Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The Aquatic Quarantine Facility (AQF), a premier institution of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture, MPEDA, Ministry of Commerce & Industry (RGCA-MPEDA), has received 3,600 numbers of L. vannamei (White-leg shrimp) brood stock imported by India’s shrimp hatchery operators from Hawaii.
The brood-stock were successfully quarantined for five days and handed over to the hatchery operators with 97.12 per cent survival. This has been achieved for the first time since the inception of the Aquatic Quarantine Facility.

Notes:
Ace Indian chess player P. Harikrishna bagged joint second place in the Sharjah World Stars online chess tournament.
Top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the online tournament by scoring 7.5 out of 10 points. The second-seeded Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna finished second while Polish Grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek finished third.

Notes:
Lieutenant General R M Vohra, a war hero of the 1971 war, recently passed away at the age of 88, after being contracted by COVID-19.
He was a Lieutenant Colonel in command of 4th Horse, the most feared tank regiments of Indian Army. He destroyed 27 enemy tanks which stopped his tanks from crossing the Basantar river. The Lt General was later awarded a Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) and his regiment was awarded the Basantar battle honour.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has recently released a report titled ‘Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region’.
As per the first edition of the report released this year, the average surface air temperatures over India could rise by up to 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, in a worst-case scenario. This estimate is provided as compared to the period between 1976 and 2005. The report also revealed that under an intermediate scenario, the country’s average temperature could rise by up to 2.4°C.

Notes:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to launch a Rs 50,000 crore employment scheme named ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan’ from a village of Bihar.
The scheme aims to provide income support to migrant workers who returned to their home states during the coronavirus lockdown. It will primarily focus on six states Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha, where maximum migrant workers have returned. This scheme aims to provide livelihood for 125 days to 25,000 migrant workers of 116 districts.

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 US Chamber of Commerce has recently announced that ‘India Ideas Summit 2020’ is scheduled to be held virtually on July 21-22.
The summit is organised by US India Business Council (USIBC). This year is the 45th annual meeting and will focus on geopolitics in the post-COVID world, technology trends and the future of healthcare, among others. Last year, the Summit was organised in Washington. It brings together scholars, diplomats and think tanks for high-level dialogue on key issues related to India.

Notes:
The think tank of the Union Government, NITI Aayog has advised Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), to use an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured (IDDM) solution for its 4G network.
Earlier, the Government also urged that both BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) must not use Chinese equipment for the 4G services. BSNL has floated a 4G tender and if NITI Aayog’s recommendation is accepted, it could have an adverse impact on global telecom gear manufacturers, from both China and Europe.

Notes:
The Rajya Sabha consists of not more 238 members representing the States and Union Territories, and 12 members nominated by the President. Each member is elected for a term of six years.
In the recent elections to 19 seats in 10 states, BJP won eight and Congress won four seats. The current strength of Rajya Sabha goes up to 244, of which BJP has 86 members and the National Democratic Alliance NDA’s tally is expected to cross 100. The Congress has 41 members while others have 27.

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly designated June 21 as the ‘International Day of the Celebration of the Solstice’.
It considered that the celebration of solstice represents the unity of the cultural heritage across the world. Solstice is an event that occurs when the path of the sun stands still at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction. There are two solstices that occur annually namely the Summer Solstice around June 21 and Winter Solstice around December 21.