MADE EASY

WEEKLY CURRENT
AFFAIRS

WEEK-3
15th May - 21st May

Targeted Examinations:
CSE, ESE, PSUs, State Exams,
SSC and Banking Exams
 Current Affairs MADE EASY
(15th May to 21st May 2020)

15th May 2020

Recently granted GI Tags
• The Government of India recently granted Geographical Indications (GI) Tag to
Sohrai Khovar painting (Jharkhand) and Telia Rumal (Telangana).
•

Y
The application for the Sohrai Khovar painting of Jharkhand was made by Sohrai
Kala Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, whereas for Telia Rumal application was made by
the Consortium of Puttapaka Handloom Cluster.
•

S
Sohrai Khovar Painting
▪ The painting is created by the local tribal women in
Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. It is a traditional and
ritualistic mural art. EA
▪ It is created during marriage and harvest seasons. The
tribal women use naturally available soils of different
colours.
• Telia Rumal
▪ The Telia Rumal of Telangana is made of complex
handmade work over cotton loomed cloth. The process is
complicated and can be created only through traditional
E
handloom processes.
▪ The designs are created in three particular colours which
includes red, white and black.
AD

COBAS 6800
• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the
COBAS 6800 machine which is completely automated and
performs high end RT-PCR tests to confirm COVID-19
infection as it is more accurate.
M

• COBAS 6800 is capable of providing test results of 1,200

samples in 24 hours. Thus, the machine will help in
increasing the testing capacity of the country.
• The machine can also detect pathogens such as Hepatitis, HIV, Papiloma, MTb,
Chlamydia, CMV, Neisseria, etc.
• The machine is enabled with robotics. It will help minimize contamination as it
involves very little human intervention. It is the first such machine in India that is
completely automatic.
• It has been placed at National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi.
EventBot
• The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
has issued warning against a new malware called “EventBot”.
• The Eventbolt malware steals personal financial information
from phone users. It cheats victims secretly attacking
computer or phone operating system.
• Currently, the malware is capable of targeting more than 200
different financial applications. The malware has already
looted crypto currency wallets, bank accounts in Europe and

Y
USA.
• CERT which operates under Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY), is the nodal agency in India

S
that deals with hacking, cyber security threats, phishing, etc.

Carbon Foam
EA
16th May 2020

• The scientists from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR) have developed light carbon foam which is easy to
fabricate, non-toxic and affordable. It will replace lead-acid
E
batteries.
• It is also useful to make heat sink, electromagnetic
interference shielding in aerospace, electrode for lead-acid
AD

batteries, hydrogen storage and water purification systems.

• Key Highlights:
▪ The raw materials to make the carbon foam are easily available. It also helps to
remove oil, arsenic and other metals from contaminated water.
▪ The carbon foams are porous. The pores in the batteries help increase efficiency.
The micro cells completely make a new type of electrolyte structure. Hence, the
M

power, energy and life cycle of the batteries increases.

▪ Carbon foam batteries have better life cycle as compared to the lead-acid batteries.

GOAL Programme

• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched GOAL

Programme which aims to provide mentorship to
the tribal youth in digital mode. This will act as
catalyst to bring out more hidden talents of tribal
youth and women. The programme has been launched in partnership with Facebook.
 • The programme will focus on three areas such as life skills, digital literacy and
leadership, and entrepreneurship on sectors such as agriculture, handicrafts and
textiles, art and culture, nutrition, etc.
• It will also help them to acquire knowledge and skills through mentorship in food
processing, horticulture, bee keeping, medicinal herbs, etc.
• GOAL is an abbreviation for Going Online As Leaders.

Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme

• The Ministry of Defence has approved Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme under
which Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) and ordinance

Y
factories to create testing facilities for ammunition, firearms, radar and electronic
arms.
• Under the scheme, over six to eight test facilities are to be brought in the country.

S
75% of the cost to set up these facilities will be borne by the Central Government.
The rest of 25% is to come through private entities and the State governments. The
scheme is to be implemented at an estimated amount of Rs. 400 crores.
•

•
EA
This will help in promoting indigenous defence capacities of the country especially
amongst MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector and startups.
The scheme will also help to aid India’s Defence Export targets. During the DefExpo
2020, India had set a target of boosting defence exports to 5 billion USD in next five
years.

