Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
India’s leading shipbuilder, Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) has recently delivered the Fast Patrol Vessel named ‘ICGS Kanaklata Barua’.
It is the fifth and final ship in the series of Fast Patrol Vessels (FPV) for the Indian Coast Guard. This is also the 105th vessel delivered by the GRSE shipyard, a state-owned defence enterprise. It had earlier delivered vessels named ICGS Priyadarshini, ICGS Annie Besant and ICGS Amrit Kaur in this series to the Coast Guard.

Notes:
The QS World University Rankings has been released by global higher education consultancy QS Quacquarelli Symonds.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the list for the ninth consecutive year, followed by Stanford University and Harvard University all being American. Only three Indian institutions namely IIT-Bombay (172nd), IISc Bangalore (185th) and IIT Delhi (193rd) feature among the top 200 in the list, with none in the top-100.

Notes:
The United States has confirmed General Charles Q. Brown Jr. as the Chief of the Air Force of the country.
Charles Q. Brown is currently serving as the four-star general and is the first African-American to hold the position. The General recently opened up about his experience with racism in the United States. The Senate has unanimously confirmed the General for the post with full vote.

Notes:
Information Technology major Infosys has recently launched the ‘Summer of Ideas’ initiative for college students.
The international eight-week ideathon is being powered by the digital learning platform of Infosys called Wingspan. This initiative is expected to bridge the gap formed due to the disruption caused by Covid-19 pandemic, for the students and academic professionals. About 2000 inducted students can showcase their ideas to industry experts.

Notes:
The state government of Andhra Pradesh has recently launched a financial assistance scheme called ‘Jagananna Chedodu’.
The scheme aims to provide direct cash transfer of Rs 10,000 into the bank accounts of each of 2,47,040 beneficiaries every year. The beneficiaries include barbers, washermen and tailors. The government has also released Rs 247.04 crore for the implementation of this scheme.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the GST Council recently. As per the announcement, for all those with no tax liabilities, there is no late fee for failing to file returns between July 2017-Jan 2020.
For persons with tax liability, the maximum late fee for non-filing of GSTR-3B returns for the same period is Rs 500. This includes all returns submitted during July 1- September 30, 2020. For tax payers with turnover up to Rs 5 crore, the rate of interest for late furnishing of GST returns for February to April beyond July 6, is reduced from 18% to 9% per annum, till this September end.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently constituted an Empowered Group of Secretaries to facilitate investment in the country.
The committee, which is to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary, will identify potential investors and help in accelerating investment in key sectors of the economy. The committee will also recommend specific incentive packages for both domestic and foreign investors. The 7-member empowered group has CEO of NITI Aayog along with secretaries of DPIIT, Commerce, Revenue and Economic Affairs as its members.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan launched an Integrated Flood Warning System called ‘IFLOWS-Mumbai’.
The warning system has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It would relay alerts of possible flood-prone areas at 6 to 72 hours in advance. After Chennai, Mumbai is only the second city to get such system.

Notes:
India’s leading SUV and farm vehicle maker, Mahindra and Mahindra announced that it is set to exit from its US-based e- bike company GenZe.
As the firm suffered a substantial loss in the March quarter due to losses at foreign subsidiaries, it is also set to give up control of its Korean subsidiary SsangYong. The company said that it will stop investments in the loss-making SsangYong firm. Mahindra and Mahindra is also relooking all its ventures to reduce expenses.

Notes:
As per the revised clinical management protocols released by the Union Health Ministry, Anosmia (called as Loss of smell) and Ageusia (called Loss of taste) has been added to the official list of COVID-19 symptoms.
These symptoms are being continuously reported by the coronavirus-infected patients before the beginning of respiratory symptoms. Health Ministry also approved use of Remdesivir to treat Covid-19 in moderate stage of criticality and use of HCQ (hydroxychloroquine) to treat Covid-19 in early stages.