[CA] May 11, 2020 Headlines

MAY 11, 2020
mission sagar Government of India has launched “Mission Sagar”, an outreach programme amidst COVID-19 pandemic. The mission aims at providing food items, Ayurvedic medicines related to COVID-19, HCQ tablets to Maldives, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros. The Indian Naval Ship Kesari has been deployed under the mission. [Click for more details...] 40th anniversary of eradication of small pox World Health Organization and the United Nations Postal Agency released a commemorative stamp to mark 40th anniversary of eradication of small pox. The World Health Organization small pox eradication campaign was initiated in 1967. In 1980, the organization officially declared that the world is free from small pox. passenger train services to start The Indian Railways will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12 and will ask passengers to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure. Initially, the all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train. The special trains will run to 15 cities across the country from New Delhi. ins magar INS Magar, the second Indian Naval ship to reach Male, Maldives for evacuation of Indian citizens, has departed Male, Maldives after completing embarkation of personnel. Indian Navy as part of Operation Samudra Setu under the Vande Bharat Mission has deployed INS Magar for second phase of repatriation of Indian citizens from Maldives. In the first phase, INS Jalashwa had evacuated a total of 698 Indian nationals stranded in the Maldives. [Click for more details...] lockdown extended till june 01, 2020: uk Britain Prime Minister, Mr. Boris Johnson said that, Britain's coronavirus lockdown will stay in place until at least June 1 and he also unveiled cautious plans to lift restrictions imposed seven weeks ago. Britain has seen nearly 32,000 deaths in the outbreak -- the second-worst cumulative death toll behind the United States, and the worst in Europe. Government would unveil a five-phase COVID Alert Level similar to the system in place for security threats, with one the lowest and five the highest.	shekatar committee Union Defence Minister, Mr.  Rajnath Singh recently approved the abolition of 9,304 posts in the military engineering services. The posts were abolished based on the recommendation of Shekatar Committee. Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in 2016 appointed a 11-member committee headed by Shekatkar. Of all the recommendations made by the committee, around 65 were approved in 2017. The committee had made a total of 99 recommendations. If all the recommendations are implemented according to the committee, India can save Rs 25, 000 crores. locusts Locusts normally arrive during July-October, but have already been spotted in Rajasthan. At a time India is battling COVID, they present a new worry with their potential for exponential growth and crop destruction. Locusts are a group of short-horned grasshoppers that multiply in numbers as they migrate long distances in destructive swarms (up to 150km in one day). Four species of locusts are found in India: Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), Bombay Locust (Nomadacris succincta) and Tree locust (Anacridium sp.) national technology day May 11: National Technology Day The day has a historical perspective as it was on May 11, 1998, that India achieved a major technological breakthrough., (1) Successfully carried out nuclear tests at Pokhran (Operation Shakti). (2) The first indigenous aircraft “Hansa-3” was test flown at Bangalore on this day (3) India also performed successful test firing of the Trishul missile on the same day. Since 1999, the day is being celebrated as National Technology Day. no pressure from china: who The World Health Organisation has dismissed as "false allegations" a media report that it withheld information about the new coronavirus following pressure from China. The UN agency said in a statement that a German magazine's report about a telephone conversation between WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 21 was "unfounded and untrue". US President, Mr. Donald Trump has been among the strongest critics of WHO's handling of the pandemic, accusing it of deference to China and ceasing payments to the agency.
Prepared by K. M. Senthil Kumar