Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly has recently adopted a new voting procedure for the upcoming election of new members of the Security Council.
This change is due to the restrictions for large gathering and to ensure social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Usually, the assembly meet in a horseshoe-shaped assembly chamber at UN headquarters. But now, the ambassadors from 193 UN member nations will cast secret ballots at predetermined places and time slots.

Notes:
Goa is the smallest state of India, by are and the fourth-smallest state by population. It recently celebrated its statehood day on May 30.
In 1961, Indian Army invaded and annexed Goa, Daman and Diu into the Indian union, through Operation Vijay. After that, Goa along with Daman and Diu, was categorised as a centrally administered Union territory of India. On 30 May 1987, the union territory was split and Goa was made the 25th state of India and Daman and Diu remained as a UT.

Notes:
Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) is the largest electronic system-based power trading exchange of India and it is regulated by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. IEX platform provides physical delivery of electricity and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
IEX has recently launched its Real-Time Electricity Market (RTM) platform. The objective of the platform is to help the DISCOMs plan their power requirements. The trade in electricity is carried out through half-hourly auctions i.e. 48 daily sessions.

Notes:
The state of Telangana recently celebrated its statehood day on June 2. All national leaders including the Prime Minister wished the state and its people.
In the year 2014, Telangana was carved out of the state of Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of India under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The capital of the state is Hyderabad and its population is about 3.5 crore.

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.

Notes:
Major technology company Microsoft has announced the launch of a programme named “Microsoft for Agritech Startups”.
The programme is to focus on the start-ups that are committed to driving transformation in agriculture. The programme seeks to assist start-ups in building industry-specific solutions, access to deep technology and markets. The selected start-ups can also get access to Azure FarmBeats, an aggregation platform available in Azure Marketplace.

Notes:
India’s oldest music label Saregama has entered into a global deal with social media giant Facebook to license its music.
Under the deal, Saregama’s music is licensed for features such as videos, stories via music stickers and other creative content offered by Facebook. Hereafter, Facebook and Instagram users will be able to add music to their posts and stories from Saregama music label.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently given its approval to re-establish Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H) as Subordinate Office under Ministry of AYUSH.
PCIM&H is to be merged with the two central laboratories: Pharmacopoeia Laboratory for Indian Medicine (PLIM) and Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory (HPL). The two laboratories were established in Ghaziabad in 1975. At present, PCIM&H is an autonomous body under AYUSH ministry.

Notes:
India is the sole contender for the Asia Pacific seat in non-permanent category of the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.
The General Assembly of UNSC is to hold elections for the five non-permanent members of the Security Council on June 17. It has also proposed new secret ballot voting arrangements due to the Covid-19 restrictions. India has been elected as a non-permanent member of UNSC for seven terms starting from 1950-51 till 2011-12.

Notes:
Veteran Bureaucrat and 1999-batch IAS officer, Brajendra Navnit has been appointed as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India (PRI) to the World Trade Organisation for a period of three years.
He had been the Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office prior to this appointment and will be posted at the Permanent Mission of India (PMI) to the WTO in Geneva. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet also gave a nod to the appointment of IRTS officer Anwar Hussain Shaik for the post of Counsellor, at the PMI to WTO, Geneva for three years.