Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been reappointed for another year as the chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee along with the existing 30 members.
The committee was first formulated as a result of Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms in the year 1921. After 1950, the committee became a parliamentary committee which functioned under the control of the Lok Sabha Speaker along with a non-official chairperson. Since 1967, the chairperson of the committee is selected from the opposition party.

Notes:
The evacuation exercise of India, considered to be one of the largest, has been named the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, will engage about 64 flights to bring home Indian nationals stranded abroad.
Several countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, UK, Singapore and the US will be covered. In the first week of repatriation, the Gulf countries will be focussed. The highest number of flights to bring back people, were allotted for the states of Kerala (15), Tamil Nadu (11) and Delhi (11).

Notes:
The National Anti-Doping Agency, a national organisation under the Ministry of Sports announced that it would conduct its disciplinary hearings online. It is responsible for promoting and monitoring the doping control programs in all forms of sports in India.
Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) and Anti-Doping Appeals Panel (ADAP) will start hearing cases online, due to the lockdown imposed. NADA will also launch an application to create awareness about anti-doping.

Notes:
International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an intergovernmental organization that provides services and advice regarding migration to governments and migrants. It is headquartered at Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland.
Recently, the Director-General of the UN migration agency Antonio Vitorino said in a notification that thousands of migrants have been stranded all over the world and they face an increased risk of COVID-19 infection. The agency also advised the governments to allow health care and screening available to all migrants.

Notes:
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR through its flagship New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) programme has approved a project towards development of human monoclonal antibodies (hmAbs).
The antibodies can neutralize the mutated virus SARS-CoV-2 and could be used for fighting future SARS-CoV infections. The team that is going to develop the therapeutic antibodies comprises of academic institutes and industries.

Notes:
The World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated on May 9 every year, across the world. The theme of the World Migratory Bird Day 2020 is ‘Birds Connect Our World’.
The day is celebrated to raise awareness about conservation and ecological importance of migratory birds in the global ecosystem. The day was first introduced in the year 2006 and since then several awareness events and bird watching events for bird enthusiasts will be conducted on the day.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based at Hyderabad, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), has developed an automated sanitisation cabinet, called Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitiser (DRUVS).
The sanitiser uses the UV-C type of light to sanitise currency notes, electronic gadgets and paper. The significant feature of the sanitiser is its contactless operation, which will help in containing the spread of infection.

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.

Notes:
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), a statutory organization under the Ministry of MSME is the implementing agency of ‘Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).
After the Prime Minister announced to support the local products, KVIC announced a set of guidelines to fast-track the implementation of projects under the flagship program PMEGP. The concerned agencies will have to scrutinize the applications and forward it to banks within 26 days. It was also instructed to bring down the time frame to 15 days.

Notes:
Ministry of Human and Resource Development has developed an e-Governance platform, SAMARTH- Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP).
The platform has been developed under National Mission of Education in Information and Communication Technology Scheme (NMEICT). SAMARTH is an open source automation engine for Universities and Higher Educational Institutions. It has been launched at National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, to automate the processes of the Institute.