[CA] May 06, 2020 Headlines

MAY 06, 2020
“special corona fee” imposed on liquor With the liquor shops opening after a long gap, there were long queues at store all over the country. The Delhi Government acted swiftly on the same day evening, imposing 70% hike in liquor prices. The State Government has taken the step in spite of the fact that liquor revenue is one of the major sources of revenue of state government. Except for the states of Gujarat and Bihar, where sale of liquor has been banned, liquor contributes certain amount to the exchequers of all other state and union territories.  The states in general impose heavy excise duty on liquor. chairman of public accounts committee Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) for the term beginning on May 1, 2020, and ending on April 30, 2021. Chowdhury is the only member from Congress in the PAC from the House. PAC has a total of 22 members (15 from Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha). The Speaker is empowered to appoint the Chairman of the Committee from amongst its Members. The Committee on Public Accounts is the oldest Parliamentary Committee and was first constituted in 1921. PULITZER PRIZE 2020 The 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced in 15 Journalism categories and 7 Book, Drama and Music categories. The three Indian photojournalists namely Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand from Jammu and Kashmir who work for Associated Press (AP) have won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. The award recognized their exceptional coverage of Jammu and Kashmir during the lockdown that was imposed on Jammu and Kashmir by the Central Government after the revocation of Article 370. OPERaTION SAMUDRA SETU Indian Navy has launched Operation “Samudra Setu” - meaning “Sea Bridge”, as a part of national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas. Indian Naval Ships Jalashwa and Magar are presently enroute to the port of Malè, Republic of Maldives to commence evacuation operations from May 08, 2020 as part of Phase-1.  [Click for more details...]	2021 COMMONWEALTH youth games postponed The 2021 Commonwealth Youth Games is being postponed to 2023 as it faced clash of dates with the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokyo Olympics that was scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, 2020, was postponed by a year. The 17th Commonwealth youth games were to be held between August 1 and August 7, 2021 in Tobago and Trinidad. ashok michael pinto US President, Mr. Donald Trump had nominated Indian American Ashok Michael Pinto as the US representative to IBRD (International Bank of Reconstruction and Development). IBRD offers loans to middle income developing countries. It is one of the five member institutions that compose the world bank. The IBRD, its lending arms and the International Development Association are collectively known as World Bank. COVID – 19 TEST BUS India’s first COVID – 19 Test Bus was launched by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Alumni Council in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The COVID-19 Testing bus will reduce 80% of the testing cost without compromising on the testing capacity. Commemorative war medal for kim jong – un The Russian embassy in Pyongyang, North Korea announced that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un a commemorative war medal marking the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. The medal was awarded to the North Korean leader for his role in preserving the memory of Soviet soldiers who died on North Korean territory.    MARCUS WALLENBERG PRIZE Professors Nicholas C. Coops of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada,  Richard H. Waring of Oregon State University, United States of America (USA) & Joseph J. Landsberg of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Australia shares the ‘Marcus Wallenberg Prize (MWP) 2020’ or ‘the Nobel Prize for forest sector’ for 3-PG (Physiological Principles Predicting Growth), a model to predict forest growth in a changing climate.
Prepared by K. M. Senthil Kumar