Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

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 Tata Group has recently signed a partnership agreement with the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) of Thiruvananthapuram for commercial production of Covid-19 testing kits.
The kits to be produced are based on Reverse Transcriptase Loop-Mediated Amplification (RT-LAMP) technology for Covid-19 detection. The kits provide results in a lesser time against the conventional method. Earlier, Tata Sons had partnered with CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology to produce CRISPR-based COVID test kits.

Notes:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated Indian cricket star Rohit Sharma for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Other stars including Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Yadav have been shortlisted by the BCCI for the Arjuna Award. The period of consideration for the awards is between January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. Rohit Sharma has been named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2019.

Notes:
World Milk Day is celebrated on June 1, every year across the world. The first World Milk Day was held in the year 2001.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations chose June 1 as the World Milk Day, to highlight the role of milk and to publicise activities connected with milk and the milk industry. This year, the overarching theme is the “20th Anniversary of World Milk Day”. A virtual campaign rally named ‘Enjoy Dairy Rally’ was held from May 29-31.

Notes:
As per the test report of the Animal Husbandry Department of the state of Uttarakhand, the quality of the state’s sheep wool compiled was similar to the Merino sheep wool.
The Merino sheep wool of Australia is famous across the world in the textile industry for its fine texture. India imports nearly 8000 MT of fine wool every year. Uttarakhand received 250 Merino sheep in Tehri Garhwal district under the national livestock scheme last year. With appropriate breeding programmes, Uttarakhand would produce high-quality fine Merino wool.

Notes:
The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Based on the recommendation of CACP, the Union Cabinet fixes the minimum support price (MSP).
Recently, the government raised the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy marginally by Rs 53 per quintal to Rs 1,868 per quintal for the 2020-21 crop year. It also hiked the rates for oilseeds, pulses cereals and commercial crops. This is expected to give 50-83 per cent higher return over the cost of production to farmers.

Notes:
During April, the state of Punjab launched an operation to contain the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) named ‘Mission Fateh’.
Recently, the Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh has launched a month-long drive to spread awareness about COVID-19 pandemic under Mission Fateh. This campaign will expand the coverage of the original mission beyond the frontline workers to include all general public of the state in fighting the crisis. Various awareness programmes are to be held across the state.

Notes:
Apex Governing body of men and women’s hockey, Hockey India has recently nominated national women’s team captain Rani Rampal for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Rani Rampal is the first Indian to be named as the World Games Athlete of The Year. She played an important role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019. Hockey India also nominated other players Vandana Kataria, Monika and Harmanpreet Singh for the Arjuna award.

Notes:
World Health Organisation has launched a new initiative called COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), along with Costa Rica.
The pool was initially proposed in the month of March by the President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado. As of now, thirty countries and several global partners have joined the initiative. The pool seeks to make all vaccines, tests, treatments and other health technologies developed to fight COVID-19, accessible to all.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently had a discussion with the French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly.
The Minister later announced that France has assured timely delivery of the Rafale fighter aircraft, made by Dassault Aviation company, despite challenges arising out of COVID-19 pandemic. The leaders agreed to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between India and France and discussed matters of mutual concern regarding COVID-19 and regional security.