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:
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 Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has announced that Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project would be launched by December 2020.
The objective of the Rs 1,500 crore scheme is to provide free internet access to the poor and at affordable rates to others. It is being implemented by Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited and Kerala State Electricity Board. Using the KSEB posts, optical fibre cables are being laid across the state.

Notes:
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was launched by the Agriculture Ministry under National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) in 2015. It was launched with an aim to promote organic farming among small and marginal farmers.
Recently, the NITI Aayog organised an online High-level Roundtable, which was attended by several national and international experts and policy makers. It aims to boost agroecological and natural farming practices in India. The Agriculture Minister said that PKVY covered 7 lakh hectares and 8 lakh farmers.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved further changes to the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Earlier, the Union Minister had proposed that Micro units can have up to Rs 1 crore investments and turnover up to Rs 5 crore while Small units can have up to Rs 10 crore investments and turnover up to Rs 50 crore. The investment limit of a medium unit has been increased from Rs 20 crore to Rs 50 crore and the turn over limit from Rs 100 crore to Rs 250 crore. The Cabinet also approved Rs 20,000-crore fund for stressed entities and equity infusion of Rs 50,000 crore.

Notes:
The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of External Affairs have jointly launched a new initiative named SWADES.
SWADES stands for Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support. Since many Indian citizens are returning under Vande Bharat Mission, this scheme aims to conduct a skill mapping exercise of the qualified people. The information will be shared with the companies for suitable job opportunities in the country.

Notes:
American private space company SpaceX has recently launched 60 new internet satellites into orbit using Falcon 9 rocket.
Only before some days, billionaire Elon Musk owned SpaceX has sent two NASA astronauts to International Space Station, thereby becoming the first private firm to send astronauts to space on Falcon-9 rocket. This is the 8th batch of satellites and the total number of Starlink constellation of satellites is 482, as of now.

Notes:
Seasoned banker and Managing director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak has recently assumed office as the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2020-21.
As per the chamber, Uday Kotak takes over from the present Chairman and Managing Director of Kirloskar Systems, Vikram Kirloskar. The MD and CEO of Tata Steel, T V Narendran is now the President designate of CII for 2020-21.

Notes:
Leading Private sector bank of India, Axis Bank has recently partnered with Mastercard India and payment service provider, Worldline India to launch a digital point-of-sale solution named as ‘Soft POS’.
The solution aims to assist offline merchants and local kirana stores in accepting payments using their smartphones, through several digital form factors including Bharat QR, sending payment links to customers etc. It can accept NFC-based payments to boost contactless payments in the country and features like e-Khata for reconciliations.

Notes:
The International Day for the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is observed every year on June 5. The purpose of this day is to sensitise about the threats posed by unregulated fishing activities to the fisheries resources.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared June 5 as the International Day for the fight against IUU fishing in November 2017. The first such day was celebrated in the year 2018. The Agreement on Port State Measures was brought into force on the same day.