Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The government has recently raised its gross market borrowing target for the current financial year to Rs 12 lakh crore.
As per the latest budget estimate, the target was Rs 7.8 lakh crore for the current fiscal year. The increase in the target accounts for more than 50% increase from the estimate. The decision has been taken at the backdrop of the Covid-19 outbreak that has crippled the economy. Lower tax collections and the fiscal stimulus required are the reasons for the increased borrowing.

Notes:
Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) was established under Ministry of Home Affairs in 1970, as a think-tank with the objective of modernization of police force.
Recently BPRD released a 40-page manual titled ‘Fake News and Disinformation: How to Spot and Investigate’ to help investigators and police officers to identify fake news aimed at spreading communal hatred among the people.

Notes:
May 11 is celebrated as National Technology Day in India every year, to mark the day on which India conducted its nuclear tests at Pokhran, Rajasthan in the year 1998.
India conducted its first nuclear test, codenamed “Smiling Buddha” in 1974. In 1998, under the code name Operation Shakti, the next nuclear mission was carried out. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam led the scientific team which carried out the nuclear weapon tests on May 11. At present, India is among eight countries in the world that own a nuclear weapons program.

Notes:
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resuming the training of sportspersons across several disciplines, after the lock-down would be lifted.
The Secretary of Sports Authority of India (SAI) Rohit Bharadwaj will head the panel. It will also include preventive measures to be observed by all stakeholders, including trainees, coaches and staff. The recommendations will be sent to the Sports Ministry for approval.

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 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:
According to the latest Transparency Report released by Facebook, government requests for user data increased by 9.5% during the second half of 2019. United States topped the list with 51,121 requests for user data. It is followed by India and UK.
The report also revealed that India topped the list for internet disruption affecting Facebook services during both the first and second half of 2019, accounting for 40 disruptions. Also, the number of user data requests from the Indian government to Facebook increased 28% during the second half of 2019.

Notes:
As per the recent report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), nearly 6 Crore Indian workers in the age group of 20-39 lost their jobs in April. It revealed that 12 crore jobs had been lost because of the lockdown.
As per the report, more than 2.7 crore young people in the age group 20-29 lost their jobs last month. Also, more than 3.3 crore people in the age group 30-39 lost their jobs. 11% of the young workers in the age group of 20-24 years, who accounted for 8.5% of total employed people in the country in 2019-20, lost their jobs.

Notes:
The United Nations recently released the World Economic Situation and Prospects report. As per the report, the global gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to shrink by 3.2 per cent in 2020.
The report also estimated that India would grow by 1.2 per cent by 2020 due to the effect of the national lock-down. UN had already projected a lower growth rate of 4.1 per cent for the year 2019. The organisation also projected that India would slowly regain its growth rate and reach 5.5 per cent in the year 2021.

Notes:
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) was set up under Environment Ministry to promote afforestation activities as a way of compensating for forest land diverted to non-forest uses.
In the economic stimulus package, it was proposed that plans worth Rs 6000 crores of CAMPA funds will be approved shortly. The funds will be used for afforestation and plantation works, forest protection and job opportunities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas and for Tribals /Adivasis.