Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
‘Global Economic Prospects report’ is the flagship report of World Bank. As per the latest report released, India’s economy is estimated to contract by 3.2% in the current fiscal year 2020-21. The report also expects the Indian economy would grow at 3.1% in the next fiscal year.
In the earlier report released in April, the GDP growth rate for this fiscal year was predicted at 1.5%-2.8% growth. The growth of next year was also earlier predicted at 6.1%. The report also highlighted that global economy will contract by 5.2% in 2020.

Notes:
The Union Government has created the Micro Irrigation Fund with the corpus of Rs. 5000 crore with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Under the fund, NABARD will provide the amount to states on concessional rate of interest to promote micro-irrigation. Moreover, the annual allotment of Rs. 4000 crore has been made under the ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY- PDMC). The scheme focuses on improving water use efficiency through micro Irrigation techniques.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has recently launched the Rozgar Setu portal that will provide employment to migrant labourers.
It was announced that all migrant workers who have returned to their home state have been registered on the portal. The portal also has the details of the employers who are looking for workers as they re-start economic activities. The state will also hold Rozgar melas in the next two months to employ these workers.

Notes:
The QS World University Rankings has been released by global higher education consultancy QS Quacquarelli Symonds.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the list for the ninth consecutive year, followed by Stanford University and Harvard University all being American. Only three Indian institutions namely IIT-Bombay (172nd), IISc Bangalore (185th) and IIT Delhi (193rd) feature among the top 200 in the list, with none in the top-100.

Notes:
A Central Public Sector Enterprise Under Department of Fertilizers, National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) has tied up with Industrial Training Institutes located near to its plants to train youth in several trades.
The partnership is expected to upskill the youth and to enhance their employability in heavy industries. NFL becomes first CPSE to start this initiative in Punjab, by signing an MoU with ITI, Nangal. The students will be trained under Dual System of Training Scheme where they will learn both theoretical skills and on-the-job training in Nangal plant.

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:
India’s leading SUV and farm vehicle maker, Mahindra and Mahindra announced that it is set to exit from its US-based e- bike company GenZe.
As the firm suffered a substantial loss in the March quarter due to losses at foreign subsidiaries, it is also set to give up control of its Korean subsidiary SsangYong. The company said that it will stop investments in the loss-making SsangYong firm. Mahindra and Mahindra is also relooking all its ventures to reduce expenses.

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:
The lower house of Nepal parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha passed bill to include India’s territories of Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand in its new map.
Nepal’s upper house of parliament has also endorsed proposal to update its political map that includes the Indian territories. However, India has claimed that the updated map is not based on historical facts and evidence and that the move is violative of the current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.

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.