Test: June 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

Javed Ahktar, renowned poet, lyricist and writer became the first Indian to receive the Richard Dawkins Award 2020 for critical thinking, holding religious principles up to scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values.

The 2nd State Food Safety Index (SFSI) for 2019-20 of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been topped by Gujarat among larger states and by Goa among smaller states. It was announced during a webinar conducted on the occasion of “World Food Safety Day” on June 7, 2020 on the theme “Food Safety is everyone’s business”.

According to the biennial Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2020 released jointly by Yale University and Columbia University, India has ranked 168 out of 180 countries with a score of 27.6 out of 100.While the Denmark has been topped the list with a score of 82.5. Here’s the list of top 3 nations in EPI 2020:

The Second World Food Safety Day was celebrated to promote actions that support food security, human health, agriculture and sustainable development and prevent, detect and manage foodborne diseases. The First World Food Safety Day was celebrated on 7th June 2019. The Theme of World Food Safety Day 2020 remains the same as the theme of 2019 “Food Safety, everyone’s business”.

Google is trying to do its bit in helping people maintain their social distance. The tech giant has launched a new app that will help people maintain distance in real life using augmented reality. The app has been developed under Experiments with Google and is not available on the Google Play Store but can be side-loaded separately. The app called ‘Sodar’.

Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya approved the declaration of Bhararisen(Gairsain) in Chamoli district as the state’s summer capital in compliance with the provisions of clause (3) of Article 348 of the Constitution of India. Dehradun (the largest city) will remain the winter capital.

According to the Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, the World Bank (WB) has granted loan worth of Rs. 1,950 crores to the state for tackling coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and developmental work.

The Washington based multilateral lender, World Bank in its latest edition of the Global Economic Prospect (GEP) June 2020 analytical chapters reports states that India’s growth is contract by 3.2% (so growth is -3.2%) for FY20-21. It was lower from 4.2% which forecasted in FY2019-20 at the end of March 2020.

Renjith Kumar, Engineer from Kerala and Indian Entrepreneur based in Virginia is honoured with NASA’s highest form of recognition for a non-governmental individual “NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal” for his service to NASA through executive leadership, engineering contribution, technical excellence and customer satisfaction.

In order to eliminate the use a physical card or touch an ATM PIN pad, amid the spread of coronavirus from contaminated surfaces, Empays Payment Systems has joined hands with Mastercard to launch “Cardless ATM powered by Mastercard” in India based on the standards of EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa).

Gautam Adani led Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) has won one of world’s largest solar contract from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to develop 8 GW of solar projects along with a commitment to establish 2 GW of additional solar cell and module manufacturing capacity at cost of ₹45,000 crore or $6 bilion, creating 4 lakh direct and indirect jobs.

MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) reconstituted a new committee for the welfare of the freedom fighters with the chairman G Kishan Reddy and 9 other “eminent freedom fighters” from across the country. Along with Reddy, former Congress MLA from Gujarat Dinakar Bhai Desai, who took part in 1942 Quit India Movement is one among the 9-member panel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed a committee headed by Rajnath Singh to solve the difficulties faced in the implementation of Rs.3 Lakh crore collateral-free loan for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises(MSME) under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) scheme announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 13th May 2020 as a part of Rs.20 Lakh crore Covid-19 aid to raise the economy. Under the Scheme, 100% guarantee coverage to be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC) for additional funding of up to Rs. 3 lakh crore to eligible MSMEs and interested MUDRA. borrowers, in the form of a Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) facility.

The Management guru, Padma Shri Pritam Singh, who contributed more than 50 research papers and 7 books on management education in India and abroad passed away at the age of 78 at a hospital in Gurugram due to cardiac arrest.

kurt Bilteaux Thomas, the first American to win the gold medal in the Gymnastic World Championship 1978 in floor exercise held at the Strasbourg, France passed away at the age of 64 after suffering from a stroke on 24th May 2020 in Texas. He was born on 29th March 1956 in Miami, Florida.

According to the “Poonam Avlokkan” survey the population of the Asiatic lion at the Gir sanctuary in Gujarat has seen a commendable rise to approximately 29% (28.87%) from 27% in 2015 i.e their population went from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020.

On the occasion of World Environment Day (June 05, 2020), the Maharashtra cabinet chaired by its Chief Minister (CM) Uddhav Bal Thackeray has approved a proposal to rename the state’s Environment Ministry as ‘Environment and Climate Change Ministry’ with the aim to play an active role in climate change mitigation.

Greece and Italy have signed an agreement demarcating their maritime boundaries, amid tension in the Mediterranean region over rights to natural resources. The agreement signed on Tuesday in Athens tackled an issue that had been pending for 40 years.

The highest ever allocation of funds worth Rs. 1,01,500 made under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the current Financial Year(FY) 2020-2021. A sum of Rs. 31,493 crores have already been released in 2020-21, which is more than 50 percent of budget estimation of current Financial Year 2020-21.

Indian Musician Shobha Sekhar, the founder of Kalakruthi a music organisation in Australia receives the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday 2020 for her service to Indian music and dance.

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) is a global education analyst that released the 17th edition of the QS World University Rankings 2021. This year only 3 Indian Institutions were among the top two-hundred ranks 2 IIT’s and IISC. Globally, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), USA continues to be the number one for the 9th year in a row.

Mercer released its 26th Annual Cost of Living Survey 2020. From India, Mumbai city has been ranked 60th most expensive city globally and also 19th in Asia. Mumbai is the only Indian city ranked in the top 100. Hongkong tops the list globally. Hong Kong is the most expensive city of the world, followed by Ashgabat and Tokyo.

Indian railways created a benchmark by setting a new world history on the successful running of the first Double-decker Container Train with a contact wire of 7.57-metre height on its high reach pantograph in the high rise Over Head Equipment (OHE) electrified territory on the western railway from Palanpur and Botad stations in Gujarat.

Odisha became the first State in India to receive prestigious ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001:2015 certification for its 44 tribal hostels of Keonjhar (32 hostels) and Sambalpur (12 hostels) districts improving their overall infrastructure and standards under Mission Suvidya.

76-year-old Indian-American Soil scientist, Dr. Rattan Lal received the 2020 World Food Prize Laureate (250,000 USD – Rs. 1.89 crore) for developing and mainstreaming a soil centric approach to increase food production that conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change. He was born in 1944 in Karyal, West Punjab, India.