Test: June 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 4 - UPSC MCQ

The Minister of Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar unveiled the booklet and poster of the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is scheduled to take place from November 20 to 28, 2020 in Goa.

China has successfully launched the last Satellite of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), which is a rival for the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the US, to become a major space power. The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch center in Sichuan Province.

Navigation is an essential feature in the era of smart devices and IoT (Internet of things), which we use in various personal and commercial applications. Navigation technology enables the nation to manage its territory, protect its borders and manage disaster response. Keeping these requirements in mind, researchers at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Bombay led by Rajesh Zele from the Department of Electrical Engineering have created a chip named ‘Dhruva’ that can be mounted in smartphones and navigation devices to find places and routes within the country.

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), Maharashtra, has launched a mobile application “Air-Venti” developed by Octaware Technologies Limited in partnership with Probity Soft Pvt Ltd, which helps to provide information about availability of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and Ventilators.

Tripura Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath informed that, ‘Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho’(Play little, Study little’), an initiative for school students upto class VIII will be launched on June 25.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released its first report focusing on the South Asian region on the impacts of COVID-19 on children states that around 240 million children are classified as poor and the current COVID-19 situation will affect an additional 120 million children, a total of 360 million children will be pushed into poverty and food insecurity in the next 6 months.

Nitin Gadkari (Minister of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) launched the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Sub-ordinate debt (CGSSD) which is also called the “Distressed Assets Fund–Sub-ordinate Debt for MSMEs” to provide Rs 20000 crore guarantee cover to two lakh MSMEs.

IBMC Financial Professionals Group in partnership with US Gold Currency Inc and Blockfills introduced the world’s first monetary gold-backed US Gold digital currency in India, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Middle East and Africa. Each US Gold digital currency is backed by a US American Eagle one-ounce (33.931 gram) gold coin, minted by the US Federal Agency, US Mint.

In accordance with the World Bank Data under the International Comparison Program (ICP), revealed by India’s National Statistical Office (NSO) of Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), India has retained its position as the third-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) for 2017 as it accounted for 6.7% or $8,051 billion out of world total of $119,547 billion of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). India has followed China (16.4%) and the United States-US (16.3%) which ranked 1st and 2nd respectively.

Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, launched “YUKTI 2.0” – (Young India combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation 2.0), a platform to support the startups incubated in the institutes of higher education over the virtual platform.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s (MoHFW) Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and its Minister of State (MoS), Ashwini Kumar Choubey launched the Annual “India TB (Tuberculosis) Report 2020” through a virtual event which is released by Central TB Division (CTD), MoHFW. The salient feature of 2020 report is that for the first time CTD introduced a quarterly ranking on TB elimination efforts by all the states and UTs. In accordance with the report, there were around 24.04 lakh TB patients in 2019, a 14% increase in as compared to the year 2018.

The Cabinet has approved an ordinance to bring nearly 1,482 urban and 58 multi state cooperative banks under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) supervision. Therefore, RBI’s power applied to scheduled banks, will now apply for cooperative banks as well. This information has been revealed by Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.

Cabinet has approved the further extension of the term of the Commission formulated under Article 340 of the constitution to examine the issue of Sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), by 6 months i.e. up to January 31, 2021 from earlier July 31, 2020. In October 2017, the commission was instituted under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report Team launched its 2020 Report on “Inclusion and Education: All Means All”, assessing the progress towards the Sustainable Developments Goal 4 on education and other SDG agendas related to education.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the June 2020 update “A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery” of its flagship World Economic Outlook (WEO), has predicted that the Indian economy will have a big 4.5% contraction in 2020 and it will come down to a historic low. At the same time, the IMF has reported a global growth rate of negative 4.9% in 2020, which is 1.9% points lower than the estimate made in April 2020 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast. For 2021, growth rate is expected to be 5.4%.

The Republic of Mali awarded the Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contract for the development of a 500 MW solar park in Mali to NTPC Limited (formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited).

Former England Women Cricket Captain Clare Connor (43-year-old), an all-rounder, becomes the 1st female president of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 233 years. Her tenure will begin on October 1, 2021, and will end on September 30, 2022. She will succeed Kumar Sangakkara.

Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) becomes the 1st airport in India to get an indigenously-developed Aviation Weather Monitoring System (AWMS) at both ends of the runway. AWMS is installed by Bangalore International Airport (BIAL). The technology is developed by Bengaluru-based CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).

Under the Make in India initiative the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW) has initiated to develop a vehicle mounted ultra-low volume (ULV) sprayer for locust control to reduce the limitations of importing equipment. Note: India is to be the first country in the world to control desert locusts using drones.

Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Yojana was inaugurated by Shri Narendra Modi through video conferencing for migrant workers of Uttarpradesh. The local entrepreneurship will be promoted along with providing employment opportunities to migrant workers. This is the largest employment generating program in the country which provided employment to about 1.25 crore people in Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra forest department declared the 29.53 square kilometre Tillari forest area in Dodamarg and Sawantwadi range in coastal Sindhudurg district as a conservation reserve area. The Tilari ecosystem breeds tiger population and serves as the source population for the Sahyadri tiger reserve.

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the creation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure. This is part of reforms aimed at giving a boost to private sector participation in the entire range of space activities.

As a part of International Yoga day, on 23rd June 2020, V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State of External Affairs and P P Chaudhary, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, jointly launched World’s First Yoga University “Vivekananda Yoga University”(VaYU) in Los Angeles, United States of America, over the virtual event at the Consulate General of India in New York

To enhance the Herbal Wealth of India and to support the clean and healthy environment, Union Ministry of Culture is celebrating two week long Sankalp Parva from 28th June to 12 July 2020 wherein, the Subordinate Offices, Academies, Attached Institutions, Affiliated Institutions of the ministry will plant trees in its campus or at the surroundings wherever it is possible. This information has been revealed by Union Minister of State (MoS) for Culture and Tourism (Independent charge) Prahlad Singh Mulayam Singh Patel. The decision for tree plantation has been taken on the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has identified 5 trees representing the herbal heritage of our country.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani launched the online aid initiative ‘At One Click’ with Rs 1,369 crore for around 13000 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) (i.e. MSMEs and textile industries) in Gujarat.