Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
‘Internet Saathi’ is an initiative of the Technology giant Google in India, along with the Tata Trusts, launched with an objective to improve digital literacy among rural women of the country.
Recently, Google announced in a statement that the company is assisting the female Internet trainers or Saathis to share official health advice in their villages. Moreover, Google has also enabled the local governments to share the location of food centres, shelters and test centres in Google Maps.

Notes:
The European Union and its partners co-hosted the Coronavirus Global Response International Pledging Conference to raise funds to kick-start the global fight against Covid-19, especially to manufacture a vaccine.
The target set by the European Commission for the initial funding was €7.5 billion (8 billion USD). Several world leaders, individuals and organisations participated in the conference and pledged 8 billion USD together. Canada was the highest contributor with $850 million. U.S. did not attend the conference.

Notes:
In a recent move, the Centre hiked the duties on petrol and diesel steeply and raised it to Rs 10 and Rs 13 per litre, respectively. It was also announced that there will be no change in the retail prices as the hike will be absorbed by the Oil Marketing companies.
Among the total hike, the Road and infrastructure cess will go the revenue of the Centre only whereas the special additional excise duty will be passed on to all states through devolution at 42%. This decision has been taken at the backdrop of falling crude oil prices in the global market and lower demand during the lock-down.

Notes:
According to the ‘Digital in India’ report recently released by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), there were more Internet users in rural areas when compared to those in urban areas for the first time.
As of last November, out of the total 504 million active internet users, there were 227 million active internet users in rural areas while there were 205 million in urban areas. But the time spent on internet is higher among the urban people. The report also highlighted that there was an increase of 21% in female internet users, higher than that of male users (9%).

Notes:
NITI Aayog and the Department of Biotechnology have launched the Consortium for Affordable & Rapid Diagnostics (CARD) project.
The project aims to scale up India’s capacity to make coronavirus testing kits. The primary goal is to manufacture at least 10 million rapid antibody tests for Covid-19 by July. It also aims to expand RT-PCR test kits in India. The announcement has come after quality issues faced with Chinese-made antibody testing kits.

Notes:
The richest online chess tournament in history held so far was recently organised by the World Chess champion Magnus Carlsen after live tournaments could not be held amidst the Covid-19 crisis.
Named the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, the 16-day contest comprised of a total prize fund of 250,000. Magnus Carlsen won the final match and bagged the winner prize of 70,000 after defeating his American counterpart Hikaru Nakamura 2.5:1.5. Live feeds were offered during the matches with live commentary from chess grandmasters.

Notes:
Amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT), Kochi prepared advisories for the benefit of the fishing fraternity in 10 different regional languages. ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Barrackpore prepared advisories for the stakeholders involved in freshwater fishing.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Rome has recommended these advisories by including them as ‘Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries’ under the Asia-Regional initiatives.

Notes:
According to the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), using the high-quality imaging of a galaxy called PKS 2014-55, sent by the South African satellite MeerKAT, the ‘X’ galaxies were found to be of a ‘double boomerang’ shape.
The galaxy that is located 800 million light years from Earth, is classified as ‘X-shaped’ because of its appearance from previous blurry images. The study also showed that these structures ultimately turn black due to the pressure of tenuous intergalactic gas.

Notes:
Pune-based National Institute of Virology under the Indian Council of Medical Research has successfully developed the first indigenous antibody detection kit for Covid-19 named ‘Covid Kavach Elisa’.
Technically, it is an anti-SARS-CoV-2 human IgG ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test kit for detecting coronavirus. As per the Union Health Ministry, the kit can test up to 90 samples together in 2.5 hours. This is expected to ramp up the testing speed in the country.

Notes:
May 11 is celebrated as National Technology Day in India every year, to mark the day on which India conducted its nuclear tests at Pokhran, Rajasthan in the year 1998.
India conducted its first nuclear test, codenamed “Smiling Buddha” in 1974. In 1998, under the code name Operation Shakti, the next nuclear mission was carried out. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam led the scientific team which carried out the nuclear weapon tests on May 11. At present, India is among eight countries in the world that own a nuclear weapons program.