Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
As per the recent announcement of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the deep depression in the Arabian Sea has intensified into a cyclonic storm named as Cyclone Nisarga.
It will further turn into a severe cyclonic storm by tonight and cross north Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts between Raigad district and Daman. When the storm crosses the coast, the severe cyclonic storm will have a wind speed of 90-105 kmph. Earlier, the cyclone Amphan hit the state of West Bengal and caused severe damages.

Notes:
Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched three major schemes to boost manufacture of electronics in the country.
Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) aims for large-scale electronics manufacturing. Other two schemes namely Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme were also launched. This will generate manufacturing of electronics components worth Rs 10 lakh crore by 2025.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers recently fixed the minimum percentage of local content in public procurement of 55 chemical and pesticide products.
This step is a part of the government’s effort to boost domestic manufacturing and the Make-in-India programme. As per the new norm, the minimum local content has been fixed at 60 per cent for 2020-21, 70 per cent for 2021-23 and 80 per cent during 2023-25. Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had revised the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 for implementing this norm.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has given its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding between India and Bhutan on cooperation in the field of Environment.
Under the agreement, the countries will work together in the areas of environment protection including air, waste, chemical management, climate change and management of natural resources by taking into account the applicable legal provisions in each country.

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:
As per the latest announcement from the World Economic Forum (WEF), it will adopt a new twin-summit format for its next annual summit.
The flagship annual Davos summit is proposed to be held in January 2021 with a theme of ‘The Great Reset’. The 51st summit is to bring together leaders from across the globe either in person or for virtual dialogues. This year, the 50th WEF Annual Meeting was held from January 21-24, 2020.

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 legislature of Hong Kong has recently approved a bill that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem.
In Hong Kong, the pro-democracy camp sees the anthem bill as an infringement of freedom of expression whereas the pro-Beijing majority said the law was necessary to show appropriate respect for the anthem. If one intentionally abuses the “March of the Volunteers” anthem, he might face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 50,000 Hong Kong dollars.

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:
The Chairperson of India’s largest listed real estate firm DLF, Kushal Pal Singh was seen in news, as he stepped down from his leadership role, at the age of 90. He will continue to serve in a non-executive position.
He took over as Chairman of DLF in 1995 and was considered as the face of the popular firm. K.P.Singh will be replaced by his son Rajiv Singh, who is currently serving as the Vice Chairman, as per the announcement of the firm.