Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

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:
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 Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju has recently launched a 25-day Khelo India Community Coach Development Programme.
The programme seeks to train about 15,000 Physical Education Teachers and Community Coaches across India. Sports Ministry will collaborate with the Human Resources Ministry to implement this programme in all school in India.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently had a discussion with the French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly.
The Minister later announced that France has assured timely delivery of the Rafale fighter aircraft, made by Dassault Aviation company, despite challenges arising out of COVID-19 pandemic. The leaders agreed to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between India and France and discussed matters of mutual concern regarding COVID-19 and regional security.

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:
As per the recent data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), as many as 750 tigers have died in the country in the last eight years.
Out of the total mortalities, 369 were due to natural causes and 168 were due to poaching. The state of Madhya Pradesh reported the highest casualties at 173, which is followed by Maharashtra. The data also highlighted that 101 tigers were seized by different authorities across the country between 2012 and 2019. In December 2019, there were 2976 tigers in the country.

Notes:
Union External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar launched the country’s ‘Panchsheel’ principles for its campaign to secure an elected seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The Panchsheel (Five Principles) includes Samman (respect), Samvad (dialogue), Sahyog (cooperation), Shanti (peace) and Samriddhi (prosperity). The elections are scheduled to be held on June 17, this year. India is the only endorsed candidate of the Asia-Pacific Group. Once selected, this would be the 8th term for India at the UNSC.

Notes:
‘Global Economic Prospects report’ is the flagship report of World Bank. As per the latest report released, India’s economy is estimated to contract by 3.2% in the current fiscal year 2020-21. The report also expects the Indian economy would grow at 3.1% in the next fiscal year.
In the earlier report released in April, the GDP growth rate for this fiscal year was predicted at 1.5%-2.8% growth. The growth of next year was also earlier predicted at 6.1%. The report also highlighted that global economy will contract by 5.2% in 2020.

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.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has launched a scheme called “Mukhyamantri Shahri Path Vyavsayi Utthan Yojana”
The ‘Street Vendor Registration Portal’ was also launched by the Chief minister. Rs 300 crore was transferred to urban local bodies for implementing the scheme. Earlier, the state provided Rs 1,555 crore to 22,800 Gram Panchayats for the purpose of revamping the development in the state.