Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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:
The Commander-in-Chief A&N Command recently commissioned INLCU L57 into the Indian Navy at Port Blair. INLCU L57 is the seventh Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK-IV class to be inducted into the Indian Navy.
The ship has been indigenously designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. The amphibious vessels are based at the Andaman and Nicobar Command and is to be deployed for transporting and deploying tanks and equipment, search and rescue, disaster relief operations.

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:
In the economic stimulus package announced, the Finance Minister said that the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana will be launched for development of marine and inland fisheries.
The scheme was originally proposed during the Union Budget 2020. But the guidelines were announced during the stimulus package. The total outlay of the PMMSY will be Rs. 20000 Crore, out of which Rs 11,000 Cr will be earmarked for activities in Marine, Inland fisheries and Aquaculture and Rs. 9000 Cr for Infrastructure of Fishing Harbours, Cold chain, Markets etc.

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, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrates the International Day of Light (IDL) on 16 May, to raise awareness on the role of light-based technologies.
The day marks the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer, Theodore Maiman. The UN observed International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies in 2015. After the success, it was proposed to celebrate a specific day and the first IDL was held on May 16, 2018.

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:
In its effort to boost the economy and provide work to migrants returning from other states to home villages, the Central government allocated an additional Rs 40,000 crore to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for 2020-21.
In the Union Budget 2020-21, the total allocation made for MGNREGS was Rs 61500 Crore. Hence with this additional fund, the total allocation of this scheme for the present year becomes Rs 1.015 trillion. Out of the total fund, Rs 11,500 crore has to be spent on clearing pending dues from the previous year.

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 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.