Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has recently launched an Internship programme named ‘Sahakar Mitra’.
The scheme seeks to provide paid internship to youth and to ensure availability of loans to young co-operators. Each intern will get financial aid for the 4 months internship period. As a paid intern, the young professionals get practical exposure from the working of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and co-operatives.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the GST Council recently. As per the announcement, for all those with no tax liabilities, there is no late fee for failing to file returns between July 2017-Jan 2020.
For persons with tax liability, the maximum late fee for non-filing of GSTR-3B returns for the same period is Rs 500. This includes all returns submitted during July 1- September 30, 2020. For tax payers with turnover up to Rs 5 crore, the rate of interest for late furnishing of GST returns for February to April beyond July 6, is reduced from 18% to 9% per annum, till this September end.

Notes:
The Union Defence Ministry has recently extended the delivery period for all existing capital acquisition contracts with Indian vendors by four months.
As per the Defence Minster, ‘force majeure shall be applicable for a period of four months i.e. 25th March 2020 to 24th July 2020’. A force majeure refers to unexpected circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract. This step has been taken because of supply chain crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:
India’s foreign exchange reserves crossed the half-a-trillion mark for the first time in the week ended June 5.
As per the recent data from the Reserve Bank of India, the forex reserves increased by $8.22 billion the week, which made the overall reserves cross the USD 500 billion mark to reach USD 501.70 billion. A huge rise in the Foreign Current Assets (FCA) is the main reason for the rise in reserves. The reserves stood at USD 493.48 billion in the previous week.

Notes:
Research institute of Brazil, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has announced that the Amazon rainforest witnessed deforestation of 829 sq km in May 2020.
This is the highest monthly level of deforestation observed in the forest since 2015. The institute also announced that deforestation increased by 91 sq km compared to the same period last year. The Prime Minister of Brazil is advocating for farming and mining in protected areas to improve economy.

Notes:
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:
International Albinism Awareness Day is observed every year by the United Nations on June 13, across the world. “Made To Shine” is the theme for this year’s observation, to highlight the achievements of persons with albinism worldwide.
Albinism is a rare, non-contagious, genetically inherited difference present at birth. Albinism results in a lack of melanin in the hair, skin and eyes, causing vulnerability to the sun and bright light.

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:
The World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on June 14, every year across the world. The day is celebrated to raise awareness about the need for safe blood and blood products.
On this day, general public and other institutions thank blood donors. The theme of ‘World Blood Donor day 2020’ is – Safe blood saves lives. In the year 2005, the World Health Assembly designated this date to thank blood donors and encourage more people to donate blood. It also calls governments to provide resources for blood collection.

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.