21st May 2020 Daily Current Affairs

May 21, 2020 Share Like Labels: gr8

Daily Current Affairs of 21st May 2020

International Current Affairs

Today (21st May) is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
- This day is a United Nations–sanctioned international holiday to help people learn about the importance of cultural diversity and harmony.
The positive coronavirus cases have crossed 5 million globally, while the number of deaths due to it has exceeded 3,28,100.
- At least 188 countries/regions have reported cases and over 18,99,300 patients have recovered globally.
- The US has recorded the most number of coronavirus cases, followed by Russia and Brazil.
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where coronavirus was first detected, has imposed a ban on wildlife trade and consumption for 5 years.
- Hunting wild animals without a valid reason, such as scientific research, has also been prohibited.
Cambridge University has become the 1st British university to cancel all face-to-face lectures until summer 2021 due to 'rigid social distancing'.
- Lectures will be live-streamed and will also be recorded and uploaded for students to view in their own time.

National Current Affairs

Anti-Terrorism Day being observed across India today (21st May 2020).
- Former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated by a female suicide bomber on this day (21st May) 1991, while conducting an election campaign in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.
- The bomb attack was carried out by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu, who was reportedly a member of the Sri Lankan militant organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Health and Family Welfare Ministry today announced that a total 45,300 people affected with corona virus have cured and the recovery rate reached to 40.31 per cent in the country.
- During the last twenty four hours, 3,002 people have recovered and 5,609 fresh cases of Covid-19 have been reported taking the total number of cases to 1,12,359.
- A total 132 deaths have been registered in last 24 hours taking the nationwide toll to three thousand 435.
- Note : At present, mortality rate in India is 3.06 percent, which is much lower in comparison to the global mortality rate of 6.65 per cent.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

Senior US diplomat Alice Wells today said India will have to reduce tariffs and adopt more welcoming policies to build trusted supply chain relationships in the post-coronavirus world.
- Companies want to diversify their supply chains post-Covid-19, this really represents "a golden opportunity for India", Wells said.
Canada's inflation turned negative and dropped 0.2% in April for the first time since the 2009 recession amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- The fall comes amid a record 39.3% drop in gasoline prices and a 23.7% drop in energy prices.
- Note : Canada's annual inflation was last recorded negative when prices fell by 0.9% in September 2009.
In a major development, Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) has announced the introduction of Video KYC to open a full-fledged Kotak 811 savings account – a first in Indian banking.
- This initiative, presently being launched on a pilot basis for savings accounts, is in line with Kotak’s digital-first strategy and is a start-to-end fully integrated, zero-contact, completely digital and paperless account opening + Full KYC journey.
US Senate has passed a bill to delist Chinese companies from American stock exchanges.
- The senate has unanimously approved the bill brought by Republican Senator John Kennedy and Democrat Senator, Chris Van Hollen.
- The legislation requires companies to certify that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government.

New Appointments

The World Bank has named former Bear Stearns executive Carmen Reinhart as its Chief Economist.
- She is a professor at Harvard University and previously worked with IMF.
J&K Government has appointed B R Sharma, former IAS Officer, as Chairman Public Service Commission for the UT of J&K.