Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Former Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden has formally obtained the nomination of the Democratic Party for the upcoming U.S Presidential elections.
The 77-year-old leader had served as the 47th U.S Vice President from 2009 to 2017 during the presidency of Barack Obama. In the elections to be held on November 3, Joe Biden will challenge the incumbent President and Republican Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election.

Notes:
India and Denmark have recently signed an MoU for developing cooperation in the power sector, between the two countries.
Under the MoU, a long-time co-operation in power sector is to be developed by collaborating in areas like offshore wind, long term energy planning, variability in renewable energy production, among others. A Joint Working Group co-chaired by Joint Secretary level officials will also be established.

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:
Debt-ridden IL&FS announced that it has completed the sale of its 50 per cent stake in GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) City to the Gujarat government.
The sale has generated over Rs 32 crore for its equity value. It has also reduced its consolidated debt by more than Rs 1,200 crore. Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd (GUDCL) is the owner of the remaining 50% stake in GIFTCL. It has offered to purchase IL&FS’s share in GIFTCL.

Notes:
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently released the results of the second ‘State Food Safety Index’.
The index was released on the occasion of the webinar ‘Food Safety is everyone’s business’, organised by FSSAI to celebrate the World Food Safety Day during a webinar. Gujarat has topped among larger States in the index, while Chandigarh tops among UTs. Goa topped among smaller States in the index. A e-handbook on ‘Eat Right during COVID-19’ was also released.

Notes:
Major technology company IBM has dropped facial recognition software amid racial profiling concerns.
The Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna has notified the US Congress that IBM is not offering its the general-purpose facial recognition or analysis software any more. It also firmly opposes the technology that is used for mass surveillance, racial profiling and violations of basic human rights.

Notes:
The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has sought special proposals from Amazon for selling masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits.
Since a huge market has been formed for masks across the world particularly among all fashion brands, several Indian players have started exporting non-medical and designer masks. The exporters are also exploring measures of getting international certifications needed to export to other countries.

Notes:
The Union Government has created the Micro Irrigation Fund with the corpus of Rs. 5000 crore with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Under the fund, NABARD will provide the amount to states on concessional rate of interest to promote micro-irrigation. Moreover, the annual allotment of Rs. 4000 crore has been made under the ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY- PDMC). The scheme focuses on improving water use efficiency through micro Irrigation techniques.

Notes:
Multinational professional services network Deloitte is partnering with Google cloud to help Indian firms in leveraging digital technology.
The firms have extended their global alliance to India to enable the Indian enterprises modernize cloud technology adoption. It will also provide solutions in field such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Contact Center AI.

Notes:
The World Bank has provided Rs. 1,950 crore loans to the state of West Bengal for tackling COVID crisis and developmental work in the state.
Announcing the news about the loan, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that out of the total loan, Rs. 1,100 crore will be spent for creating Industrial infrastructures and remaining Rs. 850 crore has been allocated for social-Welfare schemes.