Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has decided to launch the Chief Minister’s Employment Generation Programme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which will create 10 lakh jobs in the next five years. The flagship programme of the Industries Department will have 30% reservation for women entrepreneurs. The scheme will be implemented on the lines of the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) with online applications and other procedures. This scheme is for promoting entrepreneurship and address unemployment issues. It will cover manufacturing, service and agro-based activities, including those in retail. The nodal bank for the programme will be Corporation Bank and beneficiaries will be financed by nationalised and private Sector banks like Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. To supplement this programme, 50 new industrial parks will be developed at taluka level by the government.

Notes:
The World Sustainable Gastronomy Day (WSGS) is observed every year on 18th of June to focus the world’s attention on the role that sustainable gastronomy can play. It also reaffirms that all cultures and civilizations are contributors and crucial enablers of sustainable development.

Notes:
The World Refugee Day (WRD) is observed every year on 20th of June to celebrate the stories and contributions of refugees. The 2019 theme is “#Step with Refugees – Take a Step on World Refugee Day”. According to the latest annual study released by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 70.8 million children, women and men were forcibly displaced at the end of last year. This is the highest number in the organization’s almost 70-year history. The study said wars, violence and persecution have driven record numbers of people from their homes worldwide. Almost two thirds of those uprooted from their homes are internally displaced people who have not left their homelands. About 80% of these refugees live in countries neighbouring their country of origin. On an average, one person is forcibly displaced every two seconds as a result of conflict or persecution and refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world.

Notes:
The book titled “Yoga and Diet for Weight Loss” has been authored by noted integrated yoga therapist Bijoylaxmi Hota. The book seeks to break slimming and weight loss myths and prescribes certain postures of yoga, along with the diet one should take in order to achieve better and faster results. According to author, slimming is not just about what one eats, how much one eats, how much one exercises or what form of exercise one does but more importantly, how fast one’s body utilises food. The key question is how efficient is one’s metabolism. The target should be to hasten the process and make it so fast that without being a clinical problem, it can burn all your calories quickly. The book also has recipes like steamed mustard fish, fish with tomato and celery, baked salmon, chicken teriyaki and beans with fennel.

Notes:
India’s first solar-powered cruise boat to be rolled out in Alappuzha, Kerala in December 2019. A Rs 3-crore cruise boat that can carry 100 passengers is under construction at a boatyard in Aroor. This is part of an initiative of the State Water Transport Department (SWTD), whose solar ferry Aditya in the Vaikom-Thavanakadavu route has proved to be a success. The hybrid vessel will be powered by a motor that can source energy from solar panels, battery, and generator. Its battery will have 80 KWh (kilowatt hour) power backup as compared to 50 KWh backup in Aditya.

Notes:
Author Amish Tripathi has been appointed the new director of Nehru Centre in London, which is under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He will replace diplomat Srinivas Gotru. Tripathi is the author of best-selling books such as the Secret of the Nagas and Sita – Warrior of Mithila. The Nehru Centre was founded in 1992 with Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its founder director. Playwright-actor Girish Karnad was among the prominent people to have helmed the centre.

Notes:
The second edition of the “Healthy States, Progressive India” report has been released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar. Kerala has topped among large states on overall health performance in NITI Aayog’s Health Index followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Though, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have emerged as the worst performing states. However, in terms of incremental performance Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are the top three states who performed well in comparison to the last health index. The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance with respect to each other. The report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement over a two-year period, 2016-17 and 2017-18 in the States and UTs. It takes a comprehensive look at health in terms of Health Outcomes, Governance and Processes and impact of policy interventions. The report has been prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and with technical assistance from the World Bank.

Notes:
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has recently approved a proposal to provide 10% reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the general category in jobs and education. The family should not own more than 5 acres of agricultural land or a house measuring more than 1,200 square feet in municipal corporation limits. The size limit for the house would be 1,500 square feet in municipality areas and 1,800 square feet in Nagar Panchayat areas. In rural areas, size of the house won’t matter. The state cabinet also approved a proposal to enter into a tripartite agreement with the Union government and Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Company for metro rail projects in Bhopal and Indore.

Notes:
In Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, tourist’s promotional festival – Ladakh Singhey Khababs Sindhu Festival celebrated on the bank of Indus River at Leh. The festival presents the Indus River as a symbol of the multi-dimensional cultural identity of India that got its name from the Indus River. Folk songs and dances are performed and local handicrafts and ethnic foods are being exhibited before the tourists during the festival.

Notes:
Sarada Kumar Hota has been appointed as the new Managing Director of National Housing Bank (NHB) for a period of three years. Prior to this appointment, Hota was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Can Fin Homes. NHB, which is now 100% owned by the government, is the nodal agency for supervision, refinance and development of the housing finance segment.