Current Affairs - June 5, 2020 Current Affairs

The South African National Space Agency(SANSA) has partnered with National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) to host a deep-space ground station to support human spaceflight missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. South Africa became the 4th country after the United States of America, Spain and Australia to host a deep space ground station.

Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi approved the re-establishment of the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy as Subordinate Office under Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH). The commission will be formed by merging Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory and Pharmacopoeia Laboratory for Indian Medicine. Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy functions under the Ministry of AYUSH. It was established in 2010.

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is observed on 4 June every year. The day aims to make people aware of the protection of children's rights and highlighting their suffering.

The World Health Organization has accorded the World No Tobacco Day Award 2020 to Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society(SEEDS), an Indian non-governmental organization, one among the 3 SouthEast Asian Region awardees, for its efforts to ban pan masala, gutkha, e-cigarettes and hookah in Bihar and Jharkhand.

The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool or C-TAP which was mooted by President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica has been launched by the World Health Organization during an event co-hosted by WHO and Costa Rica on May 29, 2020 at Geneva, Switzerland.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed with His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of Mozambique. The leaders discussed the challenges posed in both countries by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

South African HIV researcher, Professor, Quarraisha Abdool Karim has won a 2020 Christophe Merieux Prize (French prize) for her work at the Durban-based Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa(Caprisa) with a prize amount of € 500 000(INR-Rs.42351154.98).

Researchers at Durgapur-based CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute have indigenously developed a ventilator to provide help and support to the COVID-19 patients. The ventilator was developed by CSIR-CMERI, in coordination with critical care experts of the Health care professionals.

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju inaugurated & launched a 25 day Khelo India Community Coach Development programme, an online development programme to equip 15,000 Physical Education Teachers and community coaches across India to train students to take up fitness and sport as a way of life. This program aims to boost India's objective of becoming a sporting nation.

DBS Bank India partnered with Transport Corporation of India Limited to facilitate real time payments for truck drivers by DBS RAPID(Real Time Application Program Interface-APIs by DBS) solution to enable them to receive payments instantly.

Former Pakistani first class cricketer Riaz Sheikh passed away at the age of 51 in Karachi, Pakistan after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. He became the second professional cricketer in Pakistan to die due to COVID-19. He was born on 24th December 1968 in Karachi, Sind, Pakistan.

The United States and the United Kingdom have proposed the expansion of the G7 grouping. While the United States has proposed G7+4 ,which includes India, Australia, South Korea and Russia,the United Kingdom wants a G7+3, calling it '10 Democracies (D10)' which excludes Russia.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on a Rs.1500 crore Kerala Fiber Optic Network project executed by the association of Bharat Electronics Limited, RailTel Corporation and SRIT and LS Cables to provide free internet access for the poor by December 2020 and become the first state to declare the internet as a fundamental right of the citizen.

The Confederation of Indian Industry announced its new office bearers for 2020-2021. Uday Kotak, Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank succeeds Vikram Kirloskar, Chairman and Managing Director of Kirloskar System and vice chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor as the new President of CII.

The Expert Committees on Rationalisation/Closure/Merger of Film Media Units, and on Review of Autonomous Bodies under the aegis of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) submitted their report to Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar during a meet in New Delhi. Both committees were headed by Bimal Julka for rationalisation and professionalisation of film institutes.

Kritika Pandey, a 29-year-old Indian Writer from Ranchi, was announced as the winner of regional award for Asia in 2020 Commonwealth short story prize for her story "The Great Indian Tee and Snakes" - about love in an age of hatred and prejudice.

In a big boost to the Centre's 'Make in India' initiative, the Acquisition Wing of Ministry of Defence (MoD), with the approval of Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, has ordered Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in Telangana's Medak, to supply 156 BMP 2/2k Infantry Combat Vehicles (ICVs) worth Rs 1,094 crore for the Indian army. There are plans to induct these advanced feature vehicles into the army by 2023.

A 4-member team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered a 1100-year-old monolithic sandstone Shiva lingam, a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva, at the Cham Temple Complex located in My Son Sanctuary of Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. They found during an excavation of the 4th season of conservation work of Group 'A' temples (annual work schedule of January-June 2020).

Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a trilogy (group of three) of schemes namely "Electronics Manufacturing Scheme 2.0" with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore (approximately $7 billion) to boost electronic manufacturing in India. These will contribute in achieving a USD 1 Trillion digital economy and a USD 5 Trillion GDP by 2025.

The last and vital Markbook pump house of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, was inaugurated on May 29 2020 by the Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao. It has a capacity to lift 2 TMCs of water per day.