29th may 2020 current affairs

1) World Gold Council released its report on Retail Gold Insights: India Jewellery Report. According to the report, around 37% of Indian women never bought jewellery. • The report says that gold jewellery was the second most popular item among “Fashion and Lifestyle” shoppers next to clothes and silk sarees. • Around 60% of Indian women already owned jewellery. • The 37% of Indian women that do not buy gold are now being seen as new target by the gold industry. Of these, 44% of the women are from rural areas and 30% are from urban.

• According to the World Gold Council, the current young Indian women show least interest towards gold ornaments. • Only 33% of women in the age group 18-24 bought gold jewellery. • This is a great threat to the gold market- India is one of the largest gold market in the world and decrease in gold purchase in the country will affect gold industry badly.

2) Karnataka State Government announced that it will launch a “State Health Register” to collect data of all its citizens. • The register is first of its kind in the country. • The register will hold names of all the citizens of the state • The need to maintain such a register has been raised by COVID-19. • The register is to be created in the future with 50% partnership from private hospitals. 

• The State Government is to undertake a survey including every person of the state. • The current population of Karnataka is 6.5 crores- The survey is to be conducted through ASHA workers, educational department staffs, staffs in primary health centre and revenue officials. • The survey to create the register is to be conducted by visiting to each and every household. • The data will help the state government in allocating funds, better implementation of the schemes, efficient resource management.

3)India and China have activated the “working mechanism” at the diplomatic level alongside the military-to-military conversation taking place at the field level to “dis-engage” and “de-escalate” the situation. The “Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC)” was established in January 2012 after border talks between then National Security Adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon and his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo.

It is headed by joint secretary-level officials from both sides. They are entrusted to help the special representative for boundary talks, a position currently held by NSA Ajit Doval. These officials have had 14 meetings since 2012, the last one in July 2019, and meet more frequently than the special representatives.

4)National Payment Corporation of India launched Artificial Intelligence based chatbot called Pai. The Chatbot aims to increase financial inclusion in India. The PAI can be accessed 24/7. It provides information about NPCI products. The queries can be sent by the users through text or voice. In order to send queries, the users shall use websites of RuPay, NPCI and UPI. Currently, PAI is available in English and Hindi languages. The AI based chatbot was created by Bengaluru based startup CoRover Private Limited.

5)The Sports Authority of India recently transferred Rs 30,000 to the accounts of Khelo India athletes. The authority has spent Rs 8.25 cr in all to achieve this. The Sports Authority of India recently deposited Rs 30,000 to more than 2749 Khelo India athletes accounts. The sports allowance has been provided for the athletes to travel to their home town, to keep up their diet at home and to suffice other miscellaneous expenses. The Out of Pocket Allowance under Khelo India scholarship is Rs 1.20 lakhs annually.

6)Under its Perspective Aviation Complex for Long Range Aviation (PAKDA) programme, Russia has constructed its first Stealth Bomber. Russia is currently modernizing its military at a very fast pace. The Stealth Bomber is one such advancement. The bomber is the second-generation combat aircraft after Sukhoi Su-57 supersonic fighter jet. The Stealth Bomber has been developed under PAKDA programme. The PAKDA programme is to use latest technologies to reduce its radar signature.

7)Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman attended the Special Board of Governors meet of New Development bank through video conference. The leaders that attended the meet elected the president, vice president of new development bank. The bank has so far approved 16.6 billion USD to over 55 projects in its member countries. Mr Marcos Troyjo of Brazil was elected as the president at the meet. The 5th annual meet of board of governors of the New Development Bank was held in April 2020. 

8)The US President Donald Trump's administration has launched a program called Operation Warp Speed. Operation Warp Speed is a public–private partnership, initiated by the Federal Government of the United States, to facilitate and accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. It is an interagency program that includes components of the Department of Health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health and private firms.

9)European Union proposed 750 billion Euros as COVID-19 recovery fund. The fund is to be used by the countries to recover from deep recession caused by the COVID-19. The European Union has broken the deficit limit to keep jobs, health care systems and businesses alive in its member countries. France and Germany had earlier agreed to provide 543 billion USD fund to add cash to the financial measures of the bloc. The European Union is to implement the blueprint that are in several ways similar to that of the Franco-German model. India supports the Franco-German model greatly. The model aims to pull in world organizations in the fight against COVID-19