Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has partnered with TCS iON to offer free online “Career Skills Training” on its National Career Service (NCS) portal.
This scheme is to be implemented under the Ministry’s National Career Service (NCS) project, which provides several employment related services. This course also includes soft skills required by several industries. The training module is available to the registered job-seekers in both Hindi and English.

Notes:
The National Geographic channel has released a film titled ‘Swachh Bharat: India’s Sanitary Revolution’, in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.
The film was recently premiered at a special screening for the Indian President and also on the NatGeo channel. The film is also made available on the YouTube channel of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen. Many ‘Ambassadors of cleanliness’ share their connection with the scheme in the film.

Notes:
World No Tobacco Day 2020 is celebrated on May 31 every year, across the world. The main objective of celebrating the day is to protect youth from industry manipulation and to prevent them from tobacco and nicotine use.
This year, the World No Tobacco Day 2020 global campaign will expose the manipulation tactics of tobacco and related industries, educate young people about the intentions of the industries and empower the general public in social platforms to protect youth.

Notes:
The President of the United States Donald Trump has recently announced that US is terminating its relationship with World Health Organization over its handling of the Corona virus.
The President has been blaming WHO and China for the deaths and damages caused by the pandemic across the world. The President also said that the funds provided by the US to WHO will be redirected to other global public health needs. He also issued directions to deny entry to certain Chinese nationals and tightened regulations against Chinese investments in America.

Notes:
The Union government has notified the income-tax return (ITR) forms for the assessment year (AY) 2020-21 for individual, professional and corporate tax payers.
For the first time, the form separately captures information on cash deposits exceeding ₹1 crore, expenditure on foreign travel exceeding ₹2 lakh and electricity expenses exceeding ₹1 lakh. It was earlier announced that the taxpayers may avail the benefits of investments in tax-saving instruments for an extended period up to June 30. Deadline for filing returns was also extended from July 31 to November 30.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently launched a new micro-credit facility scheme named PM SVANIDHI – Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi.
Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry launched the scheme, which aims to provide affordable loans to street vendors. The duration of the scheme is till March 2022 and is expected to benefit over 50 lakh street vendors. The vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs 10000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in one-year tenure.

Notes:
The Prime Minister has recently delivered the inaugural address at the 125th Annual Session of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) through video conference.
The theme of this year’s annual conference is “Building India for a New World: Lives, livelihood, growth”. The Prime Minister addressed the conference on “Getting Growth Back”. He congratulated the industry body on completing 125 years of the organisation and said Intent, Inclusion, Investment, Infrastructure and Innovation important to build an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet recently amended the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 in view of helping farmers and transforming the agriculture sector.
With the amendment, commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes will be removed from list of essential commodities, thereby attracting private sector/foreign direct investment into agriculture sector. The cabinet also approved two ordinances to promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce and give a level playing field with wholesalers and exporters.

Notes:
Indian writer Kritika Pandey has won the regional award for Asia of the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize for this year.
The writer was selected for her work titled ‘The Great Indian Tee and Snakes’. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best unpublished short fiction, every year. She had also been earlier nominated for the Pushcart Prize. To be eligible for the award, one must be a commonwealth citizen aged above 18 years.

Notes:
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) recently released the State of India’s Birds report. As per the report, 15 bird species of Kerala have been flagged among ‘species of concern’.
The bird species on the list include Banasura, Ashambu laughingthrushes, White-bellied Sholakili, Broad-tailed grassbird, Nilgiri thrush, Nilgiri pipit and White-rumped vulture among others. The authorities said that the entry of two bird species- Heart-spotted woodpecker and Forest wagtail is more concerning.