Daily Current Affairs 5 May 2020 With Video Lecture

Chetan Apurav
May 5, 2020
940

Prime Minister participates at the online Summit of NAM Contact Group

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the online Summit of Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Contact Group held on the evening of May 4, 2020 to discuss response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
The online NAM Contact Group Summit on the theme of “United against COVID-19” was hosted by the current Chairman of NAM, President of Republic of Azerbaijan HE Ilham Aliyev. The objective of the Summit was to promote international solidarity in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and to mobilise efforts of States and international organisations to address the pandemic. The event also commemorated the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace.
PM Modi’s participation underlined India’s longstanding commitment to the principles and values of NAM as one of its leading founding-member. In his intervention, Prime Minister emphasized the importance of a coordinated, inclusive and equitable response by the world to this crisis, outlining the steps India had taken domestically and internationally, while reaffirming India’s readiness to offer assistance in solidarity with the Movement, to the extent possible. PM also emphasized the importance of a continued effort by the world against other viruses, in particular terrorism and fake news.
PM Modi was joined by over 30 other Heads of State and Government and other leaders, including from member States in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe. The Summit was also addressed by the President of the UN General Assembly Prof Tijjani Muhammed Bande, UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres, African Union Chairperson Musa Faki Mahamat, EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, as well as Director General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus.
Overall, NAM Leaders assessed the impact of COVID-19, identified needs and requirements for possible remedies and urged action-oriented follow-up measures. Following the Summit, leaders adopted a Declaration underlining the importance of international solidarity in the fight against COVID-19. Leaders also announced the creation of a ‘Task Force’ to identify needs and requirements of member States through the establishment of a common database reflecting their basic medical, social and humanitarian needs in the fight against COVID-19.

DRDO develops UV Disinfection Tower

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection Tower for rapid and chemical free disinfection of high infection prone areas.
The equipment named UV blaster is a UV based area sanitiser designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhi based premier laboratory of DRDO with the help of M/s New Age Instruments and Materials Private Limited, Gurugram.
The UV Blaster is useful for high tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods. The product is also effective for areas with large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories, offices, etc.
The UV based area sanitiser may be used by remote operation through laptop/mobile phone using Wi-Fi link. The equipment has six lamps each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360 degree illumination. For a room of about 12 x 12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room.
This sanitiser switches off on accidental opening of room or human intervention. One more salient safety feature of the product is the key to arm operation.

Narendra Singh Tomar launches ‘The Saras Collection’ on the Government e-Marketplace portal

The Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, launched “The Saras Collection” on the Government e Marketplace (GeM) portal at Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi today. A unique initiative of GeM and the Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development, the Saras Collection showcases daily utility products made by rural self-help groups (SHGs) and aims to provide SHGs in rural areas with market access to Central and State Government buyers
Under this initiative, the SHG sellers will be able to list their products in 5 product categories, namely (i) handicrafts, (ii) handloom and textiles, (iii) office accessories, (iv) Grocery and pantry, and (v) personal care and hygiene. In the first phase, 913 SHGs from 11 States have already registered as sellers and 442 products have been on-boarded. In order to develop a scalable model capable of onboarding a large number of SHGs across the country in a short time frame, GeM has developed an API based integration mechanism with the NRLM database.
GeM will provide dashboards for functionaries at the national, state, district and block level to provide them real time information about the number of products uploaded by SHGs, and value and volume of orders received and fulfilled. In addition, Government buyers shall be sensitized through system generated messages/ alerts in the Marketplace about availability of SHG products on the portal. Potential buyers shall be able to search, view, cart and procure such products through the stipulated modes of procurement.

TRIFED to procure existing stock of tribal products worth Rs 23 cr. from tribal artisans

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has already hiked the MSP of items of Minor Forest Produce under the scheme ‘Institutional Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products’.
Tribal Affairs is associated with approximately 10 Lakh Tribal Artisan families.
Since, the past 30 days, owing to the nationwide lockdown, all commercial activities of the tribal artisans have come to a halt and the artisans are staring at uncertainty as their livelihoods have been impacted.

Govt. Launches Aarogya Setu IVRS Platform