Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently proposed Rs 50,000 crore of liquidity by reducing the TDS and TCS rates for certain payments including interest, dividend, rent payments and other payments by non-individuals.
The rates of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) for non-salaried payments made to residents and rates of Tax Collection at Source (TCS) for receipts will be reduced by 25 per cent of the existing rates. This reduction in rates will be effective from 14.05.2020 to 31.03.2021.

Notes:
The World Economic Forum has recently released the global ‘Energy Transition Index’. The index ranks 115 economies on the current performance of their energy systems and their readiness for transition to secure and sustainable energy systems.
India has moved up two positions to rank 74th from previous year, and has improved on all key parameters. Sweden has topped the Energy Transition Index (ETI) for the third consecutive year. Switzerland and Finland were ranked in the next two positions.

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 Social-media giant Facebook has recently acquired the popular GIF-making and sharing website GIPHY. Facebook is also planning to integrate its GIF library Instagram, its photo-sharing app.
GIPHY, one of the most popular GIF-making and sharing sites on the internet, allows users to create, share and remix GIFs. Several platforms including Apple, Twitter, Pinterest and Reddit use Giphy’s API for providing GIFs.

Notes:
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online dashboard on the existing NDMA-GIS portal named ‘National Migrant Information System (NMIS)’.
The objective of launching this portal is to capture the information about movement of migrants and to enable them to transit across the states in a better manner. As per the communication from the Home Ministry, the portal equipped with a central repository will help in faster communication between the states.

Notes:
In the recent economic stimulus package, the Finance Minister announced that the government is taking steps to make India a global Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub of aircraft.
As the aircraft component repairs and airframe maintenance is set to increase from Rs 800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore in three years, India can make use of the opportunity. Major engine manufacturers in the world are expected to set up engine repair facilities in India in future. The Minister also announced auctioning of six more airports on public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

Notes:
The parliament of Israel recently sworn in its new government led by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz.
Israel was functioning without a stable government for over 500 days and held three inconclusive elections. The law-makers of the country have approved the coalition of Netanyahu-Gantz. Benny Gantz was a former rival of Netanyahu. This step is expected to end the longest political crisis in the country’s history.

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.

Notes:
The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced the results of garbage-free star rating for the cities.
The top ‘five-star garbage-free’ tag was given to six cities including Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur, Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, Gujarat’s Rajkot and Surat, Karnataka’s Mysore and Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai. As many as 141 cities were rated based on their garbage management. 65 cities were given three-star while 70 were given one-star.