Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The Task Force on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) submitted its Final Report for FY 2019-25 to the Union Finance Minister. The summary report was released in December last year.
The National Infrastructure Pipeline was announced during the 2019-20 budget. The exercise aims to invest Rs. 100 lakh crore on infrastructure of the country over the next five years. The Final Report of NIP Task Force projects total infrastructure investment of Rs 111 lakh crore during the period FY 2020-25.

Notes:
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched ‘Jagananna Vidya Deevena’ scheme, which provides fee reimbursement to as many as 14 lakh college students in the State.
The reimbursement amount would be credited directly into the accounts of the mothers of the students in four instalments, from this academic year. The state has released about ₹4,000 crore for the scheme and ₹1,880 crore towards the pending dues. Parents are asked to claim refunds if they had paid fees for 2019-20.

Notes:
The present Additional Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office and 1988 batch IAS officer, Tarun Bajaj recently assumed charge as the next Economic Affairs Secretary.
He is replacing Atanu Chakraborty who superannuated on April 30. Before having appointed in the Prime Minister’s Office, he served as the Joint Secretary in Economic Affairs Department, in charge of multilateral funding agencies division. He had also served as the Director in Department of Financial Services.

Notes:
Veteran author and historian Ronald Vivian Smith also known as RV Smith passed away recently in Delhi, at the age of 82.
RV Smith was known for chronicling Delhi, including its streets and monuments and authored books including ‘Delhi That No One Knows’ and ‘Capital Vignettes’. He has also worked for the Press Trust of India and The Statesman, Delhi. He won various awards in the field of journalism.

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:
During the era of industrialisation, the labourers of the United States revolted together against the unjust labour system and the exploitative industrialists. They demanded for fair wages, breaks between the work and paid leaves. The revolt on May 1 1886 led to the celebration of May Day.
May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day is celebrated across the world on May 1. In India, the first May Day was celebrated on May 1, 1923, by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan in Chennai.

Notes:
The Think tank of the country NITI Aayog in coloration with Mumbai-based Piramal Foundation has launched a campaign ‘Surakshit Dada-Dadi & Nana-Nani Abhiyan’.
The campaign focusses on ensuring well-being of senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is expected to cover as many as 29 lakh senior citizens in 25 aspirational districts named by NITI Aayog. This project is currently piloted in seven states and will create awareness about the health and lifestyle of elder people.

Notes:
The state government of Uttar Pradesh has recently launched a mobile application called ‘Ayush Kavach-Covid’, which has been developed the Ministry of AYUSH.
The application was launched with an aim of providing health remedies and measures to boost immunity in the process of fighting Covid-19. The app provides a lot of information authorised by the AYUSH Ministry about the medicinal properties of certain ingredients. It also enables the users to seek advice from experts in the AYUSH field.

Notes:
As per the recent notification of the Reserve Bank of India, the government has appointed Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj as a Director on the central board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with effect from May 5 until further orders.
Tarun Bajaj is set to replace the position held by Atanu Chakraborty, who superannuated on April 30. Tarun Bajaj is a 1988 batch IAS officer and has held several crucial positions including Additional Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office and Director in the Department of Financial Services.

Notes:
The new Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi assumed office after the country’s parliament approved a new government. The parliament also approved 15 ministers in a vote of confidence and seven ministries including Foreign affairs and Oil were left empty.
There has been political crisis for more than six months in the country. The two previous nominees for the role of prime minister, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi and Adnan al-Zurfi failed to secure the required support from cabinet ministers.