Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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:
When a polymer plant in Vishakhapatnam resumed its operations after lock down, there was a leakage of styrene gas, that has killed about 11 people. Thousands of people were evacuated from around the plant and many of them were hospitalised.
The styrene gas is a poisonous, inflammable gas used in plastic engineering industry, which caused nausea and dizziness. As per the experts, the gas could have triggered a series of explosions from the LG Polymers plant, which manufactures polystyrene.

Notes:
Recently, the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) designed and produced by the Indian Navy has been certified for mass production and clinical usage.
The PPE has been developed by the team of Innovation Cell, Institute of Naval Medicine, Mumbai and the Naval Dockyard Mumbai. INMAS (Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences) Delhi, an authorised DRDO organization has tested and certified the PPE. The benchmarks of testing are set by the ICMR and the Health Ministry.

Notes:
Recently, about 2 Crore Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings walked into the sea from Odisha’s coast. The turtles settle at the Gahirmatha and Rushikulya rookery in the state and lay eggs every year.
Several lakhs of turtles lay eggs on the coast, in a phenomenon called Arribada. These hatchlings will grow up and said to return to the same place for laying their eggs. The turtles get their name from the colour of its olive-green shell. As per the World Wildlife Fund, they are the most abundant of all sea turtles but they are vulnerable because they nest in only a few places.

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:
The national public health institute of the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has committed $3.6 million to assist India’s response to the COVID19 pandemic.
This initial tranche of funding will help India to strengthen and support the efforts of India to increase laboratory capacity for SARS-COV-2 testing. The CDC India program will also provide technical assistance for India’s response for the ongoing crisis emergency.

Notes:
India’s first aerospace firm and a laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) has developed a portable non-invasive ventilator, ‘SwasthVayu’.
SwasthVayu is a microcontroller-based control system, that has a potential use to treat moderate or mid-stage patients. It can be used in wards, Make shift Hospitals, dispensaries and homes. The ventilator has been developed by NAL in record 36 days.

Notes:
The Union Finance Minister announced the details of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Yojana package launched by the Prime Minister.
One of the features was the global tenders being disallowed in government procurement up to Rs 200 crore. This would reduce unfair foreign competition for MSMEs and support the ‘Make in India’ initiative. She also announced Rs 3 lakh crore Emergency Working Capital Facility for Businesses, including MSMEs.

Notes:
The Union Minister announced ₹90,000 crore one-time liquidity injection for fund-starved DISCOMs. This will be used to pay the central public sector power generation companies, transmission companies, independent power producers and renewable energy generators.
PSUs Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) will infuse the liquidity by raising an amount of about ₹90,000 crore from the market against the receivables of DISCOMs. The state governments are expected to provide a guarantee for the fund.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently proposed Rs 50,000 crore of liquidity by reducing the TDS and TCS rates for certain payments including interest, dividend, rent payments and other payments by non-individuals.
The rates of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) for non-salaried payments made to residents and rates of Tax Collection at Source (TCS) for receipts will be reduced by 25 per cent of the existing rates. This reduction in rates will be effective from 14.05.2020 to 31.03.2021.