Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
On recommendation of K. Santhanam committee, the Central Vigilance Commission was set up by the Government in 1964, to exercise general superintendence and control over vigilance administration. Recently, Former Andhra Bank MD & CEO Suresh N. Patel was appointed as a Vigilance commissioner in CVC.
As per the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, there shall be a Central Vigilance Commissioner as the Chairperson and not more than two Vigilance Commissioners as Members. The term of office of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance Commissioners would be four years from the date of entering office or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Notes:
New York based Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, also known as Moody’s has recently slashed the GDP growth rate of India to 0.2 per cent in 2020-21, which is the lowest estimate made for the country till date after Covid-19 pandemic.
It has previously decreased the growth rate from the estimate of 5.2% to 2.5%, after the first nation-wide lockdown has been imposed by the Government on March 24. However, it predicts that India would grow at 6.2 per cent in 2021-22.

Notes:
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar represented India in the recently held eleventh session of Petersberg Climate Dialogue, along with is counterparts from 30 nations. Prior to this, the Minister also participated in an Indo German bilateral meeting through video conference.
This session of the Climate Dialogue is the first virtual Climate Dialogue. The Petersberg Dialogue has been hosted by Germany since 2010 to provide a global forum for informal political discussions on climate negotiations and climate action.

Notes:
Veteran Indian Foreign Service Officer T. S. Tirumurti has been appointed as the next Ambassador or Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations.
The officer is currently serving as the Secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs. He replaces Sayyad Akbaruddin, who is superannuating this month. Prior to this appointment, Tirumurti has held several prime engagements and positions in India’s external affairs.

Notes:
Veteran Freedom fighter and follower of Gandhian principles Hema Bharali, recently passed away at the age of 101.
The freedom fighter strived hard to uplift the condition of women and empower the marginalised sections of society. She was the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Padma Shri in 2005, National Communal Harmony Award by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2006 and the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award for National Integration from the Assam government.

Notes:
The United States has placed 10 countries including India on the ‘Priority Watch List’ for lack of sufficient improvements to its intellectual property framework.
The US placed 10 countries, including India and China, and alleged that enforcement of the intellectual properties have weakened or remained inadequate in those countries. The US also highlighted that because of the weak IP enforcement, Americans find it difficult to have an equitable market access.

Notes:
Former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar has been recently appointed as the chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), for a period of three years. He replaces Kapil Dev Tripathi who has recently named the Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind.
PESB is a high-powered body constituted by the Government of India, under Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, to advise Government on appointments of top management posts in Central Public Sector Enterprises.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India launched a Rs 50,000-crore scheme which enables banks to extend liquidity support to Mutual Funds, called Special Liquidity Facility for Mutual Funds SLF-MF scheme.
This was introduced at the backdrop of the shutting down of six debt funds of Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds. Recently, the RBI extended the benefits of the scheme to all banks, irrespective of whether they avail funding from the Reserve Bank or deploy their own resources.

Notes:
Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity (PAHAL) is a collaborative project between the aid agency of US, USAID and New Delhi based company IPE Global.
US announced that it will provide an assistance of $3 million to India, in addition to the earlier assistance of $5.9 million, for tackling the spread of Covid-19. Through the PAHAL project, USAID will support the National Health Authority to assist health facilities enrolled under PMJAY by mobilising resources.

Notes:
As per the recent survey conducted by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate of India increased 14.8 percentage points, to 23.5% in Apr 2020.
Tamil Nadu recorded the highest unemployment rate in April 2020, among large states at 49.8%, up from 6.3% in March 2020. Jharkhand and Bihar follow Tamil Nadu in higher unemployment rate while the lowest rate was found in Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.