Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Veteran economist and former member of the Planning Commission, A.Vaidyanathan recently passed away.
He served as a Chairperson of the Government of India Task Force on Revival of Cooperative Credit Institutions in 2004. He joined the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in 1956. He also served in the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Rome. He played a crucial role in developing India’s statistical system and the National Sample Survey.

Notes:
India’s Permanent Mission to the UN has recently developed a special Yoga Module, to mark International Yoga Day 2020.
The International Yoga Day is celebrated on June 21, every year across the world. To commemorate this year’s Yoga Day, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN has created a special yoga module, ‘Yoga for Health – Yoga at Home’, along with yoga teachers and therapists. The module has yoga exercises, breathing and meditation practices to improve physical and mental health.

Notes:
The International Football Federation FIFA has released its global FIFA ranks recently. Belgium retained its top spot in the list.
Belgium is followed by France and Brazil. The fourth and fifth positions are occupied by England and Uruguay respectively. Indian football team has retained the 108th spot in the ranking. The Covid-19 pandemic has remained an obstacle to the staging of international matches and the ranking remains unchanged.

Notes:
Indian Railways has recently created a new benchmark as it has successfully operated first Double Stack Container Train in electric zone.
The train has been run in high rise Over Head Equipment (OHE) electrified sections, as per the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. This is the first-of-its-kind initiative and will also promote the mission of Green India. This operation has been commenced from Palanpur and Botad stations in Gujarat.

Notes:
The Union Defence Ministry has recently extended the delivery period for all existing capital acquisition contracts with Indian vendors by four months.
As per the Defence Minster, ‘force majeure shall be applicable for a period of four months i.e. 25th March 2020 to 24th July 2020’. A force majeure refers to unexpected circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract. This step has been taken because of supply chain crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:
Railway Protection Force, Pune has launched a robot named ‘Captain Arjun’, to screen passengers while they board trains.
ARJUN stands for Always be Responsible and Just Use to be Nice. It is equipped with a motion sensor, PTZ camera (Pan, Tilt, Zoom Camera) and a Dome Camera. Captain Arjun also does thermal screening and also has a sensor-based sanitizer and mask dispenser. It also has a floor sanitization facility. The robot uses artificial intelligence to track suspicious activity and antisocial activity.

Notes:
A short film produced by a group from a village of Odisha named ‘Martyapura Re Jamaraj’ (‘Yamaraj on earth’) has won a special jury award at the COVID-19 International Film Festival 2020.
The 13-minute short film directed in Odia language by Stitadhi Rath, seeks to spread awareness about preventive measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in the rural areas. The film uses humour genre to convey the message.

Notes:
Technology Giant Microsoft has recently launched a new feature called ‘Teams for Education’, to support online education.
The new feature seeks to engage and prepare students and teachers for new remote learning ecosystem. It also has an expanded audience view of up to 49 participants, custom backgrounds and virtual breakout rooms among others. Students can digitally raise their hands during class meetings in the feature.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has recently released a report titled ‘Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region’.
As per the first edition of the report released this year, the average surface air temperatures over India could rise by up to 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, in a worst-case scenario. This estimate is provided as compared to the period between 1976 and 2005. The report also revealed that under an intermediate scenario, the country’s average temperature could rise by up to 2.4°C.

Notes:
The high-powered panel constituted by SEBI, has released its report to improve inquiry and enforcement processes of the market regulator.
The panel has been chaired by a retired judge of the Supreme Court- Justice Anil R Dave, has released its comprehensive report to SEBI. The report focusses on reducing timeline for passing final orders, improving recovery processes, quantifying alleged gains while levying penalties and interplay between SEBI norms and provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).