Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The National Real Estate Development Council was established in 1998 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It is a major association of real estate developers.
Recently, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has appointed Rajesh Goel as Director General (DG) of the association. Prior to this appointment, Rajesh Goel superannuated as the CMD of Hindustan Prefab Ltd.

Notes:
Every year, May 16 is being observed by the Union Health Ministry as ‘National Dengue Day’ across the country.
Dengue is a viral disease, which is transmitted by the infective bite of a specific mosquito called as Aedes Aegypti. It is commonly spread during rainy season and it is highly contagious through mosquito bites. The Ministry recently released a list of measures to be followed in order to prevent the disease.

Notes:
As a part of the economic stimulus package, the Centre has increased the borrowing limit of states to 5% of Gross state domestic product (GSDP) in 2020-21.
The present limit of the state’s borrowing is 3% of their corresponding GSDP. This move is expected to make an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore available to the states. But, the additional borrowing beyond the 3.5% of GDSP limit shall be linked to specific reforms carried out by the states, including ‘One Nation, One Ration card,’ ease of doing business and power distribution etc.

Notes:
The World Hypertension Day observed on May 17 across the world every year. This year the World Hypertension League (WHL) has postponed the celebration of World Hypertension Day (WHD) 2020 to October 17, 2020, due to global COVID-19 pandemic.
The theme for World Hypertension Day is “Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control It, Live Longer”. Hypertension, also called as elevated blood pressure, is a serious medical condition that increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and blindness.

Notes:
The International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket committee headed by Anil Kumble has recommended the ban of saliva to shine the ball, amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Anil Kumble is the present Chairman of the ICC Cricket committee. After discussion through video-conferencing and consulting with the ICC Medical Advisory Committee, the committee has recommended this ban. It also announced that usage of sweat to polish the ball was not prohibited and the hygiene measures in the field need to be improved.

Notes:
Global Technology major Facebook has ventured into the e-commerce sector by launching a new feature called ‘Shops’.
This new feature enables small businesses to set up their stores on Facebook and Instagram for free. It will be facilitated by third-party eCommerce services such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and Woo. This initiative is expected to assist small businesses amid the ongoing economic crisis.

Notes:
The government has recently appointed Govinda Rajulu Chintala as Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
The appointments committee of the union cabinet cleared the appointment for Chintala, for the next two years till his superannuation in July 2022. The committee has also cleared the appointment of Shaji KV as the Deputy Managing Director at NABARD for five years.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement by the National Health Authority (NHA), the number of people who have benefitted under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme has crossed the one crore-mark.
The flagship health insurance programme named Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) was launched on September 23, 2018 in Ranchi. The scheme which is implemented by NHA, aims to provide Rs 5 lakh secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation cover to up to 10 Crore poor and vulnerable families.

Notes:
The Finance Ministry recently announced that those companies with a turnover of over ₹50 crore and involved in only B2B (business to business) transactions are exempted from the mandatory requirement of accepting payments only by electronic modes like RuPay cards, BHIM-UPI or UPI-QR.
Section 269SU was inserted in the Finance Act, 2019 to encourage digital transactions in the country, which mandated the businesses with sales/turn over above Rs 50 Crore to accept only e-payments. Since these e-payment has a maximum limit and the B2B businesses receive maximum payments through RTGS or NEFT, the exemption is cancelled.

Notes:
The World Bank has recently named economic expert Carmen Reinhart as its new vice president and chief economist.
Carmen, who works as a professor at Harvard University, is also an adviser and contributor to the World Bank debt transparency discussions. She is a member of the IMF external advisory group working on policy challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact. She has published a book titled “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly” together with economist Kenneth Rogoff.