Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

Indian navy ship INS Jalashwa will sail from Colombo port in Sri Lanka today carrying around 700 Indian nationals back to Tuticorin in Tamil nadu.
This will be the first operation as part of operation 'SamudraSetu' from Sri Lanka to repatriate Indian citizens as part of Vande Bharat mission.
The ship will reach Colombo this morning and will depart by late evening. Indian high commission in Colombo is making final arrangements for the repatriation with support of Sri Lankan navy and other authorities.
Indian Navy has already repatriated 1,488 Indian nationals from Malè to Kochi during the previous phase of operations. INS Jalashwa is scheduled to bring back another 700 Indian nationals from Maldives capital of Male on Friday and preparations regarding it are also on.

As the COVID-19 induced reverse migration has brought many families to their native places in the northern districts of Karnataka, the onus is now on creating more person days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). While there are still problems at the ground level, the reality is that not all can find jobs under the scheme.
The sheer magnitude of reverse migration makes it impossible for the administration to create jobs for all under a single scheme. While for a major chunk, the MGNREGS is the only help, not all are dependent on it as they are looking for other options.
During a reality check, it was found that some had found alternative jobs, while in some cases even graduates have turned to the MGNREGS for help. In contrast to the claim of officials, representatives of farmers organisations complained of corruption and non-cooperation at village level.

India’s manufacturing activity continued to shrink in May making firms cut staff numbers at the quickest pace since data collection began over 15 years, a private survey showed on Monday.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing PMI rose to 30.8 in May from 27.4 in April, pointing to another substantial decline in the health of the Indian manufacturing sector, albeit one that was slightly softer than recorded in April. A reading above 50 indicates expansion while lower than that shows contraction.
As per the report, weak demand from international markets added to the deteriorating sales trend, with new business from abroad plunging further in May. Anecdotal evidence suggested that global measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 continued to stifle exports.
Lower production requirements saw Indian manufacturers continue to reduce worker numbers in May. Moreover, the rate of workforce contraction accelerated to the fastest in the survey's history, eclipsing the previous record set April, it said.

India has pitched for flexibility in global intellectual property rights (IPR) agreements, in order to ensure access to essential medicines and vaccines at affordable rates to all as the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the virtual General Council Meeting of the World Trade Organization on Friday, New Delhi also said there was an “urgent need” to build the digital capacities of developing countries and least developed countries (LDC) so that they benefit from e-education and tele-medicine.
India also flagged other priority areas such as ensuring food security and elimination of the historic asymmetries in entitlements in the Agreement on Agriculture and completion of negotiations on disciplines on fisheries subsidies with appropriate special and differential treatment for developing countries including LDCs to protect their small and subsistence fishermen.

Violence has erupted in cities all over US, during protests sparked by the death in police custody of African-American George Floyd.People took it to the streets for the sixth day in a row and Curfews have been imposed in nearly 40 cities.
Riot police clashed with protesters in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, firing tear gas and pepper bullets to try to disperse the crowds. Police vehicles were set on fire and shops were looted in several cities. Large-scale protests also took place in Atlanta, Boston, Miami and Oklahoma City.
The unrest initially began in Minneapolis in Minnesota but has now spread across the country, with reports of violence coming in from across major cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington DC.
The police fired tear gas near the White House on Sunday night to dissuade protesters who had smashed the windows of prominent buildings, overturned cars and set fires.

Researchers at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) have found a rare fish from Sethukarai coast in the Gulf of Mannar.
Camouflaged within the seagrass meadows, the band-tail scorpionfish (Scorpaenospsisneglecta), well-known for its stinging venomous spines and ability to change colour, was found during an exploratory survey of the seagrass ecosystem.
The fish has the ability to change colour and blend with its surrounding environment to escape from predators and while preying.During the underwater survey, this species was first sighted as a coral skeleton.
On first look, its appearance was totally confusing and we doubted if it was a fish or fossilised coral skeleton covered with bivalve shells.
“It started changing when we disturbed it by touching a dead coral fragment. Within four seconds, the skin of the fish changed from white to mottled black colour,” said R. Jeyabaskaran, senior scientist at CMFRI, who led the team of researchers.Thefish is called ‘scorpionfish’ because its spines contain neurotoxic venom.