17th May 2020

E

Tour of Duty (ToD)

AD

• In order to help the country fight unemployment generated due to COVID-19 and also
citing resurgence of nationalism and patriotism, the Indian Army has launched Tour
of Duty (ToD)-a three-year internship for youths to work as officers and soldiers in
the Indian Army.
• ToD is for those who do not wish to take defence services as a career, but still want to
experience adventure and thrills in armed forces. However, the entry criteria for these
M

candidates are not to be relaxed.

• The GoI through the initiative also tries to channelize the youths in the country
through trained, diligent, disciplined military practices. More corporates are expected
to come forward to hire these youths after their 3 years of services with the military.

61st Cavalry of Indian Army

• The 61st Cavalry regiment of Indian Army was raised in

1953 by amalgamating the horse mounted cavalry units in
the princely states of India.
 • Context:
▪ The Indian Army is to convert the 61st cavalry, the only horse serving cavalry
in the world into a regular armoured regiment with tanks.
▪ The main aim of the plan is to convert the 61st cavalry into a combat force.
This is largely a ceremonial unit that is based in Jaipur.
▪ After changing the cavalry into a combat force, the commanding officers will
have independent squadrons of tanks under them. There are oppositions to the
steps claiming that it will destroy the glorious tradition that lives with the
regiment.

Y
18th May 2020

S
e-Education Initiatives
• PM e-Vidya
▪ PM e-Vidya which to be launched aims to unify the efforts related to online
EA
education. It will also increase multi-mode access to education. It will include two
major initiatives namely One Nation One Digital Platform and One Class One
Channel.
▪ One National One Digital Platform: It will include DIKSHA (Digital
Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) to provide quality content to school
children.
▪ One Class One Channel: The One Class One Channel initiative will provide
E
quality education material for all classes from Class 1 to Class 12. This will
include Swayam online courses, study material for differently abled people called
DAISY (Digitally Accessible Information System).
AD

▪ Mandorapan Initiative: The initiative is to provide psychological support to

teachers, students and families. It will provide support to national directory of
counsellors. A toll-free help line will be launched for this.

• National Curriculum and Pedagogical Framework

In order to promote creative and critical thinking and also to improve communication
M

skills of the students, joyful and experimental learning are to be focused under this
framework.

• National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission

▪ The initiative will make sure every child attains foundational literacy and
numeracy in Grade 3. In order to achieve this, the mission will aim at teacher
capacity building, robust curricular framework, engaging online and offline
learning materials.
▪ The mission aims to cover the learning needs of more than 4 crore children in the
age group 3 to 11 years.
Shekatkar Committee
• The Union Government has implemented the recommendations made by the
Shekatkar Committee to create border infrastructure.
• The Shekatkar Committee was formed by the Ministry of Defence under
chairmanship of Lt General (Retd.) DB Shekatkar in 2018.
• Key Recommendations:
▪ Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) to be executed the works that costs
more than Rs 100 crores.
▪ The procurement power of Border Road Organization has been enhanced from Rs

Y
7.5 crores to Rs 100 crores.
▪ New Technologies such as blasting technology, use of Geo-Textiles, plastic
coated aggregates for surfacing, cementitious base for pavements are being used
to enhance pace of construction.

S
▪ The statutory clearances and land acquisition for forest and environmental
clearances have been made part of Detailed Project Report.
▪ The committee recommended closure of military farms in peace regions.
EA
▪ The recruitment standard for the drivers in the army and clerical staff was
enhanced.
▪ The committee recommended reorganization of Army Headquarters. The number
of officers in the army headquarters to be reduced by 200.

Troglomyces twitteri
E
• Troglomyces twitteri is a new parasitic fungus that
was discovered by a Denmark biologist, and has been
named after Twitter as it was discovered on this social
AD

media platform.
• The biologist Sofia Reboleira of University of
Copenhagen, Denmark founded the species whose
image was posted in Twitter by an entomologist in
2018.
• The photo of the millipede (Millipedes have two pairs of jointed legs, and feed on
decaying leaves and dead matter) had tiny dots that looked like Fungi. The Fungi
M

belongs to the order called Laboulbeniales. These are fungi that attack millipedes and
insects. They look like larvae.
• The Millipedes help in decomposition process. They cause trouble in greenhouses
where they cause severe damages to seedlings. They are harmless to humans.

Baltic Travel Bubble

• The Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have opened their borders to one
another creating “travel bubble”. This is being called the Baltic Travel Bubble. These
countries are not badly affected due to COVID-19 like the other European countries.
 • With the opening of the borders, the citizens and residents of these countries can
move freely. However, people coming from outside the zone are being quarantined
for 14 days. This is the first travel bubble created since the lockdown ended.
• Travel Bubble: The term Travel Bubble came into existence in the month of April
2020. Under the travel bubble strategy, the governments will open the travel
pertaining to safe travel zones in the world. This will include regions where the virus
risk is minimal. This was initiated by Australia and New Zealand. These countries
agreed to the idea of travel bubble between them recently.

