Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
In the second tranche of the economic stimulus package, the Finance Minister proposed that the Government will launch a scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-PMAY.
The scheme aims at providing ease of living at affordable rent for migrant labour/urban poor. It proposes to convert government funded housing in the cities into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) under PPP mode. The scheme will also incentivize industries and State Government Agencies and Central Government Organizations to develop ARHCs and operate them.

Notes:
Ministry of Human and Resource Development has developed an e-Governance platform, SAMARTH- Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP).
The platform has been developed under National Mission of Education in Information and Communication Technology Scheme (NMEICT). SAMARTH is an open source automation engine for Universities and Higher Educational Institutions. It has been launched at National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, to automate the processes of the Institute.

Notes:
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare recently released the 3rd Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2019-20.
As per the estimates, the total food-grain production in the country is estimated at record 295.67 million tonnes in the 2019-20 crop year. This projected production is higher by 10.46 million tonnes from previous year. The total production of Rice and Wheat during 2019-20 is estimated at around 118 million tonnes and 107 million tonnes respectively.

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:
As a part of the economic stimulus package, the Union Finance Minister launched an initiative called ‘Manodarpan’, which aims to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families, at the backdrop of the global pandemic, the time when students, teachers and their families need support for their mental well-being.
The initiative is proposed to be launched through a website, a toll-free helpline through a national directory of counsellors. In another step, top 100 universities are allowed to start online courses and online component in conventional Universities and programmes will also be raised from present 20% to 40%.

Notes:
The Union Finance Minister recently announced to raise the minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceeding to Rs 1 crore from the present limit Rs 1 lakh to benefit MSMEs.
This move will give relief to the companies that default on loans due to the Covid-19 stress. It was also announced that no fresh insolvency will be initiated for one year under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the Covid-19 related debt will be excluded from the definition of default. She also proposed decriminalisation of the Companies Act for violations involving minor technical and procedural defaults.

Notes:
According to a recent study published in the journal MycoKeys, the researchers found an image of a millipede in Twitter and noticed some tiny dots near the creature’s head.
It has never been seen on the American millipedes and the newly discovered parasitic fungus has now been officially named as Troglomyces twitteri in Latin. The team discovered several specimens of the same fungus on some American millipedes found in the Natural History Museum.

Notes:
Bundesliga, the professional football league in Germany is the first tournament to resume after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The German Football Association (DFL) has planned to complete the season by June 30. The German government approved the league to conduct the matches. On March 13, the Bundesliga was suspended owing to the pandemic. Now, all games will be held behind closed doors as there is a ban in Germany for mass gatherings. Bundesliga is known for the world’s highest average audience in the stadium.

Notes:
The super-cyclone that has recently developed in the Bay of Bengal named ‘Amphan’, is claimed to be only the second super-cyclone faced by India in several decades.
According to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), as the cyclone developed into a severe cyclonic storm, massive evacuation of 1.1 million people, who are likely to be hit by the cyclone, would be carried out. Heavy rain and high-velocity winds are expected across coastal Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.