Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

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:
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:
One of the world’s largest consumer-focused private equity firms L Catterton will buy a 0.39% stake for Rs 1894.50 crore in Jio Platforms.
Another global investment firm TPG will also buy a 0.93% stake in Jio for Rs 4,546.80 crore in the digital unit of Reliance Industries Limited. Since April 22, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 104,326.95 crore from leading global investors including Facebook, Silver Lake among others.

Notes:
Chinese internet company ByteDance has recently announced that it is set to discontinue two of its applications Vigo Video and Vigo Lite.
The applications that allow users to create and share short videos, will be discontinued in India at the end of October 2020. ByteDance also said the users can opt to transfer their videos to TikTok, download or delete all their Vigo data from the app.

Notes:
As per the recent report of the Sweden-based think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China is developing a nuclear triad for the first time, made up of new land and sea-based missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft.
The report also highlighted that Indi and China have increased their nuclear capacities over the last year. It said that China and Pakistan have more nuclear warheads as compared to India as China has 320 nuclear warheads and India and Pakistan has 150 and 160 respectively.

Notes:
Lieutenant General R M Vohra, a war hero of the 1971 war, recently passed away at the age of 88, after being contracted by COVID-19.
He was a Lieutenant Colonel in command of 4th Horse, the most feared tank regiments of Indian Army. He destroyed 27 enemy tanks which stopped his tanks from crossing the Basantar river. The Lt General was later awarded a Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) and his regiment was awarded the Basantar battle honour.

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:
Union Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi has recently launched SATYABHAMA (Science and Technology Yojana for Aatmanirbhar Bharat in Mining Advancement) Portal.
The portal has been launched for Science and Technology Programme Scheme of Ministry of Mines. It has been designed and implemented by National Informatics Centre (NIC), Mines Informatics Division. The portal aims to promote Research and Development in Mining and Mineral sector.

Notes:
The manufacturing know-how of a PPE Suit being named ‘NavRakshak’ has been licensed by National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to 5 five MSMEs.
The manufacturers are expected to mass produce more than 10 million PPEs per year, to meet the demand of quality PPE kits across the country. This know-how has been developed at the Mumbai-based Innovation Cell of the Institute of Naval Medicine. Intellectual property rights are also to be obtained.

Notes:
Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as Chairman of the economic think tank, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).
Urjit Patel will be the Chairperson of NIPFP for a four-year term from June 22, 2020. He will replace Vijay Laxman Kelkar, who had been the Chairman of the think-tank since 2014. Urjit Patel served as the Deputy Governor of RBI in 2013 and Governor of RBI from 2016 to 2018.