Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been conferred the Kyrgyzstan’s highest national award titled “Manas Order of the First Degree” at the Ala Archa state residence in Bishkek. Xi, along with other leaders of the group including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is in Bishkek (the Kyrgyz capital) to attend the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on June 14-15, 2019. The SCO is a China-led 8-member economic and security bloc. The founding members of the SCO are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan were admitted to the Beijing-based regional security grouping in 2017.

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The South American Football Confederation (SAFC) has invited Australia and Qatar as guests at 2020 Copa America. Both the nations will join 10 South American nations in the 2020 tournament, which for the first time will be held jointly in two countries — Colombia and Argentina. Qatar, which is the current champion of 2019 AFC Asian Cup and also host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is making its debut at the 2019 edition of Copa America.

Notes:
The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (WDCDD) is observed every year on 17th of June to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification. The day is a unique moment to remind everyone that land degradation neutrality is achievable through problem-solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels. The 2019 theme is “Let’s Grow the Future Together”.

Notes:
HCL Technologies will soon roll out “TechBee” programme to hire and train students for IT jobs. The purpose of the HCL’s early career programme is to provide students an opportunity to start early & become financially independent and trendsetters. Under the initiative, the company will conduct an entrance test for those completed Plus 2 or Intermediate course and gives them a year’s training to make them employable. Students who have completed Intermediate in 2018 or 2019 with more than 60% marks are eligible for the programme. However, the students will have to a pay fee of Rs. 2 lakhs to join the programme. The firm would facilitate a bank loan, which can be repaid in EMIs after they are absorbed into the company. While working at HCL, students can enrol in higher education programmes offered by reputed universities such as BITS Pilani and SASTRA University. The students after completion of required training will be recruited with salary range of Rs two lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh depending on what work stream they are taken into.

Notes:
The ‘Snana Yatra’ is a bathing festival celebrated on the full moon day (Purnima) of the Hindu month of ‘Jyestha’ & considered to be the birthday of Lord Jagannath. It is a significant ritual in the run-up to the annual ‘Rath Jatra’ festival. In Puri, the annual ceremonial bathing ritual of the deities at Shree Jagannath temple has recently celebrated on 17th June 2019 in the presence of thousands of devotees. The ceremony is known as ‘Snana Jatra’ of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. It was performed on a bathing altar known as the ‘Snana Mandap’ in which priests poured 108 pitchers of aromatic sacred water on the deities.The Skanda Purana mentions that King Indradyumna arranged this ceremony for the first time when the idols of the deities were first installed.

Notes:
For the first time, India will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in New Delhi between September 2 -14, 2019. It will see participation from at least 5,000 delegates from nearly 197 countries. Ahead of the COP-14, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar launched a flagship project (a part of a larger international initiative called the Bonn Challenge) to enhance India’s capacity for Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). It will be implemented during a pilot phase of three-and-a-half years in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Karnataka. The project will aim to develop and adapt the best practices and monitoring protocols for the country, and build capacity within the five pilot States. The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land under restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030. The United Nations has three major Conventions: UNFCCC, UNCCD and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Established in 1994, the UNCCD is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development issues to the land agenda.

Notes:
For the first time in Bangladesh, iron ore mine has been discovered at Isabpur village in Dinajpur. According to the Geological Survey of Bangladesh, a 400-foot thick iron layer was found 1,750 feet beneath the surface stretched over an area of 6-10 square kilometre. The percentage of iron in the mine was 65 which indicate the high quality of the ore. In most other countries like Canada, China, Brazil Sweden and Australia the percentage is below 50. Other minerals such as gold, there were copper, nickel and chromium were also found at various levels of the mining. The discovery of the iron mine has opened up economic prospects for the country. The discovery of high-quality iron ore mine in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh is a significant achievement. Since the iron concentration in the magnetite ore is 65%, mining would be economically feasible.

Notes:
Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is co-hosting 12th international Capacity Building workshop in New Delhi to deepen knowledge on issues related to piracy and armed robbery on June 19-20, 2019. The 2-day workshop is being organized in cooperation with the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). The ReCAAP is the first regional Government-to-Government agreement to deal with piracy and armed robbery at sea in Asia. Presently, 20 countries are members of the ReCAAP. A total of 31 International delegates from 19 countries are participating in the workshop. In addition, officials from national stakeholders like major ports, state maritime boards, state marine police, Directorate General of Shipping and Indian National Ship-Owners Association are also participating in this workshop.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has decided to launch a pilot project providing smoke-free environment in the kitchen for women. The project, named “Chullah (wood-fired stove)-free and smoke-free Maharashtra”, will target the women who have not benefited under the Ujjwala or any other LPG distribution scheme. The pilot project will be implemented in Naxal- affected areas as well as the districts where farmer suicide rate is high.

Notes:
The Bangalore-based electronics engineer, Nitesh Kumar Jangir has won the 2019 Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Innovation for Sustainable Development Award in London, United Kingdom (UK). He received his award in the ‘People’ category alongside 14 other innovators from across the 53 member-countries of the Commonwealth. Jangir created Saans as a breathing support device to tackle avoidable deaths of premature babies from respiratory distress syndrome due to a lack of immediate access to complex medical equipment. His low-cost neonatal breathing device has saved the lives of new-born babies across small towns of India. Jangir is the co-founder of Coeo Labs, a medical device company with a vision to prevent preventable deaths in the field of emergency and critical care. Each of the 15 winners of the inaugural Commonwealth Innovation Awards receive a trophy, a certificate and 2,000 pounds in prize money.