Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Swiss Tennis legend Roger Federer has been ranked at the top spot in the annual Forbes ranking of highest-paid athletes.
As per the magazine, the total earning of Federer amounts to USD 106.3 million. He is the winner of record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the prize money of which gave him USD6.3 million. Federer is followed by the football trio in next three ranks: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar. Two female Tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams were found in the top-100 list.

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:
After the United States President Donald Trump announced that the country is to terminate its relationship with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is set to become the largest funder of WHO.
This would be the first time a private foundation is to become the biggest funder of a United Nations Agency. Among the present top 10 funders, only four are member countries, one is European Commission and the remaining are foundations or philanthropies.

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:
The Central Government has initiated a consultation process for formulation of a new national Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP 2020).
To formulate this policy, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) have jointly initiated a decentralised process. This is the 5th Science and Technology policy of the country.

Notes:
The largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company, GAIL (India) and Energy Efficiency Services have signed a MoU for cooperation in development of Trigeneration projects in India.
In Trigeneration or Combined Cooling, Heat and Power (CCHP) projects, natural gas-fired generators are used to produce electricity. Under the MoU, the two companies will jointly explore business opportunities in Trigeneration segment, where 50:50 joint venture between GAIL & EESL will be incorporated.

Notes:
India has recently launched the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) campaign on ‘Prevention of Human and Animal Mortality on Highways’.
Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME Nitin Gadkari has launched the campaign through video conference on the occasion of World Environment Day. The Minister also highlighted that about 5 lakh road incidents are witnessed in India every year.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has recently released the latest round of the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF).
As per the survey, the negative growth in real Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020-21 would be 1.5% or the real GDP is to contract by 1.5%. The survey also highlighted that India’s growth would bounce back in the next financial year 2021-22 and estimated to grow at 7.2%. Another measure called Real private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) is expected to decline by 0.5%.

Notes:
The Indian Naval Ship Kesari reached Port Victoria in Seychelles to provide COVID-19 related essential medicines, as a part of Mission Sagar.
Under Mission Sagar, the government of India is extending assistance to friendly foreign countries in fighting COVID-19 pandemic. The programme is being implemented in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs and other Government agencies. This is in line with the ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ vision proposed by the Government earlier.

Notes:
The ratio of central taxes -to-GDP fell further in the fiscal year 2019-20 to 9.88 per cent, mostly due to the decline in collection from customs duties and corporation tax.
This measure is reported to be a ten-year low, as the ratio stood at 10.97 per cent in FY19 and at 11.22 per cent in FY18. Due to the stagnation in economic activity, this indicator is expected to decline further. The gross tax revenue also fell 3.39 per cent in FY20, with a shortfall of Rs 1.5-trillion as compared to the revised Budget target for the year.