1. India ranked 3rd among countries in a scientific publication 

• India’s gross expenditure in R&D has tripled between 2008 & 2018 driven mainly by the Govt sector and scientific publications have risen placing the country internationally among the top few.
• This is as per the R&D Statistics and Indicators 2019-20 based on the national S&T survey 2018 brought out by the National Science and Technology Management Information (NSTMIS), Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• The report shows that with the rise in publication, the country is globally at the 3rd   position on this score as per the NSF database, 3rd in the number of Ph.D. in science & engineering.
• India occupies 3rd rank in terms of number of Ph.D.’s awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) after the USA (39,710 in 2016) and China (34,440 in 2015).Number of researchers per million population in India has increased to 255 in 2017 from 218 in 2015 and 110 in 2000.

2.    Bamboo Conclave held through video Conference

• The Minister of State for North East Development held Bamboo Conclave through video conference to boost the economy of the country with the help of Bamboo resources.
• North East region of India consists of 60% of bamboo reserves of the country. In the past six years, the GoI has given equal importance to the bamboo sector as that of the north east development. Also, The National Bamboo Mission was launched.
• The restructures Bamboo mission was approved in 2018 and implemented in 2019-20. The mission is being implemented in non-forest Government lands. It aims to provide supplement farm incomes to farmers. Apart from the North Eastern States, the mission was launched in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Foot notes:
About Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region:
Minister of state: Jitendra SIngh
Founded: September 2001
 

3.   Ministry of Tourism hosts 13th webinar titled ‘Destination- Sariska Tiger reserve’ of "DekhoApnaDesh" series

• The 13th session of Ministry of Tourism’s DekhoApnaDesh webinar on 1st May 2020, titled, ‘Destination- Sariska Tiger reserve’ was a presentation and virtual tour of wildlife adventure, safari experience for the traveller within the Sariska Tiger Reserve’ in Alwar district, Rajasthan.
• Sariska Tiger Reserve is located in the Aravalli Hills, 35 km from Alwar, 250 km SW of Delhi and 110 km NE of Jaipur. The former hunting reserve of the Maharaja of Alwar, the Sariska valley is home to a variety of flora and fauna.
• The park has populations of tigers, leopards, Nilgai, Sambar, chital etc.

Foot Notes:
Minister of Tourism: Prahlad Singh Patel

4. Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi passed away due to COVID-19 disease

• Former Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi (retd) passed away. He was 62 years old. He died after suffering cardiac arrest at AIIMS in Delhi. He was tested positive for coronavirus on 2 April.
• On 7 July 2018, he was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court. On 27 March 2019, he took oath as a Judicial Member of Lokpal of India. He played a vital role in setting up the Institution of Lokpal of India with his innovative ideas and inputs.

Foot Notes:
About Chhattisgarh
Chief minister: Bhupesh Baghel
Governor: Anusuiya Uikey
Capitals: Bilaspur, Raipur

5.    PM Modi attended the NAM Summit  through a video conference

• On May 4, 2020, PM Modi  attended the NAM Summit representing India through a video conference. The Summit is to discuss COVID-19 challenges and solutions.
• This is the first NAM Summit being attended by the Mr Modi since he was sworn in as the Prime Minister in 2014. Mr Modi skipped both the summits as PM in 2016 and 2019. The 2016 summit was held in Venezuels and 2019 in Azerbaijan. In 2012, the former PM Manmohan Singh participated at the Tehran NAM summit. 
• The NAM is Non-Aligned Movement forum of 120 developing countries. After the United Nations, NAM is the largest grouping of states. The summit was agreed to convene at the Bandung Conference in 1955. NAM was established in 1961 through initiatives of Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
• The main aim of the summit is to build aspiration towards collective security, terminating dominance of one country over other and expansion of freedom. The NAM also aimed to soften the cold war that was building among the developed nations.

Foot Notes:
About NAM(Non-Aligned Movement):
Founded: 1961, Belgrade, Serbia
Headquarters:  Jakarta, Indonesia
Chairperson: Ilham Aliyev

#Don't Roam, Study at HOME - 30% OFF on All Courses 

6. USFDA approves emergency use of an investigational vaccine, Remdesivir

• The United States Food and Drug Regulatory body recently allowed emergency use of anti-viral investigational vaccine Remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients.
• The USFDA has approved the vaccine after an Indian-American physician, Aruna Subramaninan’s report on Remdesivir. According to the report, the vaccine shortened the recovery times of people that have fallen ill due to COVID-19 virus. The FDA has provided emergency use authorization of the drug.

Foot Notes: About USFDA
Founder: Theodore Roosevelt, Harvey Washington Wiley
Founded: 30 June 1906
Commissioner:  Stephen Hahn

7. GoI increases MSP for Minor Forest Produce ranging from 16% to 66% 

• The Government of India has raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) of 49 items. The increase in MSP across various items of minor forest produce varies from 16% to 66%.
• The Pricing Cell set up under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India revises the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) once in every 3 years. 

Foot Notes:
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs: Arjun Munda.
Minister of State for Tribal Affairs: Renuka Singh Saruta.

8. American Academy of Arts and Sciences honours Professor Shobhana Narasimhan

• Professor Shobhana Narasimhan has been elected as an International Honorary Member to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been honoured for her distinguished work in the field of sciences. 
• She has done remarkable work on the rational design of nanomaterials, determining the affect of lowering of dimensionality and reduction of size on the properties of material. 
• Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela and Charles Darwin are some of the previous International Honorary Members being honoured by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

9. Union Culture Minister releases e-book “Prof. B.B. Lal: India Rediscovered”

•  Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel has released an e-book titled “Prof. B.B. Lal: India Rediscovered” on the occasion of centenary year of great archaeologist Professor B. B. Lal. 
• E-book titled “Prof. B.B. Lal: India Rediscovered” has been prepared by the Ministry of culture along with Prof B. B. Lal Centenary Celebration Committee.

10. RBI cancels licence of  CKP Co-operative Bank 

• The Reserve Bank of India suspended operations of CKP Co-operative Bank and cancelled its licence.RBI reasoned that the financial position of the bank is highly adverse and unsustainable.
• There is no concrete revival plan or proposal for merger with another bank. With the cancellation of licence and commencement of liquidation proceedings, the process of paying the depositors of The CKP Co-operative Bank Ltd Mumbai, as per the DICGC Act, 1961 will be set in motion.
• On liquidation, every depositor is entitled to repayment of his/her deposits up to a monetary ceiling of Rs 5,00,000 from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) as per usual terms and conditions.

Foot Notes: About RBI
Headquarters: Mumbai
Founder: British Raj
Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
Governor: Shaktikanta Das