Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), under Ministry of AYUSH organised a programme called AYURAKSHA, in collaboration with the Police Department of New Delhi.
The programme, which was titled AYURAKSHA “Corona Se Jung- Delhi Police Ke Sang”, was launched with an aim of fighting Covid-19 using Ayurveda immunity boosting measures, as per the advisory issued by the Ministry of AYUSH. Police officials with co morbid conditions like Diabetes, Stress, Hypertension will be identified by AIIA.

Notes:
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti along with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) organized an IDEAthon on ‘The future of River Management’.
The international webinar conducted with about 500 participants from different countries and international organizations, discussed about how the COVID-19 crisis can lead to the River Management strategies for the future.

Notes:
Indian Navy has launched Operation named ‘Samudra Setu’, which means Sea Bridge in English, with an objective of repatriating Indian citizens who are stranded in other countries.
As a part of Phase-1 under the operation, Indian Naval Ships Jalashwa and Magar have departed to Malè in Maldives for evacuation of Indian citizens. The list of persons who are to be evacuated is prepared by the Indian Mission in Maldives. About a thousand nationals are to be transported back to India following social distancing norms.

Notes:
The State government of Andhra Pradesh has launched a scheme called YSR Matsyakara Bharosa amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the scheme, the government will provide a financial assistance of ₹10,000 to each fisherman family. This would help the fishermen community during the lock-down period and during the marine ban period. The monetary relief of fishermen venturing into the sea has also been raised from ₹4,000 to ₹10,000 per head.

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:
The United Nations celebrates May 7 as the International Day of Vesak across the world, to commemorate the day of enlightenment of Lord Buddha.
In India, Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) held a Virtual Prayer Event to celebrate Buddha Poornima. Indian Prime Minister also delivered the keynote address. The virtual celebrations will be streamed live from various historic sites from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Notes:
The state government of Jharkhand has recently banned manufacture, sale and storage of 11 brands of pan masala for a year.
This step has been taken to curb the harmful chemical Magnesium carbonate, present in pan masala. The chemical is carcinogenic and harmful to the heart and banned for usage, as per the Food Safety Act, 2006 regulations. Earlier, Maharashtra and Bihar also had imposed a ban on pan masala.

Notes:
West Bengal supplies about 95 per cent of the jute bags used across the country, mainly in packaging of food-grains. As the lock-down has stopped the production of jute bags in the state, the Food Corporation of India faces a shortage of bags.
Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced that the government has allowed packaging of food-grains in used gunny sacks and plastic bags during the ongoing procurement season. A task force has been constituted by the Ministry to assess the shortage of jute bags for packaging amid the lock-down.

Notes:
Coir Board, a statutory body under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has recently signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, to establish a Centre of Excellence for Coir Applications.
As per the announcement of the MSME Ministry, Coir Board will provide a financial assistance of five crore rupees for two years for the establishment and running of the Centre of Excellence. The Centre will take up and develop the Research and Development work done in the coir sector.

Notes:
China recently won the inaugural $180,000 FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup, whereas India settled in the fifth place.
On the basis of highest points in the round-robin stage, China was declared the winner as it drew 2-2 against USA, which bagged the second position. China won 48,000, USA 36,000 and others received $24,000 each. Representing India, Humpy won Olga Girya and P. Harikrishna drew with Sergey Karjakin.