Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in India from November 2-21 in 2020 and was subsequently postponed due to the pandemic.
Recently, FIFA announced that the World Cup tournament has been rescheduled to February 17-March 7, 2021. It was originally planned to be held across five host cities of India namely – Navi Mumbai, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. The original eligibility criteria of the players will be followed.

Notes:
The video-conference of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was recently held in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar represented India.
SCO has eight member states including namely India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The SCO summit which was scheduled to be held in the month of July, 2020 at the Russian city St. Petersburg is expected to be held as per the schedule.

Notes:
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialised agency of the United States has recently released a report titled ‘Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA 2020)’. The report examines the status of 236 countries in the period 1990-2020.
The report highlighted that the forest area has declined all across the world in the past three decades. The rate of forest loss in 2015-2020 declined to an estimated 10 million hectares, down from 12 million hectares in 2010-2015. The report also revealed that the world lost 178 mha of forest since 1990, which is the size of Libya.

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:
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) signed a USD 145 million agreement with the Government of India and West Bengal Government for a project.
The project aims to improve the irrigation services and flood management in the Damodar Valley Command Area in West Bengal. The total value of the project is over 413 million dollars and will benefit about 27 lakh farmers from five districts of the state.

Notes:
International Day of Families celebrated by the United Nations on May 15, every year across the world. This year, it is celebrated with a theme of ‘Families in Development: Copenhagen & Beijing + 25’.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Copenhagen Declaration and Beijing Platform for Action. The day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in the year 1993, to highlight the importance attached with families by the international community.

Notes:
Bundesliga, the professional football league in Germany is the first tournament to resume after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The German Football Association (DFL) has planned to complete the season by June 30. The German government approved the league to conduct the matches. On March 13, the Bundesliga was suspended owing to the pandemic. Now, all games will be held behind closed doors as there is a ban in Germany for mass gatherings. Bundesliga is known for the world’s highest average audience in the stadium.

Notes:
International Museum Day is celebrated every year across the world on May 18, for the last 40 years. This year the theme of the International Museum Day is ‘Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion’.
The objective of celebration of this day is to raise awareness about the importance of Museums in cultural exchange and mutual cooperation and peace among people. Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces of the Culture Ministry hosted a webinar on ‘Revitalising Museums and Cultural Spaces’ on the International Museum Day.

Notes:
The Cabinet of Nepal has recently approved their new political map including Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali announced that the official map of Nepal will be released by the Ministry of Land Management soon. The announcement has been made amid a border dispute between India and Nepal. Both the countries claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory.