Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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:
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:
The Union Budget 2020 proposed to reduce the stay period of an individual in India to 120 days, from the previous 182 days. But this reduction is only applicable to persons with less than Rs 15 lakh as Indian income during the Financial year.
Recently, Finance Ministry allowed a relief in determining the residential status during 2019-20, where a person came to India before 22nd March, 2020 and was unable to leave India on or before 31st March 2020, his period of stay in India from 22nd March to 31st March shall not be taken into account. Otherwise they shall have to file tax returns as Indian residents.

Notes:
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank recently launched the Central University of Odisha Helpline ‘Bharosa’, through a virtual platform in New Delhi.
The helpline has been launched with an aim of assisting the student community during the difficult time of COVID-19 pandemic. The Helpline Number 080 46 80 10 10, aims at redressing grievances and providing services to all the students of the University.

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:
Union Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ministry has launched CHAMPIONS portal www.champions.gov.in.
It is a control room-cum-management information system aimed at assisting Indian MSMEs and solving their grievances. The ‘CHAMPIONS’ stands for Creation and Harmonious Application of Modern Processes for Increasing the Output and National Strength. It uses advanced technology like AI, Machine Learning and integrated with the Centre’s CPGRAMS grievance portal.

Notes:
Former national table tennis champion of India, Manmeet Singh Walia has recently passed away in Canada, at the age of 58.
Manmeet was suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) disease that led to voluntary muscle impairment. The veteran player became the national champion in 1989 in Hyderabad. He had represented India at several international events after making his debut at the Asian Championships in 1980.

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 state government of Odisha has decided to bring three ordinances for strengthening the agriculture economy of the state.
The decision has been taken in a review meeting on controlling Covid-19 and restarting economic activities, chaired by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The state also announced that MGNREGA and Mission Shakti activities would be intensified. Odisha has started agricultural activities and sale of agricultural inputs.

Notes:
As per the recent analysis of World Economic Forum, the CO2 emissions of India have dropped for the first time in over 40 years.
WEF highlighted that the fall in emissions is due to the economic slowdown and growth in the renewable energy sector. Emissions dipped by around 1% in the fiscal year 2019-20. In the month of March, the emissions fell by 15% and it is expected to have fallen 30% in April 2020. As the pandemic has cut the electricity demand, coal consumption also flatlined.