Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
International Day of Yoga is celebrated every year on June 21, across the world. The first such day was celebrated in the year 2015.
This year, Union AYUSH Ministry is promoting the practice of Yoga with the campaign ‘Yoga at Home, Yoga with Family’, through its various initiatives, as a part of the International Yoga Day Celebration on June 21. This year’s observance will highlight the health-building and stress-relieving aspects of Yoga.

Notes:
Facebook owned social media major WhatsApp has launched its ‘WhatsApp Pay’ for the first time in Brazil.
Two years ago, WhatsApp began testing the payments service in India, which enables users to send and receive money. However, the plan could not be materialised due to regulatory issues. WhatsApp has designed the payment system with a special six-digit PIN or fingerprint authorisation to prevent unauthorised transactions.

Notes:
The team of Department of Zoology, Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat discovered a new fish species in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Named as ‘Schizothorax sikusirumensis’, the fish belongs to the genus Schizothorax. The name of the fish species represents the name of the rivers where it was found, the junction of River Siku and Sirum of East Siang District.

Notes:
South Korea recently said that North Korea has blown up the inter-Korean liaison office building, that is located north of the Korean border.
This serious incident followed the recent degradation in the relations between the two countries. North Korea has earlier threatened to engage in military action at the border with South Korea. The two countries jointly set up a liaison office at Kaesong in North Korea in 2003. The Kaesong Industrial Complex is a joint industrial zone operated by both North Koreans and South Koreans.

Notes:
Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is an initiative by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
The scheme seeks to make high-quality medicines available to all at affordable prices, through exclusive outlets of Jan Aushadhi Kendras. Recently, Jan Aushadhi Suvidha Sanitary Napkin is being made available in more than 6300 PMBJP Kendras at a minimum price of Rs.1 per pad.

Notes:
Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has recently launched India’s first mobile lab for COVID-19 testing to promote last mile testing access in rural India.
The Infectious Disease Diagnostic Lab (I-LAB) has been launched with the support of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, under the COVID command strategy. This mobile lab will be deployed in the remote and inaccessible parts of the country. It can perform 25 RT-PCR tests and 300 ELISA tests per day.

Notes:
Indian Grandmaster P. Harikrishna is the first Indian to participate in the in the million-dollar Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour that continues with the $150,000 Chessable Masters.
The Chessable Masters is a 12-player tournament which is to be played by the top six players of the world, on the classical ranking list, including Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, China’s Ling Diren and USA’s Fabiano Caruana. The field has been divided into two groups of six players each.

Notes:
Veteran economist and retired IAS officer BPR Vithal Baru passed away recently, at the age of 93, due to age-related ailments.
Vithal Baru had served in several important assignments including Secretary Finance and Planning in the state of Andhra Pradesh from 1972 to 1982 and Member of 10th Finance Commission. He had also been the Chairman of Expenditure Commission, Kerala. He also established the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad.

Notes:
The Government of India has proposed to appoint two transaction advisors for assisting the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in preparing the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India.
In the Union Budget 2020, Finance Minister proposed that the government will sell a part of its holding in LIC through an initial public offering. This IPO is expected to be the largest ever in the country and the advisors are asked to submit their bids till July 13.

Notes:
Recently, a team of astronomers at NASA and European Space Agency ESA have discovered a neutron star called ‘Swift J1818.0-1607’.
The neutron star has been estimated to be about 240 years old. It was first discovered in March 2020, when it released a massive burst of X-rays. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars. According to NASA, Swift J1818.0-1607 contains twice the mass of our Sun in a volume of more than one trillion times smaller.