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:
The Union government has recently extended its flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to migrant workers across states.
This step seeks to provide healthcare assurance to the migrant workers, who have lost their jobs and sources of livelihood during the lockdown due to Covid-19. The implementing agency, National Health Authority (NHA) is coordinating with the states to identify the eligible migrant workers.

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:
A strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services, TCS iON, has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to provide its training partners access to digital skilling tools.
The access to digital skilling tools is provided using TCS iON Digital Glass Room facility. This partnership aims to strengthen the online content aggregation platform of NSDC, eSkill India.
TCS iON Digital Glass Room is a web-based digital education platform which enables educators to upload their own lessons.

Notes:
Information Technology major Infosys has recently launched the ‘Summer of Ideas’ initiative for college students.
The international eight-week ideathon is being powered by the digital learning platform of Infosys called Wingspan. This initiative is expected to bridge the gap formed due to the disruption caused by Covid-19 pandemic, for the students and academic professionals. About 2000 inducted students can showcase their ideas to industry experts.

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:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted an internal working group to review the guidelines on ownership and corporate structure of private sector banks.
The working group will be headed by PK Mohanty, an Executive Director at RBI. The group will examine the licensing guidelines of banking and regulations on ownership of private sector banks. It will also review the regulations on holding of financial subsidiaries through a non-operative financial holding company.

Notes:
US space agency NASA has selected Kathy Lueders as its first female head of human spaceflight mission.
NASA has successfully sent two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. In its next mission, it aims to land humans on the Moon by 2024. Kathy Lueders, who is currently the Commercial Crew Program Manager, has been named NASA’s next associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate.

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 Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has launched J&K Poultry Policy, 2020, to promote establishment of poultry units.
It has also announced a dedicated allocation of Rs. 50 crore per annum as subsidy, for establishing of broiler/layer farms and other poultry allied activities. The UT is spending about 900 crores spent on importing poultry and its products from outside. Capital investment incentive for access to credit and interest incentive are also provided to commercial poultry farms.