Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The state government of Haryana has announced that it would construct 1,000 water recharge bores in underground water deficient areas of the state.
The programme seeks to recharge underground water with rainfall. Announcing this programme, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that 90 percent of the cost of the bore project will be borne by the government and the remaining 10 percent by the farmers.

Notes:
Indian-American soil scientist Dr Rattan Lal has won the prestigious World Food Prize. The award is considered to be equivalent to a Nobel Prize in agriculture.
Dr Rattan Lal has been awarded for his contribution in assisting small farmers to improve their soil’s health. This has let the global food supply to increase considerably. He has promoted soil-saving techniques which has benefitted the livelihoods of more than 500 million small farmers.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik had earlier announced that the state would provide an incentive of Rs 2000 per migrant after successful completion of quarantine period.
Recently, the proposed incentives have been paid to 1,10,080 people, as per the Health and Family Welfare Department of the state. For this incentive disbursal, ₹19.03 crore have been spent from the Chief Minister Relief Fund.

Notes:
As per the recent statement from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Custom (CBIC), Customs duty on bamboo imports by agarbatti manufacturers has been hiked from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
This is expected to encourage use of domestic bamboo by all industries. Earlier, only the large agarbatti manufacturers were able to import bamboo at lower rate. But due to the reduction in import, farmers as well as MSME agarbatti manufacturers would be benefitted. Moreover, uniform rate will help to prevent misuse and rate related disputes.

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:
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:
The Andhra Pradesh government has recently signed a concession agreement with GMR Airports for construction of a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram.
The proposed place is located in Vizianagaram district, which about 40 km from Visakhapatnam. The concession agreement was signed in the presence of Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. The state cabinet had earlier approved the selection of the GMR Group as the developer for Bhogapuram international airport.

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:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that a commission to look at racial equality in the UK will be established.
The proposed body would look at all forms of inequality in employment, health outcomes, academics, criminal justice system and all aspects of life. This announcement has been given after protests have been undertaken after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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.