Current Affairs, May 2020

31st May, Current Affairs:

• SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully took off last night from Kennedy Space Center for the International Space Station (ISS), with two NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley. The mission marks the first launch of a rocket owned by SpaceX, the commercial space company founded by Elon Musk.
• US President Donald Trump has postponed the G7 Summit till September.

30th May, Current Affairs:

• Goa celebrated its Statehood Day today. Goa was the 25th state to join the union of India.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR said that figure of total number of COVID-19 tests in India reached to 36,11,599 in the country. Also Covid-19 recovery rate reaches 47.40 in the country.

29th May, Current Affairs:

• India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.1 per cent in January-March, the slowest growth in at least eight years.
• Chhattisgarh's first Chief Minister Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi passed away this afternoon at the age of 74 years.
• Noted astrologer Bejan Daruwalla passed away on Friday at a hospital in Gujarat's Gandhinagar at the age of 90.

28th May, Current Affairs:

• The Supreme Court on Thursday directed that no fare for travel either by train or bus be charged from the migrant workers stranded across the country. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that the originating state shall provide meals and water at the station and during the journey the Railways would provide the same to the migrant workers.
• Karnataka has suspended incoming transport from neighbouring states to contain the spiralling coronavirus infection in the state. These states are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

26th May, Current Affairs:

• Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated the 440 metre-long tunnel, constructed below the Chamba town as part of the Chardham Connectivity Project.
• Japan has completely lifted nationwide emergency imposed following Corona Virus pandemic.
• Karnataka becomes first state to announce opening of temples after Corona Virus pandemic. The Karnataka government has decided to open temples in the state from June 1.

25th May, Current Affairs:

• Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated across the country today.
• Domestic flights resume in country except in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal from today.
• The Himachal Pradesh government has extended the lockdown to control coronavirus in the state for another five weeks till 30th June.
• Three-time Olympic gold medal-winning hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr died in a private hospital at Mohali, Punjab today morning. He was 95. One of the country's greatest athletes, Balbir Senior was the only Indian among 16 legends chosen by the International Olympic Committee across modern Olympic history.

22nd May, Current Affairs:

• Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today took charge as the chairman of the 34-member World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 1,000 crore "advance interim assistance" for West Bengal after he undertook an aerial survey of the areas ravaged by Cyclone Amphan that has killed 80 people in the state.
• The Reserve Bank of India today cut the repo rate by 40 basis points from 4.4 per cent to 4 per cent, reducing the reverse repo rate at 3.35 per cent.
• India became the second largest producer of Personal Protective Equipment in the world. China is the leading producer of PPE in the world. India is now producing 2.06 lakh PPE kits every day.

21st May, Current Affairs:

• At least 84 people have died and several more injured in India and Bangladesh as Cyclone Amphan made landfall last evening.
• International Tea Day is observed today. The resolution to celebrate International Tea Day was adopted in 2019 by the United Nations food and Agriculture Organization.
• Health and Family Welfare Ministry said that a total 45,300 people affected with corona virus have cured and the recovery rate reached to 40.31 per cent in the country.

20th May, Current Affairs:

• The landfall process of the Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan over North West Bay of Bengal has begun. Around 4 lakh people evacuated from Seven Coastal districts of West Bengal.
• Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today announced that domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from 25th of this month.
• The Centre has notified the reduction in statutory rate of contributions from 12 per cent to 10 per cent for wage months period from May to July, 2020 for all class of establishments covered under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

18th May, Current Affairs:

• Fourth phase of Nationwide lockdown has begun today. Union Home Ministry had yesterday extended the nationwide lockdown for fourteen more days, till 31st of this month.
• The death toll due to coronavirus in India rose to 3,029 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 96,169 as on today morning.

15th May, Current Affairs:

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced setting up of a 1 lakh crore rupees agri infrastructure fund for farm-gate infrastructure. She announced it while briefing about the third tranche of 20 lakh crore economic package.
• Slovenia becomes 1st European Country to call an end to COVID-19 Epidemic. Till now the country had reported some 1,500 coronavirus cases and 103 deaths due to corona virus.
• World Bank has approved one billion US dollar 'Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Programme' to support India.

13th May, Current Affairs:

• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced tax reforms as part of the Covid-19 package to revive economy. The government has cut TDS (tax deduction at source) rates by 25 per cent for non-salaried section. The loans that are worth Rs 3 lakh crore are made collateral free. The due date for filing income tax returns (ITR) has been extended from July 31 to November 30 this year.
• Health and Family Welfare Ministry said that 24 thousand 386 patients have cured so far and the recovery rate reached 32.82 percent.

12th May, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a special economic package worth over 20 lakh crore rupees and 10% of India's GDP in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Indian Railways has begun restoration of passenger train services today.
• International Nurses Day is celebrated today.

11th May, Current Affairs:

• National Technology Day is observed today in India. The day, which was first observed on May 11, 1999, aims to commemorate the scientific and technological achievements of Indian scientists and engineers. National Technology Day was first observed on May 11, 1999.
• Total coronavirus cases in India climb to 67,152. Over 4,000 new cases recorded in last 24 hours. Also the death toll due to Covid-19 has climbed to 2,206.

9th May, Current Affairs:

• World Migratory Day is observed today.
• The testing capacity for COVID-19 has been scaled up to around 95,000 tests per day and a total of 15,25,631 tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said today.

7th May, Current Affairs:

• At least 11 people were killed and over 1,000 are sick after gas leaked overnight at a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam.
• Iraq’s Parliament chose former Intelligence Chief, Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the new Prime Minister today.
• Union Govt begins evacuation exercise 'Vande Bharat Mission' from today to bring home nearly 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown.

5th May, Current Affairs:

• Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19-induced lockdown.
• Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today announced that Joint Entrance Examination, JEE-Mains to be held from 18th to 23rd July.
• The Pulitzer Prize 2020 winners were announced by Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy. This year, 15 prizes were given in journalism and seven for arts. Three photojournalists Mukhtar Khan, Yasin Dar and Channi Anand from Jammu and Kashmir are among the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners.

3rd May, Current Affairs:

• World Press Freedom Day is being celebrated across the globe today. The theme of the day is "Journalism without Fear or Favour."
• Total number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 40,263 and the death toll stood at 1,306. As of now, there are 28,070 active cases and 10,886 cured/discharged/migrated cases.

1st May, Current Affairs:

• May Day is celebrated across the World.
• The nationwide coronavirus lockdown extended for two more weeks after May 4. Beginning May 4, the 733 districts of India are broadly divided into Red Zones, Orange Zones and Green Zones as India enters a new phase of the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
• Gujarat and Maharashtra celebrated their statehood day today. Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed after the enactment of the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
• 1988 batch IAS officer Tarun Bajaj today assumed charge as the Economic Affairs Secretary.

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