Current Affairs - May 11, 2020 Current Affairs

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Abidali Z Neemuchwala of Wipro Limited has decided to step down due to family commitments. Neemuchwala will continue to hold the office of CEO and Managing Director until a successor is appointed for a smooth transition and to ensure that business continues as usual.

ELSA Corp (English Language Speech Assistant Corporation) India, the education technology company based out of the US (United States), has appointed Indian Test team vice-captain Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane (31) as its brand ambassador for India, Middle East, ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).

India Post has entered into a tie-up with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the delivery of Covid-19 testing kits all across the country. With its vast network of 1,56,000 post offices, India Post will make the delivery through its 16 regional depots to the 200 additional labs designated for Covid-19 testing in the country. The tie-up assumes crucial significance in view of ICMR setting an ambitious target to carry out around 1 lakh tests across the country per day.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released the Global Energy Review in 2020. The report stated that 15% of the daily electricity demand has been reduced. It highlighted the carbon dioxide emissions and the global energy demand in the year 2020.

On 8th May 2020, The Carlyle Group, an United States(US) based private equity firm acquired 74% stake in SeQuent Scientific Limited, the largest animal healthcare company from India for Rs.1,587 crore($210 million) for Rs.86 apiece. SeQuent is a pure-play animal healthcare company with global operations and provides pharmaceutical ingredients, formulations and analytical services in more than 100 countries and manufacturing in India, Spain, Turkey, Germany and Brazil.

Telangana becomes first state to extend lockdown beyond May 17, till May 29.

On 7th May 2020, The Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) amended Rule 44G of Income-tax Rules, 1962 for making an application to invoke the mutual agreement procedure in Form no.34F which will be called Income-tax (8th Amendment) Rules, 2020.

American multinational financial services company Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has predicted India's GDP (Gross domestic product) growth for 2020-21 (FY21) at -0.4% following the expansion of the lockdown.

World Migratory Bird Day observed on May 9 every year is celebrated to raise awareness about conservation and ecological importance of such birds in the global ecosystem. This day was initiated in 2006 by the United Nations Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds(AEWA). The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) celebrates this event bi-annually on the second Saturday in May and in October. The theme of this year's WMBD is "Birds Connect Our World".

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN's postal agency have released a commemorative postage stamp on 9 May to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. WHO's smallpox eradication campaign was launched in 1967. In 1980 May, the 33rd World Health Assembly issued its official declaration that the world and all its peoples have won freedom from smallpox.

The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a high-Level Committee to assess the overall immediate and medium-term impact of COVID-19 on the state's economy. The committee will be headed by Dr. C Rangarajan, former Reserve Bank of India Governor.

The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) approved the clinical trials of the drugs namely, phytopharmaceutical and favipiravir for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Union Human Resource Development(HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced various modifications in the Prime Minister's Research Fellowship(PMRF) Scheme to boost research in the country & to enable more students to avail the benefit under the scheme. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering(GATE) Score is reduced to 650 from 750 apart from a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average(CGPA) of 8 or equivalent. There will be two channels of entries, one direct entry and lateral entry. NITs, which appear in top 25 institutions as per NIRF Ranking (overall) can become PMRF Granting institutions.

Japanese brokerage firm Nomura Holdings, Inc. has also lowered India's FY21 GDP growth forecast to -5.2% from -0.4% predicted earlier.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the 'Pravasi Rahat Mitra' App. The move is aimed at aiding migrant citizens coming to Uttar Pradesh from other states so that they can take advantage of government schemes. The app was developed by the state revenue department in collaboration with the United Nation Development Program (UNDP).