Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2021

Notes:
Mucormycosis which is colloquially called as “black fungus” is a serious fungal infection in human beings. The infection has been reported in patents affected with COVID 19 disease, in some states of India.
This disease often manifests in the skin and also affects the lungs and the brain

Notes:
London-based property consultant Knight Frank released the Global Prime Residential Index. As per the index, New Delhi and Mumbai are ranked in 32nd and 36th positions respectively.
The Prime Global Cities Index is a valuation-based index, which tracked the movement in prime residential prices in local currency across more than 45 cities. Globally, Chinese city Shenzhen ranked first with 18.9% annual change for the period Q1 2020 – Q1 2021.

Notes:
Nine countries—Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia established a platform for political consultation and cooperation within NATO.
Named as Bucharest Nine, or B9, it is also regarded as the “voice of the Eastern Flank” in the NATO alliance. Recently, in the B9 summit, US President Joseph R Biden addressed the countries in virtual format.

Notes:
The Mobile Payment Forum of India (MPFI) is a think tank set up with the joint initiative of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad and Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI), IIT Madras in 2006.
It aims to enable mobile financial services for everyone in India through secure, efficient and low cost transactions. IIT Madras researchers will collaborate with members of MPFI to develop voice-based solutions in multiple local languages.

Notes:
The report titled “Renewable Energy Market Update 2021” has been recently released by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The report gives a forecast on new global renewable power capacity additions for 2021 and 2022.
The IEA is an intergovernmental organisation headquartered at Paris, France. It was formed in 1974, under the framework of OECD.

Notes:
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which was launched in the year 2016 to collect samples from the asteroid “Bennu”, has commenced its journey back to the Earth.
The spacecraft has collected samples from the asteroid, which is 320 million km from Earth and is expected to reach the Earth in 2 years.

Notes:
The national think tank NITI Aayog, in partnership with payments leader MasterCard has launched a report titled “Connected Commerce – Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat”.
The report identifies key challenges faced by India in accelerating digital financial inclusion in the country and provides recommendations for the same.

Notes:
The United Kingdom government recently unveiled its Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which will formally recognise the feelings of many animals.
Under the plan, Microchipping pet cats will become compulsory. This measure was aimed at pets and livestock, rather than wild animals. The Action Plan also includes measures to ban the export of live animals for slaughter, keeping of primates as pets.

Notes:
The Christchurch Call to Action Summit or the Christchurch Call, was a political summit initiated by New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, in 2019 in France. It was conducted after the Christchurch mosque shootings. Global leaders and tech companies pledged to eliminate social media usage to end online terrorism.
Recently, PM Ardern was speaking at a virtual summit to mark the second anniversary of the global initiative to end online hate.

Notes:
The Maharashtra cabinet approved an Agro-tourism policy aimed at empowering farmers, in September 2020. It aims to provide market for agriculture produce, encourage agriculture allied business, and provide employment opportunities to women and youth in rural areas.
Every year World Agri-Tourism Day is celebrated on May 16. This year, Government of Maharashtra, Agri-Tourism Development Corporation is to organise International Conference on Agri-Tourism.