Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Achyut Kashinath Sinai Usgaonkar, former Goa Minister passed away recently, at the age of 92, due to age-related ailments.
Achyut Usgaonkar was a leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), the oldest regional party in Goa. He served as a cabinet Minister from 1977 to 1979. Before that, he also served as the deputy speaker of Goa during the government of Dayanand Bandodkar, the first chief minister of Goa.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set up a Project Development Cell (PDC) to attract more investments into the sector.
It is to be headed by the Joint secretary of MNRE, Amitesh Kumar Sinha, and will help meet the country’s 175 GW target for green energy. The PDC aims to create projects that have all prior approvals for investors to adopt them. DPIIT can also nominate some officials to this body.

Notes:
India’s first listed stock exchange Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has featured among the world’s 10 largest exchanges in terms of cumulative market capitalisation of all companies listed on its platform.
As per the latest data from the World Federation of Exchanges, BSE stands at the tenth place in the list, with a market capitalisation of USD 1.7 trillion. The list is topped by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a valuation of USD 19.3 trillion. It is followed by Nasdaq with a market capitalisation of USD 13.8 trillion.

Notes:
The Finance ministry has recently proposed restrictions on pension fund investments from any of India’s bordering countries, including China.
Foreign Direct investment (FDI) in pension funds, that are regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is fixed at 49 per cent under the automatic route. Till now, government permission is mandatory only for investments coming from Bangladesh and Pakistan. The draft guidelines make government permission mandatory for all bordering countries.

Notes:
Ministry of Culture is celebrating International Yoga Day 2020 by organising a campaign titled ‘Namaste Yoga’ from 19th to 21st June, 2020.
Union Minister of State for Culture Prahlad Singh Patel urged everyone to join him for a Surya Namaskar. He also asked them to post their Surya Namaskar videos on social media platforms to create health awareness among all citizens.

Notes:
As per the recent data from Vietnam, the 36th ASEAN Summit will be held via video conference on June 26.
Vietnam is the chair of ASEAN in 2020 and its Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will chair the opening session, plenary session and special sessions on woman empowerment in digital era among other meetings. The 36th ASEAN Summit, which had been scheduled to be held in April, has been postponed to June end due to COVID-19.

Notes:
Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the online procurement platform for government bodies, has made the sellers mandatory to mention the ‘country of origin’ while registering all new products.
GeM is a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Besides mandating fresh sellers, the GeM also mandates the sellers who had already uploaded their products to update the ‘country of origin’, with a warning that their products shall be removed if they fail to update.

Notes:
Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister has approved a scheme for interest subvention of 2% to all Shishu loan accounts under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY).
The subvention is applicable to eligible borrowers, for a period of 12 months. The scheme will incentivize people who will make regular repayments of loans. The estimated cost of the Scheme would be approximately Rs. 1542 crore, which would be provided by the Union Government. Loans for activities up to Rs. 50,000 are termed as Shishu loans.

Notes:
Union cabinet approved a new body under the Department of Space is named ‘IN-SPACe’, which is the acronym for Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre.
The Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation announced that IN-SPACe will be the nodal national body to promote and regulate all space-related activities of private industries. The new entity will have its own chairman and board and will function autonomously. IN-SPACe will be established in three to six months.

Notes:
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who is also the Chairman of Indian Red Cross Society, launched the ‘eBloodServices’ mobile application through a video conference.
The application of Indian Red Cross Society has been developed by the E-Raktkosh team launched under the Digital India scheme. Through this app, up to four units of blood can be requested. The E-Raktkosh dashboard is used to display the requisite units and it also ensures assured delivery within the specified time.