Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The First Observance of the International Tea Day under the theme ‘Harnessing benefits for all from field to cup’ was held on 21 May 2020. The Day brings together the countries where tea cultivation is an important source of jobs and incomes.
Last year, the United Nations General Assembly has designated May 21 as International Tea Day on the basis of the proposal moved by India at the FAO Intergovernmental Group (IGG). The first International Tea Day was celebrated virtually and was attended by FAO head, QU Dongyu

Notes:
Union Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar has recently launched National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) -UNDP India’s Biodiversity Samrakshan Internship Programme. It is a one-year internship program for post-graduate students interested in bio-diversity.
He has launched this scheme during the virtual celebration of International Day for Biological Diversity. He also launched several important documents including ‘Awareness campaign material on air, pollination and securing our future’, ‘UNEP Endangered Species Campaign’, ‘Brochure of Webinar Series on Biodiversity Conservation’ and a ‘Model Conference of Parties’.

Notes:
The Union Government publishes the annual Status Paper on Government Debt, that provides a detailed account of the overall debt position of the country.
As per the 9th edition of the paper recently released, Central Government Debt stood at 45.7 per cent of GDP at 2018-19 yearend. It is a marginal decline against the previous year debt of 45.8 per cent. 94.1 per cent of total Central Government debt was domestic debt and Sovereign external debt was 2.7 per cent of GDP at the yearend.

Notes:
The state government of Uttar Pradesh has announced that it will form a Migration commission to identify the skills of returning migrant workers and provide employment to them.
The government has also planned to provide insurance and a job security scheme to the returning workers. During the announcement, 23 lakh workers and migrants have returned to the state. The proposed Migration commission will map details of migrants, their skills and will provide training, employment and credit facilities.

Notes:
The state government of Odisha has recently promulgated an ordinance allowing investors and farmers to enter into agreement for contract farming.
As per the state government, the aim of the ordinance was to facilitate farmers and sponsors to develop an efficient contract farming system, which is mutually beneficial to them. It was also clarified that no title, rights, ownership or possession of land or any other property would be transferred.

Notes:
An Indian Army officer, Major Suman Gawani, has been selected for the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award (2019). This is the first time in history, that an Indian is awarded the mentioned award, that was created in 2016.
The officer has served with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). She has been selected for her outstanding contribution towards peacekeeping efforts in the UNMISS. Indian major will receive the award during an online ceremony, along with Brazilian Naval Officer Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo.

Notes:
CSIR-IIIM (Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine), Jammu a premier institute under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has partnered with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), to develop a new RT-LAMP based COVID-19 diagnostic kit.
The RT-LAMP (Reverse Transcriptase-Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification) kit is a nucleic acid- based test conducted from nasal/throat swab sample from patients. It is a rapid, affordable and accurate test. The components are easily available and can be completely manufactured in India.

Notes:
Social media and technology giant Facebook has recently launched CatchUp application, that lets the users make free phone calls.
The application developed by internal R&D group of Facebook -NPE Team, allows the users to make phone calls up to 8 people simultaneously. It uses the Facebook account in the phone to coordinate the service. It is launched at the United States as a pilot service and expected to be launched across the world soon.

Notes:
The Survey team of China became the first to climb and reach the peak Mt. Everest this year. This is a part of the project to remeasure the exact height of the Everest.
Both China and Nepal cancelled the ‘spring’ climbing season on the world’s tallest mountain in order to prevent the expedition teams from getting infected by coronavirus. Hence the Chinese survey team is likely the only team to reach the peak of Everest, this year.

Notes:
Ministry of Tribal Affairs has announced Inclusion of 23 additional Minor Forest Produce (MFP) items in the Minimum Support Price List.
Under the “Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce through Minimum Support price and development of Value Chain of MFP” scheme of 2011, the forest dwellers are safeguarded by a minimum price. This is implemented by the TRIFED organisation. This inclusion has increased the coverage from 50 to 73 items in the list.