Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The United States Department of State releases the annual ‘International Religious Freedom Report’, in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
The report submitted to the US Congress, describes the status of religious freedom in every country. It was in news because the report raised concerns over the religious freedom of India. The report also mentioned about the revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the parliamentary approval of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Notes:
A strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services, TCS iON, has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to provide its training partners access to digital skilling tools.
The access to digital skilling tools is provided using TCS iON Digital Glass Room facility. This partnership aims to strengthen the online content aggregation platform of NSDC, eSkill India.
TCS iON Digital Glass Room is a web-based digital education platform which enables educators to upload their own lessons.

Notes:
The first population estimation exercise of the Indian gaur carried out in the Nilgiris Forest Division in recent years.
As per the exercise, that was conducted in February, more than an estimated 2,000 Indian gaurs are present in the entire division. However, majority of animals were in the conflict-prone areas close to human habitations. Among the 2000 gaurs, about 794 gaurs were directly sighted over a one-week period.

Notes:
Research institute of Brazil, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has announced that the Amazon rainforest witnessed deforestation of 829 sq km in May 2020.
This is the highest monthly level of deforestation observed in the forest since 2015. The institute also announced that deforestation increased by 91 sq km compared to the same period last year. The Prime Minister of Brazil is advocating for farming and mining in protected areas to improve economy.

Notes:
The PM CARES fund has the Prime Minister as its ex-officio Chairperson. It has the Union Ministers of Defence, Home and Finance as its ex-officio trustees. The Prime Minister has the power to nominate three trustees to the Board.
Recently, the trustees of PM CARES fund appointed SARC Associates as the independent auditor of the fund for three years. The Prime Minister’s Office will be its head office and two PMO officials will administer the fund on an honorary basis.

Notes:
India’s first infectious disease diagnostic lab has been developed with the support of Department of Bio-Technology.
The lab has been developed as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme, in a record time of eight days from the receipt of the Automotive Chassis, from Bharat Benz, a brand of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles. It has Elisa test, rRT-PCR test and Bio chemistry analysers.

Notes:
The Aquatic Quarantine Facility (AQF), a premier institution of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture, MPEDA, Ministry of Commerce & Industry (RGCA-MPEDA), has received 3,600 numbers of L. vannamei (White-leg shrimp) brood stock imported by India’s shrimp hatchery operators from Hawaii.
The brood-stock were successfully quarantined for five days and handed over to the hatchery operators with 97.12 per cent survival. This has been achieved for the first time since the inception of the Aquatic Quarantine Facility.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment implements the ‘Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing / fitting of aids / appliances’ (ADIP) scheme through its Public sector enterprise, Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO).
Recently, a virtual ADIP Camp for free distribution of assistive aids and devices at Block level for Divyangjans under the ADIP scheme was organized at Firozpur District in Punjab. This is the first camp being organized by the ALIMCO after opening of lockdown with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

Notes:
Leading payments bank of India, Airtel Payments Bank has recently launched a salary account for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).
Named as the ‘Suraksha Salary’ account, it will enable MSMEs and other organisations to make cashless payments. It also provides Hospicash Insurance and Personal Accidental insurance cover. As of now, it is only available to new customers and will be extended to existing account holders soon.

Notes:
The investment arm of NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), NABVENTURES Fund I has made its first investment in rural fintech start-up Jai Kisan.
NABVENTURES was launched in May 2019 with a proposed corpus of over ₹500 crore. The investment was made in the Mumbai-based start-up as part of a ₹30 crore funding round. Jai Kisan plans to invest the capital for hiring personnel and investing in its technology platform.