Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

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:
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:
The former executive of Walt Disney, who led the successful launch of the Disney streaming service, Kevin Mayer is set to become the chief executive officer of TikTok, the popular micro video sharing platform.
TikTok platform is owned by China-based ByteDance Technology. The appointment of Kevin Mayer will be made effective from June 1. He will also serve in the ByteDance as the Chief Operating Officer. Disney named a company veteran Rebecca Campbell to replace Mayer as head of the division led by him.

Notes:
The Cabinet of Nepal has recently approved their new political map including Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali announced that the official map of Nepal will be released by the Ministry of Land Management soon. The announcement has been made amid a border dispute between India and Nepal. Both the countries claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory.

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 study by the Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in the US, more than 50 million people in India do not have access to effective handwashing.
This might place them at a higher risk of acquiring and transmitting the novel coronavirus. The study also highlighted that over 2 billion people in low and middle-income countries are without access to soap and clean water. More than 50 per cent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania also lacked access to effective handwashing.

Notes:
Apple and Google have made the application programming interface (API), developed for contact tracing available to the general public.
The APIs will be made available through publicly available software updates and only public health authorities could use the APIs to build contact tracing apps. As per their announcement, as many as 22 countries have requested and received access to the API so far. They also promised that the API would be destroyed once the pandemic is over and when contact-tracing apps are no longer required.

Notes:
The United States recently announced that the country will withdraw from the major global treaty named Open Skies treaty. The 35-nation treaty allows unarmed surveillance flights over the territories of member countries.
US administration also highlighted that Russia has repeatedly violated the terms of the pact. It is expected that the US will pull out formally in six months, based on the withdrawal terms of the treaty. NATO allies and other countries have asked the US to remain in the treaty.

Notes:
China is the largest manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) body coveralls, that is considered as a crucial equipment to safeguard against the prevalent COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the announcement of the Ministry of Textiles, India has become the world’s second largest manufacturer of PPE body coveralls within a short time-span of two months. The ministry also said that it ensures that only certified manufacturers are allowed to supply PPEs to governments.

Notes:
The United Nations celebrates the International Day for Biological Diversity annually on May 22, across the world, to highlight the importance of biodiversity issues.
This year the theme of the day is “Our solutions are in nature”. The theme covers 3 topics during the week, which includes 18 May to cover the importance of knowledge and science; 19-21 May to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity; and May 22, the day of the observance, to issue a call to action.