Gaganyaan Mission

Y
• Gaganyaan is a planned crewed space programme of ISRO. The Mission is to be
launched in December 2021. Under the programme, three air force pilots will be
carried to space. India had sent its pilots to Russia to get trained for the Gaganyaan

S
mission.
• Along with the crew, a female-looking robot Vyommitra is to accompany the
astronauts. The robot will provide warnings if the environmental changes within the

•
for 7 days.
EA
cabin get uncomfortable to the astronauts. The flight duration will be approximately

Context: ISRO has identified 17 technologies at lower costs from Indian start-ups to
use in Gaganyaan mission. The technologies identified include food and medicine for
astronauts, life support systems, inflatable habitats, thermal protection technologies
and anti-radiation technologies. ISRO will also share its intellectual properties with
the companies participating in the mission.
E
19th May 2020
AD

Garbage Free Cities Star Rating

• The Garbage Free Cities Rating System was
launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban
Affairs in 2018. This was launched to provide a
mechanism to achieve Garbage free status to
cities. Such a rating system motivates cities to
M

achieve higher cleanliness.

• The rating mainly focuses on solid waste management.
• Context:
▪ The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has released list of garbage free cities
for the year 2019-20.
▪ According to a statement by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, cities that
got the 5-star rating are Mysuru, Ambikapur, Rajkot, Surat, Navi Mumbai, and
Indore. New Delhi got 3-star garbage-free rating, alongside Ahmedabad, Bhopal,
Jamshedpur, Tirupati, Karnal, Bhilai Nagar, and Vijayawada.
▪ The ministry has given 3-star rating to 65 cities and 1-star rating to 70 cities.
Super Earth
• The scientists from New Zealand have discovered the Super
Earth, which potentially holds the conditions to sustain
human life.
• The Super Earth is one of the handful of planets discovered
that are of the same size and orbiting distance as that of the
earth. The host star of the planet is 10% the mass of the sun.
• The discovered planet is larger than the earth and could be
cold according to the scientists as the star is much smaller than the Sun. Due to this
reason, water may not exist in its liquid state, but might occur as ice. As the planet is

Y
heavier in mass, it might take 617 days to revolve around its star. The planet is 111
light years away from the earth.
• The Super Earth, according to the scientist might possess Goldilocks Zone in the

S
future. Goldilocks Zone is the space around a star where temperature aptly sustains
water in liquid state. The space also supports life.

New Map of Nepal EA

• Nepal has launched a new political map that included the territories of Kalapani,
Lipuleh and Limpiyadhura territories which have been claimed by India as well. In
October 2019, India had issued a new political map that included Lipulekh and
Kalapani on its side of border.
E
AD
M

• Issue: India recently inaugurated a road section in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand.

According to India, under Treaty of Sugauli, Limpiyadhura is the point of origin of
Kali River. It is the point where Nepal border begins.
• Background: In 1816, the Kingdom of Nepal and British India signed the Treaty of
Sugauli under which Kali River was fixed as the Western Border of Nepal. The issue
has arisen in locating the source of the river that led to boundary disputes between
India and Nepal. Both the countries are supporting their own claims.
 20th May 2020

Ayushman Bharat
• The Ayushman Bharat Scheme which was launched in 2018, provides an insurance
cover of Rs. 5 lakh per annum per family. The eligible families under the scheme are
fixed based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC).
• Context:
▪ The number of beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat has touched 1 crore. On this
occasion, PM Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with the one croreth

Y
beneficiary of the scheme.
▪ The Government of India has made the testing and treatment of COVID-19 free
under Ayushman Bharat. The testing of COVID-19 is being carried out according

S
to the protocols fixed by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Amphan Super Cyclone

•
EA
The Amphan Super Cyclone recently hit West Bengal and
some coastal parts of Odisha with wind speeds between
150 km/hr and 160 km/hr. In order to review the
preparatory measures, the National Crisis Management
Committee met under the chairmanship of Cabinet
Secretary, which oversees the command, coordination and
control of disaster response.
E
• The rapid intensification of Amphan into a Super Cyclone
happened mainly because of rapid warming up of Bay of
Bengal. The main reasons that led to rapid intensification
AD

of the cyclone are high sea surface temperature, enough moisture in the middle layers
of the atmosphere and low vertical shear winds.
• Note: Both hurricanes and cyclones are tropical cyclones. They are named differently
based on their region of formation. Cyclones are formed in South Pacific and Indian
Oceans. On the other hand, hurricanes are formed in North Atlantic, Eastern and
Central Pacific Oceans.
M

