Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Hima Das, the country’s first track athlete to win a global title, has been nominated for the prestigious ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna’ by the state government of Assam.
Hima Das is a 20-year-old athlete from Dhing village in Assam and is one of the youngest nominees for the country’s highest sporting honour this year. The sprinter will compete with javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Table Tennis ace Manika Batra, women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal and cricketer Rohit Sharma.

Notes:
Scientists in UK have claimed that the generic steroid drug dexamethasone has reduced deaths by up to one third in severely ill hospitalised patients, affected by COVID-19.
This result is a part of one of the world’s largest randomised trial of drugs to treat COVID-19 patients, that also showed hydroxychloroquine was not working against the coronavirus. The drug is shown to cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators and a fifth for those on oxygen. However, World Health Organisation said that the drug is reserved for severely ill and critical patients.

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 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, in association with Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and a private firm has developed low-cost diagnostic kits for Covid-19.
The Viral Transport Media (VTM) kits have two transport media for collecting swabs. These unique formulation of the transport medium helps in preserving the viability of viruses for up to 72 hours at refrigerated temperatures. The institution has also developed RT-PCR kits, and RNA isolation kits. Large scale production of these kits has commenced for deploying across the state and the country.

Notes:
The World’s first Quantum communications satellite, Micius was launched by China in the year 2016. It has pioneered in the field of quantum encryption.
The satellite was seen in news recently, as it sends particles of light to Earth to establish the world’s most secure communication link. This is considered to be a milestone in the research, as long-range secure communication can be obtained without the help of traditional communication satellites. Secure long-distance links such will be the foundation of the future global network called the quantum internet.

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 Chief of World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has recently addressed a virtual press conference.
During the conference, he said that the world is in a new and dangerous phase, as the virus outbreak is accelerating around the world with 1.5 lakh cases a day. The WHO chief also urged all countries to remain extremely vigilant, till the outbreak is contained.

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:
Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani launched a special campaign titled ‘Empowering the Greater 50%’.
This campaign is an initiative of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and its division FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO). It seeks to create an ecosystem to support women entrepreneurship and empower as many as 1 lakh women in India over the next three years.

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.