Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The Union Government has approved 445 crore rupees for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Chhattisgarh during 2020-21, to provide tap connections to 20 lakh households.
The aim of Jal Jeevan Mission is to provide potable drinking water on a long-term basis to every rural household of the country by 2024. During the Union Budget 2020, 3.6 lakh crores has been allocated for this scheme. The migrant labourers returned to Chhattisgarh will be involved in the jobs related to water supply.

Notes:
Russia, that currently holds the BRICS Presidency, hosted the meeting of the Heads of Tax Authorities of the BRICS countries.
Though the meeting was originally scheduled to be held in Moscow, owing to Covid-19 restrictions, it was held through video conferencing. The Finance Secretary of India Ajay Bhushan Pandey represented India at the meeting. Possibilities of exploring areas of cooperation in tax matters and response of tax authorities were discussed.

Notes:
The state government of Uttarakhand has recently launched a scheme called ‘Mukhya Mantri Swarojgar Yojana’, to provide loans to the migrant workers amid Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the scheme, Uttarakhand government will provide loans worth ₹25 lakh in the manufacturing sector and ₹10 lakh in the service sector. The migrant workers who are returning to the state are eligible to apply for the loans, that will be provided by nationalised banks, scheduled commercial banks and co-operative banks.

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:
The Union Government has recently launched Kisan Credit Card campaign to help dairy farmers.
The Government will provide Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to about 1.5 crore dairy farmers who belong to Milk Unions and Milk producing Companies. The drive seeks to provide KCC to the farmers within the next two months before July 31, under a special drive. The special drive to provide KCC is part of the Prime Minister’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat package.

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:
The Expert Committees on Rationalisation/Closure/Merger of Film Media Units and the committee on Review of Autonomous Bodies under the aegis of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting submitted their report to the Union I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The committees were headed by Bimal Julka with an objective of rationalisation and professionalisation of institutes related to film activities. The committee recommended specific roadmaps for the development of institutes including National Film Development Corporation, Films division, Children’s Film Society of India among others.

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:
Indian non-governmental organisation (NGO), Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS) has been conferred with the World No Tobacco Day Award 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), from the South-East Asia Region.
The organisation is one among the 3 awardees and has been selected for its efforts to ban pan masala, gutkha, e-cigarettes and hookah in Bihar and Jharkhand. On May 31, World No Tobacco Day, the WHO selects individuals and organisations from its 6 regions for their contribution in the field of tobacco control.

Notes:
The global innovation mapping and research company StartupBlink has recently released its annual Ecosystem Rankings Report.
As per this year’s report, India has been ranked at 23rd place out of 100 countries. In the last year’s report, India was placed at 17th rank. The report collects local data of every country to rank their start-up ecosystem based on the quality of start-ups and business environment. The United States was placed at the top spot. Only four Indian cities were ranked in the top 100 start-up cities list.