Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The IT subsidiary of the Mahindra Group Tech Mahindra has signed a joint declaration with UN Global Compact urging governments to align their COVID-19 recovery efforts with the latest climate science.
The IT firm and business services provider has also reaffirmed its commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and target to increase the renewable source of energy to 50% by 2025. It has adopted a low emission technology path to increase the use of renewable energy from 1.7% in 2016 to 18% in 2020.

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The Baghjan oil well of Oil India Limited located in Tinsukia district of upper Assam has been leaking for more than 14 days.
Recently, the oil well caught massive fire. A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has reached the place. The Baghjan well is adjacent to the rich biodiversity-filled Dibru-Saikhowa National Park of Assam. The Indian Air Force and the Army are assisting in the firefighting operations.

Notes:
The cabinet of Kerala has given its approval for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Semi-High-Speed Rail corridor.
Called as the Silver Line project, it aims to cover about 529.45 km in four hours. The implementing agency Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (K-rail) is a joint venture of the Indian Railways and the Kerala Government. The Cabinet changed the DPR, to skip Mahe of Puducherry in the route. The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 63,941 crore. It is expected to be completed in five years.

Notes:
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has become the first construction sector organisation to go fully digital.
NHAI has launched ‘Data Lake and Project Management Software’, a cloud-based and artificial intelligence-powered big data analytics platform. With this launch, the entire project workflow of NHAI has been transformed to that based on online portal. The system will also predict the financial impacts of different alternatives.

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The Chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur has recently launched a new scheme called ‘Panchvati Yojna’.
Under the scheme, that is being implemented by the rural development department, parks and gardens would be developed for senior citizens of rural areas in the state. The main aim of the scheme is provide an opportunity to the elder people to spend their leisure time in a clean environment with Ayurvedic and medicinal plants.

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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:
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.

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 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.

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The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) recently announced that Bahrain will host the fourth edition of the Asian Youth Para Games from December 1 to 10 next year.
This would be the first time that Bahrain is to host a big para-sport event, which will take place across several venues in Khalifa Sports City and Isa Sports City of the country. Around 800 athletes under the age of 20 are expected to take part in the event in nine different sports.