Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

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:
Technology major Facebook has recently acquired Swedish mapping technology company Mapillary, as per official sources.
Mapillary crowd-sources the images, collects pictures contributed from smart phones and other types of cameras. It then uses computer vision technology to stack them together into a real-time 3-D map. This technology is expected to support Facebook products under development like augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets.

Notes:
The State Department of Archaeology Team of the Kodumanal excavation has identified 250 cairn-circles at the village in Erode district of Tamil Nadu.
The team has recently found around 10 pots and bowls, instead of the usual 3-4 pots, placed outside three-chambered burial cists. It is expected to be of the head of the community. Pots filled with grains were placed outside the chambers as it was believed that the deceased will get a new life after death. This has revealed about the burial rituals and the belief of afterlife in megalithic culture.

Notes:
The state government of Tripura is launching an initiative named ‘Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho’, to promote learning process of school students.
The proposed scheme is to be started from June 25, for students up to class 8. As per the state’s guidelines, assignments will be sent to students on mobile phones every morning, and feedback on their performance is to be collected in the afternoon. In the state, as many as five lakh students study in 4,733 government schools.

Notes:
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of Maharashtra launched ‘Mission Zero’ rapid action plan to combat Covid-19.
Under the action plan, as many as fifty dispensary vans will cover various parts of Mumbai for 2-3 weeks to carry out a preliminary examination of patients. As per the data of the Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Maharashtra stands at the top spot with maximum number of people affected by Covid-19 in the country.

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:
The United States President Donald Trump has recently suspended H-1B, H-2B, J, L and other temporary work permits.
The suspension will be effective till December 31, as per the recent announcement from the White House. The President announced that the entry of additional workers through these temporary Visa programs presents a threat to employment opportunities for Americans affected by the economic damages caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:
The World Karate Federation (WKF) has provisionally de-recognised the Karate Association of India with immediate effect.
The decision has been taken after an inquiry found that the association involved in infighting and violating the world body’s laws during its elections last year. As the election process was considered to be flawed by the WKF, it has de-recognised with immediate effect in accordance with the WKF rules.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to declare Kushinagar airport as an international airport.
The airport is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Kushinagar is a Buddhist cultural site and its declaration as international airport will improve connectivity to several other Buddhist sites including Sravasti, Kapilvastu and Lumbini. As the place is near the international border, it would improve tourism and economic development of the region.

Notes:
As per the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, India is the first country in the world which is controlling Desert Locust through Drones.
Under Make in India initiative, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW), Agriculture Ministry has indigenously developed a vehicle mounted Ultra-low volume (ULV) sprayer for locust control. After Ministry of Civil Aviation approved conditional exemption for Drone operations for locust control, trials were conducted in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh).