Daily Current Affairs, 11th May 2020

1) Mother’s day 2020: 10 May

•Mother’s day is celebrated on every second Sunday of May month and this year, it’s falling on 10th May 2020. Mother’s Day is widely known to salute the motherhood, to extend the influence of mothers within the society, to extend the maternal bonds to children, etc. Mother, being a protector throughout her life loves her children unconditionally. She plays a special role sort of a teacher, best friend and one’s who besides us under all circumstances.

2) India celebrates National Technology Day on 11th May

•National Technology Day is celebrated on 11 May across India. This day marks the successfully tested Shakti-I nuclear missile at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. This day will be focusing on rebooting the economy through Science and Technology.

3) India starts “Mission Sagar” to assist island nations in EIO

•The Government of India has started “Mission Sagar” on 10 May 2020 to provide assistance to Eastern Indian Ocean Region Nations amid the coronavirus crisis. Under the mission, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kesari has been deployed, carrying on board two medical assistance teams, essential Food Items and COVID related Medicines and Special Ayurvedic Medicines five to Island countries in the Indian Ocean. The five countries are Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros.

•The mission is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of SAGAR  (Security and Growth for All in the Region). The operation is being progressed in close coordination with Ministries of Defence and External Affairs.

4) SC places the “SARFAESI Act” applicable to Co-opt Banks

•The Supreme Court of India has ruled that the provisions of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, will be applicable to state and multi-state cooperative banks.

•The Apex court has also ruled that the Cooperative Banks have also come under the definition of banks under Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The apex court’s judgment notes that the aim behind this move was to remove the delays caused by going through the civil court or summary procedure under the Cooperative Societies Act. The Judgement was delivered by a 5-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra.

What is the SARFAESI Act?

•Sarfaesi Act is Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act. The banks utilize the act as a tool to recover bad loans, especially the non-performing assets. The act provides procedures to transfer Non-Performing Assets for the reconstruction of assets. It also enforces the security interests of the banks without the intervention of the court. In order to recover a debt, the act empowers the financial institutions in India to take over immovable property.

5) WHO, UN’s release postage stamp on 40th anniversary of smallpox eradication

•The World Health Organization (WHO) and therefore the United Nation (UN) postal agency released commemorative Postage Stamp on the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. The commemorative stamp was designed and developed by Sergio Baradat, United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) together with WHO.

•The stamp serves to honour the millions of people working together, from world leaders and international organizations to rural doctors and community doctors to eradicate smallpox. Tedros Adhanom expressed his gratitude to a top Indian-origin Atul Khare for creating this commemorative stamp possible. Born in India, Khare is that the Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Operational Support (DOS) and therefore the UN Postal Administration is within the DOS Division of Administration.

6) ICMR tie up with Bharat Biotech for Indian COVID-19 vaccine

•The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) tie-up with Bharat Biotech to develop indigenous COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is to be developed using virus strains that have been isolated from COVD-19 patients at ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

•ICMR has shared one of the 11 virus strains that it managed to culture with Bharat Biotech. The industry partnership is to develop the vaccine candidate and ICMR has transferred the technology to them One of the strains has now been successfully transferred from NIV to Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL) in Hyderabad as part of the partnership. ICMR-NIV will provide continuous support to BBIL for vaccine development.

7) SBI General Insurance launches “Arogya Sanjeevani” Health Insurance Policy

•State Bank of India(SBI) General Insurance has launched the standard health insurance policy named “Aarogya Sanjeevani Health Insurance Policy”. This policy provides hospitalisation cover anywhere in India with sums insured ranging from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakhs.

•This policy has been designed at the instance of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) with standard coverage and affordable premiums. Arogya Sanjeevani Policy will cover the hospitalisation treatment cost of COVID–19 and will help in making affordable health care more accessible in times like these.

8) Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge awards

•Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh has presented the award to the winners of “Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge”. The challenge was open for application to Startups from 11th of September, 2019 to 15th of November, 2019 on the Startup India portal – www.startupindia.gov.in.

•This award was launched by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in partnership with Startup India to look out for innovative and commercially viable solutions to address the problems faced by the Animal Husbandry and Dairy sector.

9) FIH extends Narinder Batra term as President till 2021

•International Hockey Federation (FIH) has extended the term of Narinder Batra as President of FIH until May 2021. Batra and therefore the Executive Board members which were due to end in October 2020 have now been extended.

•The Executive Board (EB) of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has also decided to postpone the 47th FIH Congress, initially planned on 28 October-1 November 2020 in New Delhi, to May 2021.