Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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:
The state government of Tamil Nadu has recently raised the retirement age of State Government employees to 59 from 58.
The Government order comes to force with immediate effect, as per the notification released. This order will also apply to all teachers in government and government-aided schools and colleges, and employees working in State public sector undertakings.

Notes:
French cybersecurity researcher and ethical hacker Robert Baptiste who writes in the pseudonym Elliot Alderson on Twitter, warned about the security issues in the Aarogya Setu application. He also explained how the application could be manipulated to retrieve data of people infected in a given area.
As per the recent announcement of the Indian government, more than 90 million people have downloaded the application. However, the team of Aarogya Setu assured that no data or security breach has been identified.

Notes:
‘Mukhyamantri Yuba Yogayog Yojana’ is a welfare scheme of the state of Tripura. It was seen in news as the state’s Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb launched an online portal scholarships.gov.in as a part of the scheme.
Under the scheme, the students who are in final year in colleges or Universities can apply through the portal and the state government will provide Rs. 5,000 as a grant for smart phone. More than 14000 students will be benefitted by this scheme.

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:
The World Thalassaemia Day is observed every year across the world on May 8. It is observed with an aim of creating awareness about a blood disorder called Thalassaemia.
Thalassaemia is a genetic blood disorder that affects the production of haemoglobin. Lesser red blood cells and low haemoglobin are the effects of this disorder. This year the theme is “The dawning of a new era for thalassaemia: Time for a global effort to make novel therapies accessible and affordable to patients”.

Notes:
Beijing headquartered Multilateral development bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank recently approved a $500 million loan to support India’s Covid-19 operations. The loan is co-financed by the World Bank.
AIIB also highlighted that building a resilient health system to effectively treat COVID-19 patients and preventing its spread is the immediate priority. Last month the bank doubled its initial COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility to 10 billion from 5 billion.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently inaugurated the strategically important Ghatiabagar-Lipulekh motor road.
The road connects the last Indian post on the Indo-China border in Uttarakhand’s Vyas valley. The construction of the road commenced in 2008 and was scheduled to be completed in 2013, but it was delayed due to the tough terrain. The Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra from Lipulekh pass is more convenient for pilgrims, after the road has been commissioned.

Notes:
The United Nations along with its partner agencies has launched a USD 6.7 billion global appeal to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UN also updated a global plan to fight the COVID-19 in fragile and more vulnerable countries. The plan includes nine more vulnerable countries including the Philippines, Togo and Zimbabwe, beyond the 54 countries covered in the original appeal-the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan.

Notes:
The Union Defence Ministry has signed a contract with Mumbai based power company Tata Power for infrastructure modernisation of 37 airfields.
The airfields of the Indian Air Force, Coast Guard and the Navy are to be modernised at a cost of around Rs 1,200 crore. This is the second phase of the Modernisation of Airfield Infrastructure (MAFI) programme while during the first phase the airfields of the Indian Air Force were upgraded. This project would facilitate the operations of aircrafts in poor weather conditions.