Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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:
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.

Notes:
The Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar recently launched integration of 117 additional wholesale mandis with the electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM) platform.
After the integration, the total number of online mandis became 962, across the country against the target of 1000 mandis before May 15. In the e-NAM platform, distant bidding facility for wholesale produce in APMC mandis without physical presence of buyer or trader and e-payment facility are provided.

Notes:
India’s first and only woman Paralympics silver medallist, Deepa Malik is set to take charge as the President of the Paralympic Committee of India.
She had earlier announced her retirement from active sports. She is the only woman para-athlete to have been given the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. She is also a recipient of the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. Deepa Malik won her silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Paralympics in shot put. She has won 58 national and 23 international medals.

Notes:
A team of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Stanford alumni have developed a technology named “Airlens Minus Corona”. It has received certification from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
It is an ‘intelligent robot’ machine that can travel to hospitals and other crowded public places and disinfect surfaces with a water-based technology. Unlike the alcohol-based or UV-based method, the technology works on the basis of ‘Water Electro Activation’ technique. Charged or ionised water droplets will kill the virus by destroying its proteins.

Notes:
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of Union Ministry of External Affairs. Its main objective is to build cultural relations with other countries.
Recently, ICCR released a song titled “United We Fight” featuring famous musicians like Usha Uthup and Joe Alvares, as a part of its efforts to instil hope among Indians in their fight against COvid-19. The song was written and composed by Joe Alvares and sung by several famous singers from across the country.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India recently unveiled a special economic package titled “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” to the tune of Rs. 20 lakh crore. It aims to stimulate the economic activities of the country, ahead of the 4th phase of the lockdown.
The stimulus package also includes Rs 1.7 lakh crore package of free food grains to poor and cash to poor women and elderly, that was announced in the month of March in the name of PM Karib Kalyan Yojana. It also includes the liquidity measures and interest cuts announced by RBI. The Prime Minister said the package will focus on land, labour, liquidity and laws.

Notes:
The state of Kerala has commenced training for primary schoolteachers via its KITE Victers channel. Minister of General Education and Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) addressed the inaugural classes.
More than 81,000 primary and upper primary teachers are expected to participate in this training exercise. Prior to this, the teachers were given training to use online and virtual facilities. Under this program, classes on social consciousness and social science will be held. Besides the channel, the programmes will be available on their website and KITE VICTERS mobile app.

Notes:
A patent was filed by the Defence Ministry in association with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) for the low cost personal protective equipment (PPE) developed by the Indian Navy.
The Defence Ministry has successfully patented PPEs, which would fast-track mass production of PPEs. The equipment developed by the Navy is made of a special fabric which provides high quality and high breathability, unlike other PPEs available in the market. A pilot batch of PPEs has already been produced at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai.

Notes:
In the second tranche of the economic stimulus package, the Finance Minister proposed that the Government will launch a scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-PMAY.
The scheme aims at providing ease of living at affordable rent for migrant labour/urban poor. It proposes to convert government funded housing in the cities into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) under PPP mode. The scheme will also incentivize industries and State Government Agencies and Central Government Organizations to develop ARHCs and operate them.