Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The team of Department of Zoology, Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat discovered a new fish species in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Named as ‘Schizothorax sikusirumensis’, the fish belongs to the genus Schizothorax. The name of the fish species represents the name of the rivers where it was found, the junction of River Siku and Sirum of East Siang District.

Notes:
India is ranked 43rd on the annual World Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD).
It has retained the same 43rd rank obtained in the previous edition. In the 2020 list that ranks 63 nations, Singapore has retained its top spot. It is followed by Denmark and Switzerland. However, the United States moved down from 3rd place to 10th place. While India improved in high-tech exports, foreign currency reserves etc, it degraded in areas like exchange rate stability, real GDP growth.

Notes:
Great Wall Motor (GWM), the Chinese carmaker recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government.
GWM, also the latest Chinese automaker to enter the Indian market agreed to invest in modernising its Talegaon manufacturing plant. This investment is expected to generate employment for 3,000 people. The company also confirmed its plan to invest USD 1 billion in the Indian market.

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).

Notes:
Sustainable Gastronomy Day is celebrated every year across the world on June 18, by the United Nations and its member countries.
Sustainable Gastronomy means cuisine that considers the place where food is grown, how it is grown and how it gets into markets. UNESCO, FAO and the UN General Assembly work to facilitate the observance of Sustainable Gastronomy Day, in collaboration with Member States and other international bodies.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs signed a MoU with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), to engage SIDBI as the Implementation Agency for PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi).
The scheme aims to provide a working capital loan up to Rs 10000 to street vendors, who have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 lockdown. The loan is repayable in monthly instalments in 1-year tenue. On prompt payment, a subsidy of 7% per annum is also provided.

Notes:
The UN Agency for refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has released its Annual report on displacement.
As per the report, nearly 80 million people were forcibly displaced by the end of 2019 globally. The main reason for displacement has been war, violence, persecution and other emergencies. This count is almost double the total figure of the past decade. The report also revealed that an additional 11 million people were newly displaced in 2019 alone.

Notes:
Recently, a team of astronomers at NASA and European Space Agency ESA have discovered a neutron star called ‘Swift J1818.0-1607’.
The neutron star has been estimated to be about 240 years old. It was first discovered in March 2020, when it released a massive burst of X-rays. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars. According to NASA, Swift J1818.0-1607 contains twice the mass of our Sun in a volume of more than one trillion times smaller.

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:
India’s first listed stock exchange Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has featured among the world’s 10 largest exchanges in terms of cumulative market capitalisation of all companies listed on its platform.
As per the latest data from the World Federation of Exchanges, BSE stands at the tenth place in the list, with a market capitalisation of USD 1.7 trillion. The list is topped by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a valuation of USD 19.3 trillion. It is followed by Nasdaq with a market capitalisation of USD 13.8 trillion.