Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
Under the Rebate of State Levies (ROSL) Scheme, exporters can claim refunds from the Centre for all the levies and duties they pay at the State level. It was extended only to exporters of apparel and made-ups.
It was discontinued last year and replaced with the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies scheme (RoSCTL). Recently, ₹464.13 crore has been allocated for issue of duty credit scrips (certificates) by the DGFT to exporters who have pending claims under the ROSL scheme.

Notes:
The Think tank of the country NITI Aayog in coloration with Mumbai-based Piramal Foundation has launched a campaign ‘Surakshit Dada-Dadi & Nana-Nani Abhiyan’.
The campaign focusses on ensuring well-being of senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is expected to cover as many as 29 lakh senior citizens in 25 aspirational districts named by NITI Aayog. This project is currently piloted in seven states and will create awareness about the health and lifestyle of elder people.

Notes:
The European Union and its partners co-hosted the Coronavirus Global Response International Pledging Conference to raise funds to kick-start the global fight against Covid-19, especially to manufacture a vaccine.
The target set by the European Commission for the initial funding was €7.5 billion (8 billion USD). Several world leaders, individuals and organisations participated in the conference and pledged 8 billion USD together. Canada was the highest contributor with $850 million. U.S. did not attend the conference.

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:
Rabindranath Tagore, also called as the ‘Gurudev’ wrote the ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ song during the first partition of Bengal, announced by Lord Curzon in 1905. The song later led to the uprising of the freedom movement of the present Bangladesh and became their national anthem.
Tagore is the only known person who had composed national anthems for two countries, including Jana Gana Mana of India. The Sri Lankan national anthem was also inspired from Tagore’s work, as per some historians. His 159th birth anniversary was observed on May 7. National Gallery of Modern Art organised a virtual tour to commemorate the birth anniversary of Tagore.

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:
Amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT), Kochi prepared advisories for the benefit of the fishing fraternity in 10 different regional languages. ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Barrackpore prepared advisories for the stakeholders involved in freshwater fishing.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Rome has recommended these advisories by including them as ‘Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries’ under the Asia-Regional initiatives.

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 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.