Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is the most massive project of Ethiopia at a cost of USD 4.6 billion.
The dam is located on the Blue Nile and its construction began in the year 2011. Recently the Nile basin countries Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan resumed negotiations. Egypt fears that the project will constrict its water supply while Ethiopia desires to become a major power exporter. Sudan has urged the two countries for negotiations.

Notes:
As per the recent report from the State Forest department, the population of Asiatic lions in Gujarat’s Gir forest has increased by almost 29 per cent.
The exercise also found that the area inhabited by lions has increased by 36 per cent from 22,000 sq km in 2015 to 30,000 sq km in 2020, which is an increase of 36%. The increase of Asiatic lion population is possible due to the participation of local community. The Environment Ministry said that a land project being undertaken will further help in the conservation of Lions.

Notes:
The popular mobile game PUBG Mobile has emerged as the highest grossing game across the world in May 2020.
The multiplayer battle game has earned over $226 million in May, which is an increase of 41 percent compared to the same month last year. The game released from Tencent which was launched in 2018, earned its major revenue from China. Honor of Kings from Tencent followed PUBG Mobile in the second rank.

Notes:
The United States Department of State releases the annual ‘International Religious Freedom Report’, in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
The report submitted to the US Congress, describes the status of religious freedom in every country. It was in news because the report raised concerns over the religious freedom of India. The report also mentioned about the revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the parliamentary approval of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Notes:
Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the leading and only National Chamber of Commerce, that was founded in 1925. It is headquartered at Kolkata.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently delivered the inaugural address of the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) through video conferencing. During his address, the Prime Minister also praised the chamber for contributing to the development of industries in East India and the North East.

Notes:
A team of researchers at IIT- Kharagpur has developed a system based on artificial intelligence to track social distancing.
The cyber-physical system monitors social distancing in public places, by detecting the gap between individuals. It plays an alert sound, whenever social distancing norms mandated by the Health Ministry is violated. This is also a low-cost device, which can even be used in remote places.

Notes:
Leading private bank ICICI Bank has launched an overdraft (OD) facility named ‘Insta FlexiCash’, for its salaried account customers who are facing a cash crunch.
The specified customers can initiate this facility by applying online using the bank’s Internet banking platform and can avail short-term instant credit within 48 hours. The product has been launched to help the bank’s Salary Account customers from missing their Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) or cheque bounces due to insufficient funds.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment implements the ‘Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing / fitting of aids / appliances’ (ADIP) scheme through its Public sector enterprise, Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO).
Recently, a virtual ADIP Camp for free distribution of assistive aids and devices at Block level for Divyangjans under the ADIP scheme was organized at Firozpur District in Punjab. This is the first camp being organized by the ALIMCO after opening of lockdown with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

Notes:
As per the recent notification from the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the annual rate of inflation based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI) contracted to 3.21% in the month of May 2020.
It means that the annual rate of inflation is -3.21% in May 2020. The government had suspended the release of wholesale price index (WPI) data in April, due to the nationwide lockdown. Hence the provisional figures of May are compared with final figures of March.

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.