Current Affairs - May 31, 2020 Current Affairs

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration renamed its Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope a next-generation space telescope as Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope or Roman Space Telescope to honor Nancy Grace Roman("Mother" of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope), NASA's 1st chief astronomer, who paved way for space telescopes focused on the broader universe. This telescope is set to launch in the mid-2020s. It will investigate long-standing astronomical mysteries, such as the force behind the universe's expansion, and search for distant planets beyond our solar system.

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi, passed away at the age of 74 in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. He was born on April 29, 1946 in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. He was the first CM of Chhattisgarh.

The Kerala State government has announced the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project will be commissioned by December 2020. The project aims to provide free internet access to the poor in the State. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the decision after a meeting with the heads of companies of the consortium.

In order to prevent infectious coronavirus breakout with in a healthcare facility, Devaditek Innovations Private Limited, a start-up company focusing on technology transfer in the areas of medical devices, based in Maker village Kochi Kerala, has developed a multi-purpose decontamination device called 'Lumos' that can sanitize items ranging from N95 masks to vegetables by using ultraviolet germicidal irradiation technology.

Sandip Mukund Pradhan, the Director-General of Sports Authority of India was given an extension for a period of 2 years and it will come into effect from June 6, 2020.

Centre has approved the Bihar State's Jal Jeevan Mission Annual Action Plan. As per the plan, the State has provided 100% coverage of all households with functional tap water connections by 2020-21. The plan was approved by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Facebook launched an experimental app named 'Collab' that lets users make short music videos.

The first UN Peacekeeping mission was established on 29th May 1948 to commemorate this day General Assembly of the United Nations designated May 29th as International Day of United National Peacekeepers in its resolution 57/129 on December 11, 2002 to acknowledge the women and men who serve as military, police and civilians in the UN Peacekeeping. In 2003 the first International Day of UN peacekeepers was observed. The theme of 2020 International Day of UN Peacekeepers is "Women in Peacekeeping - A key to Peace".

Infosys Limited, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, has entered into the partnership with Avaloq, a Swiss company that develops and provides software for core banking, to offer end-to-end products and services as Software-as-a-Service across the world to its clients.

Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr.Jitendra Singh has launched the e-booklet on Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances achievements for the period 30 May 2019 to 30 May 2020.

The Indian Navy has set up an Ultraviolet sanitisation Bay at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai to decontaminate the coveralls, tools, personal gadgets, masks, cloths and other items of the workers who will resume their works after the lock down in the Dockyards and other naval establishments to control the spread of COVID-19.

National Payment Corporation of India has launched an artificial intelligence based chatbot, PAi, to create awareness around its products like FASTag, RuPay, Unified Payments Interface, Aadhaar Enabled Payment System on a real time basis & to improve digital financial inclusion in India. It is developed by Bengaluru based startup CoRover Private Limited.

M.P. Veerendra Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala and Loktantrik Janata Dal Leader, writer and journalist, passed away at the age of 83 due to cardiac arrest in Kozhikode, Kerala. He was born on July 22, 1936, at Kalpetta, Wayanad district, Kerala.

The Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and PWD Minister of State Keshav Prasad Maurya, announced the development of 800 km herbal roads along the state and national highways through the state.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister (CM) Trivendra Singh Rawat, launched the scheme named "Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana" to retain the migrants who have returned to the state during the lockdown.

According to Fitch's Global Economic Outlook for May, India's Gross Domestic Product is anticipated to a 5% decline in the current financial year(ending March 2021) from its earlier forecast(late-April's GEO) of growth of 0.8% due to the pandemic. This is the biggest forecast cut to India. The growth contraction in the current fiscal is mainly due to a 8.3% and 9.7% contraction in consumer spending and fixed investment in FY21.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council via video conferencing, which was the first meet since the coronavirus outbreak. The meet was held to review the various measures to maintain financial stability in the context of COVID-19.

BSE ( formerly known as The Bombay Stock Exchange)and National Stock Exchange announced that they will reduce the annual listing fee by 25% for Small and Medium Enterprises companies, it is as a part of their attempts to lower the compliance costs for companies during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These steps will help to revive the SMEs & encourage thousands of SMEs to go for listing.

Professor Mathews Plamoottil, head of the Department of Zoology at the BJM Government College, Chavara (Kerala), has detected a new species of silver colored small freshwater fish "Puntius sanctus" of the Cyprinidae family in Velankanni ,Tamil Nadu.

Wipro appointed Thierry Delaporte, COO of Capgemini, as the new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director effective from 6th July 2020. He will take over the position from Adidali Neemuchwala who will be stepping down from his position on June 1. The operation of Wipro until July 5th will be monitored by its chairman Rishad Premji. He will be based in Paris and report to Rishad Premji.