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:
Multinational professional services network Deloitte is partnering with Google cloud to help Indian firms in leveraging digital technology.
The firms have extended their global alliance to India to enable the Indian enterprises modernize cloud technology adoption. It will also provide solutions in field such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Contact Center AI.

Notes:
Union Human Resource Development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has recently released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Ranking 2020.
As per the ranking, IIT Madras had topped the list of higher education institutions followed by IISc Bengaluru and IIT Delhi in the overall category. In the Management Category, IIM Ahmedabad topped the ranking. Every year, HRD Ministry ranks the institutions of India based on the pre-determined parameters.

Notes:
Veteran economist and former member of the Planning Commission, A.Vaidyanathan recently passed away.
He served as a Chairperson of the Government of India Task Force on Revival of Cooperative Credit Institutions in 2004. He joined the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in 1956. He also served in the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Rome. He played a crucial role in developing India’s statistical system and the National Sample Survey.

Notes:
Young Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was recently found dead at his residence, at the age of 34. Sushant was known for his acclaimed performances in films such as MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Sonchiriya, Kai Po Che, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! among others.
The policy think-tank of the Indian government, NITI Aayog signed him to promote the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) in the year 2018.

Notes:
The insolvency regulator IBBI has reconstituted the Advisory Committee on Corporate Insolvency Resolution and Liquidation process.
This panel would be chaired by Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak. The panel comprising of 13 other members will provide professional support on matters relating to the Corporate Insolvency resolution and liquidation handled by the Board under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.

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:
India is ranked 43rd on the annual World Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD).
It has retained the same 43rd rank obtained in the previous edition. In the 2020 list that ranks 63 nations, Singapore has retained its top spot. It is followed by Denmark and Switzerland. However, the United States moved down from 3rd place to 10th place. While India improved in high-tech exports, foreign currency reserves etc, it degraded in areas like exchange rate stability, real GDP growth.

Notes:
Former Supreme Court Judge D K Jain has been reappointed as the Ethics Officer and Ombudsman of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
D K Jain was appointed as the first ever Ombudsman and was later appointed as the Ethics Officer in addition. His term had ended on February 29 this year, but his appointment has been renewed for one more year. Due to the Covid pandemic, the Ombudsman will be conducting hearings virtually.

Notes:
In the month of February, the Cabinet approved to build the Vadhavan port at Palgarh district in Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs. 65544 crores.
Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has said that ports as an industry are allowed in the ecologically sensitive Dahanu taluka area, which includes the Vadhavan in Palgarh district. The port will be developed on landlord model by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to be formed with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) as the lead partner.