Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
International Everest Day is celebrated on May 29, across the world every year. On the same day in the year 1953, Tenzing Norgay of Nepal and Edmund Hillary of New Zealand had successfully scaled the Mt. Everest.
The mountaineer duo were the first human beings to achieve the prestigious feat. Nepal decided to observe the day as International Everest Day since the climber Edmund Hillary passed away in the year 2008.

Notes:
The Union Government has launched a national programme for the youth, called “Responsible AI for Youth”. It has been developed by the Ministry of Electronics and IT in collaboration with Intel India, with support from Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L). It aims to equip young students with new generation technology.
A dedicated portal for Artificial Intelligence, which will be a platform for all AI related developments in India, was also launched to mark the first anniversary of the second tenure of the government. It has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Electronics and IT and NASSCOM.

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:
Global credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has currently degraded India’s foreign currency and local currency long-term issuer ratings to Baa3.
The agency had previously rated India’s ratings as Baa2. The reason for the downgrade of ratings was the high challenges to be faced by the policy-making institutions in enacting and implementing policies for sustainable growth in the country. Moody’s had upgraded India’s ratings to Baa2 in November 2017.

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:
The World Bank recently warned that 60 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2020, after Covid-19 crisis.
The World Bank President David Malpass released analytical chapters from its flagship Global Economic Prospects report. He urged the countries to implement comprehensive policies to boost long-term growth and to address immediate health emergencies. The estimates are likely to increase further.

Notes:
Social networking giant Twitter has recently appointed Patrick Pichette, a former chief financial officer at Google as the next chairman of its board.
This is the first time in the history of Twitter that an outsider is presiding over the board. Patrick Pichette served as the lead independent director of Twitter since the end of 2018. He is to replace Omid Kordestani in leading the directors as Chairman. Investors have been urging for appointing outsiders to preside over boards.

Notes:
Veteran diplomat and former spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry Raveesh Kumar has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to Finland.
The 1995-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, served as the spokesperson of the MEA from July 2017 to April 2020 and handled many important issues. In his 25-year career, he had served in several crucial missions including Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta and Consul General in Frankfurt. He is set to replace ambassador Vani Rao in Finland.

Notes:
Union Minister for Human Resources and MoS Housing & Urban Affairs jointly launched TULIP, an Internship Program with Urban Local Bodies across the country.
The initiative TULIP, which stands for `The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP)’, provides internship opportunities to fresh graduates in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Smart Cities across the country. It was initially announced in the Union Budget 2020-21 under the theme ‘Aspirational India’.

Notes:
Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar is the only Indian to feature on Forbes 2020 list of World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities at rank 52 and earnings of 48.5 million dollars.
The first spot was bagged by American media person and businesswoman Kylie Jenner, famous for her Kylie Cosmetics. She is followed by US based musician Kanye West with an estimated USD170 million earnings. Ace Tennis player Roger Federer is placed at the third place, followed by Football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.