Charan Paduka Campaign

• Charan Paduka Campaign has been launched in Madhya Pradesh for the migrant
workers passing through the state.
• Under the campaign the migrant workers were provided with shoes and slippers to
reduce their plight of journey.
• The campaign is being conducted by the Police of Madhya Pradesh state.
World Health Assembly
• The World Health Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the World Health
Organization (WHO). It is mainly composed of health ministers of member countries.
The members of the assembly meet every year in Geneva during the month of May.
• It approves works of World Health Organization and also budgets and elects its
Director General.
• Context:
▪ In this year’s World Health Assembly, India was represented by Union Minister
Dr. Harsh Vardhan who has also been elected as chairman of the Executive Board

Y
of the WHO. He succeeds Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan.
▪ Apart from COVID-19, the World Health Assembly also addressed Global
Vaccine Plan, polio eradication and neglected tropical diseases.
▪ Around 120 countries backed the resolution to conduct investigation on China

S
over the origin of COVID-19.

National Test Abhyas

•
EA
The Ministry Human Resources Development (MHRD) recently
launched a new mobile application called National Test Abhyas. It
was developed by the National Testing Agency.
• The application will help the candidates to take mock tests for
exams such as JEE Mains, NEET, etc. The application is powered
by Artificial Intelligence and therefore the students will get instant
E
results after taking the tests.
• National Testing Agency (NTA): It conducts the competitive exams in the country.
This includes JEE, NEET, GPAT, UGC, NET, etc. The NTA is an autonomous
organization. It was established under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860.
AD

21st May 2020

Agappe Chitra Magna

• Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and
M

Technology (SCTIMST) operating under Department of

Science and Technology has launched magnetic nano-
particle based RNA extraction kit called Agappe Chitra
Magna.
• The kit was validated by the National Institute of
Virology. The kit was developed by the SCTIMST and was transferred to Agappe
Diagnostics and hence the name Agappe Chitra Magna kit. The approval of the kit
was provided by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
• The kit enhanced detection of positive cases of COVID-19. This is because the
magnetic nanoparticles bind to the viral RNA and give concentrated RNA.
Konark Sun Temple
• The Konark Sun Temple is a world heritage monument, built
by King Narasimhadeva-I in the 13th century AD. The temple
had been designed in the shape of a chariot. It was declared a
UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984.
• The temple was once called the Black Pagoda as it was then
believed to draw ships and cause shipwrecks.
• Context: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has
launched a scheme to solarize the Konark sun temple and

Y
town completely.
▪ The scheme has been launched to develop the historic Sun Temple in the town of
Konark. The development will be to deliver the message of synergy between the
Sun temple and the modern use of solar energy.

S
▪ The scheme will set up 10 MW grid connected solar project. It will also launch
applications such as solar drinking water kiosks, solar trees and off grid solar
power plants with battery storage.
EA
▪ The project is to be implemented by Odisha Renewable Energy Development
Agency.

Fifteenth Finance Commission

• The Finance Commission is a constitutional body established under Article 280 of the
Constitution of India. It is constituted by the President of India for the period of the 5
years, to seek suggestions on the share of states in the Centre’s taxes.
E
• The 15th Finance Commission is headed by N.K. Singh. The duration of the 15th
Finance Commission was supposed to be from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2025 but
it is 2021-26 for the full set of recommendations.
AD

▪ Formation: 27 November 2017

▪ Chairman: N.K. Singh
Full-time Members: Ashok Lahiri, Ajay Narayan Jha, and Anoop Singh.
Part-Time Member: Ramesh Chand
[Shaktikanta Das served as a member of the Commission from November 2017 to
December 2018.]
M

▪ Parent Department: Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance

• Context:
▪ The Fifteenth Finance Commission recently discussed health sector and fiscal
consolidation in the country.
▪ A high-level group was constituted by the Finance Commission on health sector.
The group had submitted its report in August 2019. Some of its recommendations
were incorporated in the first report of the Finance Commission for the year 2020-
21.
▪ The group has now been asked to recommend measures to contain the spread of
COVID-19.