1.5 billion Covid-19 package for India to help funding the country’s response to tackle Covid-19. This is a part of the Covid Support program of ADB, under which the lender has provided nearly 20 bn to the Asian countries to revamp their economies.

Notes:
New York based Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, also known as Moody’s has recently slashed the GDP growth rate of India to 0.2 per cent in 2020-21, which is the lowest estimate made for the country till date after Covid-19 pandemic.
It has previously decreased the growth rate from the estimate of 5.2% to 2.5%, after the first nation-wide lockdown has been imposed by the Government on March 24. However, it predicts that India would grow at 6.2 per cent in 2021-22.

Notes:
After failing to pay the host fee, India lost the hosting rights of 2021 men’s World boxing championship to Serbia, as it is rescheduled to be held in the city of Belgrade in 2021.
As per the recent announcement of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), India failed to pay the host fee, as mentioned in the Host City Agreement terms, AIBA has terminated the contract signed in 2017. India will also have to pay a penalty of USD 500 for cancellation. If the event had not been cancelled, it would have happened for the first time in the country.

Notes:
According to an official statement, Chhattisgarh has topped the list of states in providing employment to unskilled labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Out of the total 77.85 lakh labourers employed under MNREGRA across the country, 18.51 lakh labourers are from Chhattisgarh, which is about 24% of the labourers. Rajasthan comes second with 14% of the total number of labourers, and Uttar Pradesh is ranked third with 12% of the total number of labourers.

Notes:
The International Labour Organization has recently released a report titled ‘ILO Monitor third edition: COVID-19 and the world of work’.
In the report, it is said that almost 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy, which is about half of the global workforce, face an immediate danger of losing their livelihoods due to the continued lock-down imposed. Out of 3.3 billion workers, 2 billion have vulnerable jobs under informal economy.

Notes:
The Bombay Reorganization Act, which came into effect on May 1, 1960, divided the then Bombay province into two separate states namely Maharashtra and Gujarat, on the basis of language.
People who were speaking Marathi and Konkani became a part of Maharashtra while those speaking Gujarati and Kutchi became a part of Gujarat. Hence May 1 is celebrated as the statehood day of Maharashtra and Gujarat every year.

Notes:
As per the recent survey conducted by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate of India increased 14.8 percentage points, to 23.5% in Apr 2020.
Tamil Nadu recorded the highest unemployment rate in April 2020, among large states at 49.8%, up from 6.3% in March 2020. Jharkhand and Bihar follow Tamil Nadu in higher unemployment rate while the lowest rate was found in Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.

Notes:
A black rice variety of Manipur called Chak-Hao has recently bagged the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
Chak-Hao is an aromatic glutinous rice variety which has been cultivated in Manipur. It is also used traditional medical practitioners. It also has the longest cooking time due to its fibrous bran layer and higher crude fibre content. The terracotta work of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradsh a centuries-old traditional art form, also bagged the G.I tag.

Notes:
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), a New Delhi-based laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has recently launched a mobile application named ‘Kisan Sabha’ to connect farmers to supply chain, amidst the nation-wide lockdown.
The application aims to provide logistics support to the farmers so that they can directly connect with the institutional buyers. This linkage with the freight transportation Management System would minimize middlemen and increase the profit of farmers

Notes:
The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan recently announced that five more states viz. Bihar, UP, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Daman and Diu have been integrated with the ‘One nation, One ration card’ scheme. Under the scheme, eligible cardholders can avail food grains from any fair-price shop under NFSA.
On January 1, 2020, there were 12 states on the integrated Public Distribution system. With the addition of 5 new states, the total count of states integrated in the scheme becomes 17, as of May 2020.