Daily Current Affairs, 30th May 2020

1) International Everest Day: 29th May

•International Everest Day is being observed on 29th May. Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand’s Edmund Hillary had climbed the Mt. Everest on this day (29th May) in 1953, as the first humans to achieve the feat.

•Nepal decided to observe the day as International Everest Day since 2008 when the legendary climber Hillary passed away. Everest Day on May 29 every year in memory of the first summit of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa on the day in 1953. The day is celebrated with memorial events, processions, and special events in Kathmandu and the Everest region.

2) MP govt starts ‘Rozgar Setu’ scheme for skilled workers

•Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced the launch of the ‘Rozgar Setu’ scheme. This scheme would help to secure employment for skilled workers who have returned to the state in the COVID-19 situation. The government of Madhya Pradesh launched a portal ‘MP Rojgar Setu Portal’ for the unemployed migrants to register and find jobs in the field related to their skills.

Eligibility for the scheme:

•Workers with a permanent resident of Madhya Pradesh.

•Holders of Samagra ID, if not generate the same.

•The last date for submitting the online application is 3rd June 2020.

3) U’khand govt starts “Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana” for returnee migrants

•Uttarakhand chief minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat has inaugurated the “Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana” for returnee migrants. The project aims at giving self-employment opportunities to youth and a boost to reverse migration, especially entrepreneurs returning to Uttarakhand and encourage skilled and unskilled artisans, handicrafts and unemployed youths to start their own business. The scheme will offer credit facility through nationalised banks, scheduled commercial banks and cooperative banks.

What is Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana?

•Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana is self-employment opportunities to youth and a boost to reverse migration, especially entrepreneurs returning to Uttarakhand and encourage skilled and unskilled artisans, handicrafts and unemployed youths to start their own business.

•Information about this scheme should be conveyed to every village so that the youth can avail of this scheme.

•This scheme should be widely publicised through public representatives and district level officers so that the maximum number of villagers can take advantage of it.

•Under this scheme, the district magistrate should coordinate with the bankers so that the beneficiaries do not have any problem in taking a loan.




•The migrants who apply under this programme will get quick approval from the authorities concerned and their applications will be forwarded to banks with immediate subsidy which will be 25% in the hill districts and 15% in the plain districts.

•A person needs to be at least 18 years of age to be able to apply under the scheme. The applicant or his family member will be benefited only once under the scheme.

4) Russia hosts BRICS Heads of Tax Authorities meet

•The meeting of the Heads of Tax Authorities of the BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was held on 29 May. The meeting was hosted by the Federal Tax Service of Russia, which currently holds the BRICS Presidency, to discuss the response of BRICS Tax Authorities to the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore potential areas of cooperation in tax matters.

•The meeting was scheduled to be held in Moscow, but was held through video conference in view of COVID-19. Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey represented India at the meeting. The Finance Secretary, while extending India’s support to the ongoing work in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and G-20 project on addressing tax challenges posed by digitalization, underlined the need to ensure that the new tax rules are fair and simple.

5) Missile park “Agneeprastha” to be set up at INS Kalinga

•The foundation stone for a missile park “Agneeprastha” was laid at INS Kalinga, Naval base in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The park ”Agneeprastha”once completed will be dedicated to all the officers, sailors and support staff of INS Kalinga, who has served in this premier op-support Base of the ENC since its establishment in 1981.

•The park also commemorates the award of the prestigious Unit Citation to INS Kalinga for 2018-19 and aims to capture glimpses of missile history of Kalinga since 1981 till date. The park has been set up with a replica of missiles and ground support equipment (GSE) that showcase the evolution of missiles handled by the unit. The exhibits have been created from scrap/obsolete inventory which have been reconditioned in-house.

•A 2-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant was also commissioned at INS Kalinga by Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain. It is the largest plant in the Eastern Naval Command and has an estimated life of 25 years.

6) India’s GDP growth slows to 11-year low of 4.2%

•National Statistical Office, under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has estimated India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.2 per cent in 2019-20 as compared to 6.1 per cent expansion in 2018-19, the slowest growth in GDP in 11 years. The earlier estimate by various arms of the government was 5 per cent growth in ‘19-20.

•India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 has been provisionally estimated at 3.1 per cent as against a rise of 5.7 per cent in the same period last year. Due to the slow growth rate, per capita income in real terms was unable to cross the Rs 1 lakh mark. The decline had an impact on the well-being of the people who withdrew their savings, leading to bank deposits falling by minus 53 per cent.

7) Venkataramani Sumantran becomes new independent director of Indigo

•Venkataramani Sumantran has been appointed the independent director of airline company IndiGo. He presently served as the chairman and managing director of Chennai-based Celeris Technologies. He will hold the post for the next five years.

•Dr Sumantran, with a rich experience of over 35 years having worked in the USA, Europe and Asia, has been an industry leader, technocrat, academic and author.

8) SAI’s extends Sandip Pradhan tenure as DG for 2 year

•The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has extended the tenure of Sandip Pradhan as Director General of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) by two years. The extended tenure will come into effect from 6 June 2020. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for extension.