Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city corporation of Bengaluru has launched ‘Pranavayu programme’ to create awareness about self-examination of respiratory health for the city-dwellers.
The programme aims at educating people with low oxygen level in their blood to check themselves at an early stage. Under the programme, several advertisements are published in media about self-examination.

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:
As per the Lancet report titled ‘India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative’, 68% of the under-five deaths in India are caused due to child and maternal malnutrition.
The report has the first comprehensive estimates of district-level trends of child mortality in India since 2000. It also highlighted that 83% of the neonatal deaths were due to low birth weight and short gestation. Though the child mortality has improved across the country from 2000 to 2017, inequalities among the districts have also raised.

Notes:
The national public health institute of the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has committed $3.6 million to assist India’s response to the COVID19 pandemic.
This initial tranche of funding will help India to strengthen and support the efforts of India to increase laboratory capacity for SARS-COV-2 testing. The CDC India program will also provide technical assistance for India’s response for the ongoing crisis emergency.

Notes:
Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan recently dedicated the first testing machine that has been procured by the Government called COBAS 6800. It has been installed in the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). It is an institute under the Indian Directorate General of Health Services, Health Ministry.
COBAS 6800 is a fully automated, high end machine which performs real time PCR testing for COVID-19. It will also provide high-quality testing and can perform around 1200 samples in 24 hours. This is expected to increase the testing capacity in the country.

Notes:
World Bank has recently approved USD 1 billion ‘Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program’.
The program aims to support India in fighting Covid-19 and providing assistance to the poor and vulnerable people of the country who are affected by the pandemic. Last month, the World Bank had announced a USD 1 billion support for India and hence this step raises its total commitment for India to USD 2 billion, as of now.

Notes:
The Bahraich forest division of Uttar Pradesh released about forty gharials in the Ghaghara river, a major left bank tributary of the Ganges.
The scientific name of Gharials is Gavialis gangeticus and are commonly called as fish-eating crocodiles. The Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) India supports the exercise of collecting the eggs, hatching at the Kukrail centre and releasing them in the river. Gharials are critically endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Species.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Sikkim appealed to the Indian Parliament for making Sikkim a state of India, in the year 1975. A referendum was held in Sikkim and 97.5 per cent of the people voted to abolish the monarchy. Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, on 16 May 1975.
The 36th amendment of the Indian constitution made Sikkim as a full state of India and added its name in the to the First Schedule of the Constitution. Every year, the state celebrates May 16 as Sikkim statehood day.

Notes:
One among the stimulus measures announced by the Finance Minister was promoting the defence Production under its ‘Make in India’ initiative, as the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit was raised from 49% to 74% under the automatic route.
The Minister also announced that the government will notify a list of weapons and platforms that will not be imported and will only be purchased from domestic industries. Every year, this list will be expanded in consultation with the armed forces. It was also proposed to corporatize the Ordnance Factory Board.

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.