Top Best Current Affairs 16 May 2020

Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has developed an e-Governance platform, SAMARTH Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP), under the National Mission of Education in Information and Communication Technology Scheme (NMEICT). The aim of the e-Governance platform, SAMARTH, is to provide quality education to students across all Universities & Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). SAMARTH is an Open Standard Open Source Architecture, Secure, Scalable, and Evolutionary Process Automation Engine for Universities and Higher Educational Institutions.

The Head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevedo has announced his resignation, a year before his term expires. He will step down on 31 August 2020.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare participated in the 32nd Commonwealth Health Ministers' Meeting through Video Conference on 14 May. The timely, graded, and proactive measures taken by the Indian government towards COVID-19 management were highlighted during the meeting. The theme of the conference was "Delivering a co-ordinated Commonwealth COVID-19 response."

The West Bengal (WB) Government (govt) launched 'Matir Smristi' scheme to utilise 50,000 acres of barren land in 6 districts for income-generating activities like horticulture and pisciculture involving the locals. Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee also added that the scheme will benefit around 2.5 lakh people in rural Bengal.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued a guideline for Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based pooled sampling for migrants, returnees from abroad, and green zones. The guidelines are for the surveillance purposes of migrant labourers and international passengers who are in institutional quarantine facilities. Pooled sampling will be conducted for surveillance purposes in green zones districts which have not reported any COVID-19 positive case in the last 21 days. The guidelines state that a cohort of 25 people will be identified and the throat or nasal swab will be collected as per the Indian Council for Medical Research's (ICMR) protocol.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the third Tranche of Rs.20 lakh Economic Package on 15 May in New Delhi. On 12 May, Prime Minister Modi announced an Economic relief Package of Rs.20 lakh crore with an aim of making it "Atma Nirbhar" or self-reliant.Centre allocated Rs.4000 crore for the promotion of herbal cultivation. Under this, 10,00,000 hectares will be covered in the next 2 years. Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for the development of marine and inland fisheries will be given Rs.20,000 crore. It is expected to generate job opportunities for 55 lakh people.

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare stated that India's foodgrain production has been estimated to touch a record of 295.67 million tonnes (MT) in the 2019-20 crop year. The Ministry released the third advance estimate.As per the data provided by the Agriculture Ministry, it is the fourth consecutive year that the country has witnessed record production buoyed by good rains. This data showed an increase of 10.46 MT from 285.21 MT achieved in the 2018-19 crop year.

According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment(FRA) 2020 released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO), the forest loss rate in 2015-2020 has declined to an estimated 10 million hectares(mha), down from 12 mha in 2010-2015.