Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
Veteran Indian scholar and historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan passed away recently after contracting Covid-19. He had tested positive for novel coronavirus on May 6.
Professor Hari Vasudevan was working as a UGC Emeritus Professor in the Department of History and China Centre of Calcutta University after his superannuation. He was an important personality in the field of Russian and Central Asian history. He also served as the Director of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, institution under Ministry of Culture Govt of India.

Notes:
According to the data released by the Registrar General of India in its Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin based on data collected for 2018, the infant mortality rate was found to be 32 per thousand of the population. The national birth rate and death rate stood at 20 and 6.2 respectively.
Madhya Pradesh has worst infant mortality rate in the country with 48 per thousand while Nagaland has the best IMR (4). Bihar continues to top the birth rate list with Andaman and Nicobar Islands at the bottom. Chhattisgarh has the highest death rate, while Delhi has the lowest.

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:
Every year the International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12. It is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. 2020 also marks the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. World Health Organization (WHO) has declared 2020 as the ‘Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’.
This year, the theme of the International Nurses Day is “Nursing the World to Health”. As per the WHO, Nurses account for more than half of health workers and still 5.9 million more nurses are needed across the world.

Notes:
Betty Wright, the Grammy winner recently passed away in her hometown Miami, Florida, as per her family sources.
The singer’s real name was Bessie Regina Norris and she was born in 1953. She started her singing career in a musical group called the ‘Echoes of Joy’. The biggest hit of her career was the album named “Clean Up Woman”, which was released when she was eighteen. She won her first Grammy Award for her song, “Where is the Love?”, at the age of 23. She continued her song writing and music production for several years.

Notes:
The social security scheme of Government of India ‘Atal Pension Yojana’ (APY) has completed five years of successful implementation. The scheme has witnessed 2.23 Crore enrolments since its launch.
It was launched in the year 2015 by the Indian Prime Minister to deliver a minimum guaranteed pension to workers in unorganised sector. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) administers the scheme.

Notes:
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index published by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), MoSPI every month. It shows the growth rate of industry groups in the economy such as manufacturing and electricity.
Recently, the IIP of March recorded a sharp decline of 16.7 per cent to 120.1 in the month of March. The data also showed that the industrial growth during the fiscal year 2019-20 slipped 0.7 per cent, against the 3.8 per cent rise in 2018-19.

Notes:
New Development Bank (NDB) was established by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries in 2014. Its headquarters is Shangai and is headed by veteran Indian K V Kamath.
BRICS’ New Development Bank was seen in news recently, as it has provided $1 billion loan to India to fight COVID-19. The complete emergency funds have been disbursed by the development institution, to help India in containing the human and economic losses due to Covid-19.

Notes:
A 1991 batch Karnataka cadre officer Ms. Vidyavathi has been recently appointed as the new Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
According to the order of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, the bureaucrat will be serving in the rank of Additional Secretary to the Government of India. Usha Sharma was the previous DG of ASI, that is headquartered at New Delhi.

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.