Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
Veteran Physician and former head of the Department of Medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Dr Jitendra Nath Pande recently passed away at the age of 79.
He and his wife had earlier contracted corona virus and remained in home isolation. He has contributed a lot in the field of pulmonology. He studied in the AIIMS and retired as the HOD of Medicine in the same institute. Even after retirement, he continued to mentor the practicing doctors and surgeons at AIIMS.

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:
Bev Q, a virtual queue management application developed by a Kochi-based start-up Faircode Technologies, has recently been approved by Google after two-level testing. This is to be implemented to manage queues of liquor shops.
The state government of Kerala announced that liquor shops would not be opened until a queue management system is implemented. The staff working at the shops are being trained through online and video tutorials in coordination with the Kerala State Beverages Corporation.

Notes:
National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), that operates retail payments and settlement systems in India has recently launched an artificial intelligence (AI) based chatbot named ‘PAi’.
The virtual assistant has been launched with an aim to create awareness about its flagship products like FASTag, RuPay, UPI, AePS on a real time basis. Users can send queries about the products and they get verified automated responses. Global RuPay Cardholders can access the chatbot.

Notes:
Veteran Urdu author and Padma Shri award winner Mujtaba Hussain recently passed away at the age of 83.
He was considered as one of the finest authors in Urdu literature for his humour and satire styles. His best literary works are America Ghaans Kaat Raha Hai, Japan Chalo and an autobiographical satire- Apne Yaad Mein. He returned his Padma Shri award last year, as a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has officially launched the instant Permanent Account Number (PAN) facility which uses Aadhaar number-based e-KYC.
This was announced during the 2020 budget along with an interchangeable Aadhar and PAN feature. The Income tax department launched the beta facility on their e-filing website in February 2020. As this a paperless and real-time facility, the turn-around time taken for allotting the PAN through this facility is only about 10 minutes.

Notes:
Every year, May 28 has been celebrated as the World Menstrual Hygiene Day across the world. It is a global platform initiated by the German non-profit organisation WASH United.
This year, the theme of Menstrual Hygiene Day is ‘Periods in Pandemic’. Several government agencies, individuals, non-profits and media join hands to create awareness about the safe menstruation practices and hygiene management.

Notes:
Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister of State for Finance Veerendra Kumar recently passed away at the age of 83.
He was the Managing Director of the Kerala-based Mathrubhumi group of publications. He had also served as the Union Minister of State for Labour. The politician was a prolific writer and a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award and the Kerala Sahitya Academy award. He had been a member of the Rajya Sabha since April 2016.

Notes:
Manushi Chillar, who won the title of Miss World in 2017 has joined hands with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to spread awareness about menstrual hygiene.
Manushi runs an initiative on menstrual hygiene named Project Shakti. With this partnership, she will promote the efforts to educate girls about menstrual hygiene and to construct sanitation facilities. On May 28, World Menstrual Hygiene Day, she participated in UNICEF global initiative called the Red Dot Challenge.

Notes:
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is celebrated on 29 May every year, to pay tribute to the contribution of the peacekeepers.
This year the theme of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, 2020 is “Women in Peacekeeping: A Key to Peace”. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. UN honours more than 3,900 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives during their service, since 1948.