Daily Current Affairs : 19th May 2020 | Daily GK update Quiz

Exp. In Madhya Pradesh, in a first of its kind of initiative, Charan Paduka (चरण पादुका) campaign has been started for the migrant labourers passing through the state. Under this campaign, the migrant labourers going barefoot are being providing shoes and slippers to reduce their pain.

The most notable thing is that this campaign is being conducted by the police at most places.

The Charan Paduka campaign started from the Rau Police Station of Indore. Police station in-charge Dinesh Verma said that this initiative is getting full support of public.

Exp. Cyclone storm Amphan over central parts of South Bay of Bengal intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on 18th May.

With the cyclonic storm intensifying in the last few hours, there is likelihood of heavy rainfall coupled with high-velocity winds in coastal districts of Odisha and parts of West Bengal.

A cyclone alert for West Bengal and north Odisha coasts has been issued by the IMD. Cycle Amphan is expected to cross the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on May 20.

Exp. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark discover new species of parasitic fungus via Twitter. The newly discovered fungus was named “Troglomyces twitteri”, after Twitter.

The discovery was made by the biologist and associate professor Ana Sofia Reboleira of the National Natural History Museum.

Exp. Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure. These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio economic development in the border areas.

On the matter related to creating border infrastructure, the Government has implemented recommendation of CoE to outsource road construction work beyond optimal capacity of Border Roads Organisation (BRO). It has been made mandatory to adopt Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) mode for execution of all works costing more than Rs 100 crore.

Exp. The two-day 2020 assembly will be held virtually – it usually happens in Geneva – because of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis around the world.

This year’s assembly, the 73rd WHA, will be dedicated almost entirely to strengthening global coordination against the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 4.7 million people and killed 315,000.

The World Health Assembly is the key decision-making body of the World Health Organization, attended by representatives of the United Nation’s 194 member states.

Exp. China will provide USD 2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic, President Xi Jinping said on 18th May, rallying around the World Health Organization and its efforts even as the Trump administration has slashed funding for the UN health agency.

The European Union’s 27-member bloc and other countries, meanwhile, called for an independent evaluation of WHO’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic “to review experience gained and lessons learned”.

Exp. Cricket is set to do away with one of its oldest practices — the use of saliva to shine the ball — as an Anil Kumble-led ICC committee on 18th May recommended banning it owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the ICC Cricket Committee saw no health hazard in continuing with the use of sweat.

During a meeting over a video conference, the committee also pushed for bringing back two non-neutral umpires (both from the host nation) for all internationals matches, as DRS ensures more accurate decision making. This was also recommended to curb travel.

Exp. Realtors body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has appointed Rajesh Goel as director general (DG) of the association.

Earlier, Rajesh Goel was serving as the chairman and managing director, Hindustan Prefab Ltd, NAREDCO. Rajesh Goel is a professional with over 37 years of experience in leading PSUs under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, superannuated in November 2019 as the chairman and managing director of Hindustan Prefab Ltd.

NAREDCO and CREDAI are the two major associations of real estate developers across the country.

Exp. Shri Hardeep S, Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, has informed that for the assessment year 2019-2020, a total of six cities have been certified as 5-Star (Ambikapur, Rajkot, Surat, Mysuru, Indore and Navi Mumbai), 65 cities as 3-Star and 70 cities as 1-Star.  While announcing the results of the Star Rating of Garbage Free Cities on 19th May.

Exp. Headquarters: New Delhi

Exp. CEO: Manu Sawhney