Daily Current Affairs, 25th May 2020

1) International Day to End Obstetric Fistula observed on 23 May

•The United Nations observes International Day to End Obstetric Fistula on 23 May every year. The day is being observed to significantly raise awareness and intensify actions towards ending obstetric fistula, as well as urging post-surgery follow-up and tracking of fistula patients. Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious and tragic injuries that can occur during childbirth.

•The theme for International Day to End Obstetric Fistula 2020 is “End gender inequality! End health inequities! End Fistula now!”.

2) World Turtle Day celebrated on 23 May

•World Turtle Day is being celebrated every year on 23 May every year by American Tortoise Rescue, a nonprofit organization. The day was created as an annual observance to help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises as well as their disappearing habitats around the world. The day was celebrated for the first time in year 2000.

3) Andhra Pradesh CM releases 1st tranche of “ReStart Package”

•Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has released the 1st tranche of “ReStart Package“. The “ReStart Package” aims to help the lockdown-hit Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to reopen and become functional. The first tranche is of Rs 450 crore which will be used in clearing the pending industrial incentives that would benefit nearly 98,000 units. While the second tranche of Rs 454 crore will be cleared on 29 June 2020.




•Under the “ReStart Package”, government will waive of all the minimum power demand charges of MSMEs of the months of April, May and June. This cost has been estimated as a amount of Rs 188 crore. Along with waive off, the AP government will also provide input capital of Rs 200 crore to the firms at low-interest rates in order to bring the MSMEs back on rails. This will be done by providing loans in partnership with the Small industrial Development Bank of India at a low-interest rate.

•Andhra Pradesh government has also announced to give preferential market access to MSMEs in government procurement and it has identified 360 items that will be purchased from MSMEs and all those payments will be cleared in a period of 45 days.

4) Abhas Jha becomes World Bank’s Practice Manager for Climate Change

•Indian economist Abhas Jha has been appointed as World Bank’s Practice Manager for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management for South Asia. In his capacity, Jha will be responsible to nurture, lead, inspire and position a team of highly qualified professionals to provide the best solutions for South Asian countries. He will motivate and support the South Asia region (SAR) Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change team to connect and unite across Global Practice boundaries.

•During his tenure as World Bank’s Practice Manager for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management for South Asia, Abhas Jha will also work along with other Practice Managers, Global Leads as well as the Global Solutions Groups to incubate, pilot and scale-up innovative and high-quality development solutions. They will together promote the generation as well as the flow of global knowledge to serve South Asian countries.

5) Jahnabi Phookan appointed as National President of FLO

•FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) has appointed Assam-based entrepreneur Jahnabi Phookan as its National President. She has taken over from the outgoing National President Harjinder Kaur Talwar as the 37th National President of FLO, the women wing of the leading industry chamber of the country.

•As a National President, Jahnabi Phookan will work towards empowering women with entrepreneurship capabilities and professional excellence. Her efforts would aim to enable women to take up new challenges and maximise the opportunities in the new normal post COVID-19.

•FICCI FLO works towards women’s economic empowerment and represents over 8,000 women entrepreneurs and professionals across 17 chapters nationally. It also works towards promoting equal opportunities for women.

6) MoHFW constitutes committee to reform Drug Regulatory System

•The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has constituted a committee to reform the Drug Regulatory System. The committee comprises of 11 members including the senior health officials, scientists and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. The committee is being headed by Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty to the Union health minister.

•The committee has been tasked with examining the current drug regulatory system and to give recommendations for reforms in order to bring the system more efficient and to streamline it with global standards. It has also been tasked to examine the reports given by Parliamentary standing committee, Professor RR Choudhary Committee on clinical trials and SN Mishra Committee on qualification of DCGI.