Test : June 2019 Weekly Current Affair - 2" - Current Affairs MCQ

On June 4, 2019, The Government of India, Tamil Nadu, and the World Bank signed a $287 million loan agreement for the state’s Health System Reform Programme in New Delhi. It is aimed to improve the quality of health care, reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and fill equity gaps in reproductive and child health services. The agreement for the Project was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India, Beela Rajesh, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu and Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India, on behalf of the World Bank.

On June 5,2019 , World Bank in its report “Global Economic Prospects report” retained India’s growth forecast at 7.5% for the next two Fiscal years , FY2019 and FY20 (April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020) as it also cuts the global economic expansion by 0.3%. The report stated that private consumption and investment will get benefited amid the reliable monetary policy with inflation having fallen below the Reserve Bank of India’s target.

Cyclone man Mrutyunjay Mohapatra is appointed as the chief or Director General (DG) of India Meteorological Department (IMD) for a period of five years. He earned his praises after accurate prediction during Fani cyclone. He is from Bhadrak district of Odisha. He succeeds KJ Ramesh. Prior to this, the 54 years old, named as “Scientist G” was serving as the Additional Director General in the IMD.

On June 4, 2019, the anti-ship version of Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was test-fired from Complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha. BrahMos, with a strike range of around 290 km, can be fired from land, sea, and air.It is the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile with a high rate of precision and accuracy.It has been commissioned in the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.It is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia.

World Environment Day (WED) is observed on June 5 every year. China was selected as the host country for World Environment Day 2019. In 2018, India was the host country.

On June 6, 2019, Under the Transaction of Business Rules, the Central Government has reconstituted eight key Cabinet Committees. These include -Appointments Committee, Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Security, Investment and Growth and Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development.

Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs will have Shri Rajnath Singh Minister of Defence;Shri Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance; Minister of Corporate Affairs; Shri Ramvilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture &Farmer Welfare, Minister of Rural Development, and Minister of Panchayati Raj; Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Minister of Law and Justice; Shri Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment; Shri Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change; Minister of Information & Broadcasting; Shri Prahlad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Coal and Mines. It will be headed by Rajnath Singh. The Special Invitees are Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan.

The Agreement between the Government of India and the Government of the Marshall Islands for the Exchange of Information with respect to taxes was signed on 18th March, 2016 at Majuro, the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The Indian-Marshall Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) was notified to the gazette of India.The agreement provides a framework for the exchange of Information in tax matters which helps in tax evasion and tax avoidance.It provides information like banking and ownership between two countries for tax purposes.

On June 5, 2019, The recent study “Traffic Index 2018”, analysis of the current status of traffic mobility was conducted by location technology specialist TomTom.According to the findings, Mumbai is the most traffic-congested city among 403 cities in 56 countries with a congestion level of 65 percent, while New Delhi ranked fourth with congestion of 58 percent. ii. The other top cities in the list of congested cities are Bogota (63 percent), Lima in Peru (58 percent), Moscow in Russia(56 Percent), Brussels (37 Percent), London (37 Percent) and Paris (36 percent). iii. Top five most congested North American are in the list are Mexico City (52 per cent), Los Angeles (41 per cent), Vancouver (38 per cent), New York (36 per cent) and San Francisco (34 per cent).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced its second Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Rates for 2019-20 in Mumbai on June 6, 2019. The three-day policy review meeting by the six members of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das with the members Dr Chetan Ghate, Dr Pami Dua, Dr Ravindra H. Dholakia, Dr Michael Debabrata Patra, Dr Viral V Acharya. The next monetary policy statement is scheduled from August 5-7, 2019.

The RBI’s MPC (monetary policy committee) lowered its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast to 7% from 7.2% for FY 20 due to a slowdown in domestic activities and escalation in global trade war. In the April monetary policy, the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2019-20 was projected at 7.2% – in the range of 6.8-7.1% for the first half of the fiscal and 7.3-7.4% for the second part – with risks evenly balanced.

Delhi Metro became India’s the first ever project to receive power from a waste-to-energy plant. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) started receiving 2 MW power from a 12 MW capacity waste-to-energy plant set up in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. Since June, DMRC received the power from the facility, utilized at the Vinod Nagar Receiving Sub-station (RSS) to meet the operational requirements of Pink Line of Delhi Metro.It will use approximately 17.5 million units per annum from the plant.The waste-to-energy plant was set up by East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited (EDWPCL). It is based on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Delhi government and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

Swiss–Italian football administrator Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as President of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), a global governing body of football till 2023. He is a Lawyer from Valais region of Switzerland and holds Italian Nationality.He was elected President of FIFA in 2016.Prior to becoming FIFA President, he was the General Secretary of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) since 2009.

On June 6, 2019, The Indian Air Force (IAF) inked Rs 300-crore deal with the Israeli government to buy more than 100 SPICE bombs (Balakot bombs). The newly ordered SPICE bombs are an advanced version of SPICE-2000 bombs, that were used to attack the Madrasa of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, Pakistan, on February 26, 2019. They will be delivered in the next 3 months as the deal has been signed under emergency powers.They are manufactured by Israeli defence firm, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.

The women sangams (groups) of the Deccan Development Society (DDS) bagged the United Nation’s Equator Prize for 2019. They were selected for standing as ‘an outstanding example of a local, nature-based solution to climate change and sustainable development.’ The six women farmers are Maisanagari Ratnamma, Begari Tuljamma, Chilkapalli Ansuyamma, Nagwar Sunandamma, Yerrolla Kanakamma, and Nadimidoddi Anjamma.