Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
China recently announced that it will impose a ban on imports of pigs, wild boar and pork related products from India.
After India reported African swine fever (ASF) in Assam last month and nearly 14,000 deaths among pigs and wild boars in Assam, China is set to ban those products. This was released by Chinese state media Global Times amidst the border tensions between the countries.

Notes:
California-based American aerospace manufacturing and space transportation services firm SpaceX has become the first private company to send astronauts into space.
The firm is owned by the tech-billionaire Elon Musk. The Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX carried two astronauts of NASA Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station (ISS). Earlier, this feat has been achieved by the governments of the United States, Russia and China. The US halted to use its own shuttles nine years ago.

Notes:
Bobby Joe Morrow, veteran athlete from the United States, recently passed away at the age of 84. The sprinter had won three gold medals in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Bobby Morrow won the 100 and 200 meters in Melbourne Olympics and was a crucial part of the winning 400 relay team of the US and helped the relay team set a world record. He was honoured as “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated. He won the AAU’s James E. Sullivan Award and was also inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1989.

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 Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has recently approved to rename Kolkata Port as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port.
During the 150th anniversary celebration of the Kolkata Port trust, the Prime Minister announced that the Port trust would be named after the leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee. The Port trust’s board of trustees passed a resolution to re-name Kolkata Port on February 2020. The Kolkata Port is the first Major Port as well as the only riverine port of the country.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for setting up of an “Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) and Project Development Cells (PDCs) in Ministries/Departments of Government of India.
The establishment of the two cells is expected to attract more investments in India. The Cabinet Secretary would serve as the Chairperson of EGoS, with NITI Aayog CEO and Secretaries of other departments as members. The ‘Project Development Cell’ (PDC) will develop projects in coordination with the Central Government and State Governments and increase FDI inflows.

Notes:
A tropical storm named Cristobal has been formed in the southern Gulf of Mexico. A heavy flood threat has been announced for Mexico.
Earlier in the year 2016, a tropical storm named Colin formed in the Gulf. As per the warning from the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the storm is expected to dip near the flood-prone city of Ciudad del Carmen and then make a northward turn and head towards the U.S. Gulf coast. It was formed from the miscellanies of the recent Tropical Storm Amanda.

Notes:
The state government of Andhra Pradesh has handed over a financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to help auto and taxi drivers affected due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
The assistance has been delivered under the YSR Vahana Mitra scheme, that was originally launched in the year 2019, to provide an annual allowance of Rs 10,000 to auto and taxi drivers to meet insurance premium, license fees and other recurring expenses. This allowance has been advanced by four months.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India recently announced that it would set up a Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) of Rs 500 crore.
The fund has been created to promote the digital payment ecosystem across the country including deployment of Point of sale (PoS) infrastructure. The Reserve Bank made an initial contribution of Rs 250 crore, while the remaining fund will be provided by the card issuing banks and card networks.