Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Sustainable Gastronomy Day is celebrated every year across the world on June 18, by the United Nations and its member countries.
Sustainable Gastronomy means cuisine that considers the place where food is grown, how it is grown and how it gets into markets. UNESCO, FAO and the UN General Assembly work to facilitate the observance of Sustainable Gastronomy Day, in collaboration with Member States and other international bodies.

Notes:
Leading Indian FinTech company MobiKwik has partnered with e-commerce majors including Flipkart, Snapdeal and Confirmtkt, to promote digital ecosystem in India.
MobiKwik has introduced a new product for its partners called ‘MobiKwik Biller Stack’, using which the users of the e-Commerce platforms can pay utility bills through their application. Payment of all bills including electricity, TV, mobile recharge can be done easily through the feature, from multiple payment options.

Notes:
Recently, a team of astronomers at NASA and European Space Agency ESA have discovered a neutron star called ‘Swift J1818.0-1607’.
The neutron star has been estimated to be about 240 years old. It was first discovered in March 2020, when it released a massive burst of X-rays. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars. According to NASA, Swift J1818.0-1607 contains twice the mass of our Sun in a volume of more than one trillion times smaller.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs along with FICCI and two private healthcare institutes organised a webinar titled ‘National Sickle Cell Conclave’, to mark World Sickle Cell Day.
Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda addressed the webinar and announced that the government has launched a new portal with registration facility, information about the disease and various government initiatives undertaken. The Ministry has initiated ‘Action Research’ project for helping SCD patients. A report titled ‘Stepping out of the shadows – Combating Sickle Cell Disease in India’ was released.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh Government has started using rail coaches as isolation units for COVID-19 suspected patients.
COVID coaches are deployed at Mau junction in Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, in a first in the country. Indian Railways is ready to offer as many as 5,231 isolation coaches to the states and the respective zonal railways have converted the coaches as quarantine facilities. After Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh have also been using rail coaches.

Notes:
Every year the United Nations Public Service day is observed on June 23 to honour people engaged in public service, around the world.
On 20 December 2002, the United General Assembly designated 23 June as UN Public Service Day. The United Nations also established the UN Public Service Awards (UNPSA) programme in 2003, to recognise the UN Public Service Day and to encourage youngsters to take up their career in public sector.

Notes:
Veteran Indian economist and Nobel-laureate Amartya Sen has won the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
The 86-year-old economist has been named for the award for his decades-long work on global justice and social inequality. The German Publishers and Booksellers Association, Börsenverein constituted the award. The association also mentioned Amartya Sen’s three significant concepts: ‘Human Development Index’, the ‘capabilities approach’ and the notion of ‘missing women’.

Notes:
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology has started working on queries on privacy of the Aarogya Setu application.
The Chairperson of the Parliamentary committee on IT is Shashi Tharoor. He said that despite challenges in organising meeting, the committee has started functioning. Data security of the application and the imposition on using the app would be focussed in the meeting.

Notes:
The National Statistical Office (NSO) has recently announced that India has retained its position as the third-largest economy after China and the US in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) for 2017.
The government quoted the World Bank data and said that India accounted for 6.7 per cent (USD 8,051 billion out of the total of USD 119,547 billion) of global GDP in terms of PPP. India is also third-largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in global actual individual consumption and global gross capital formation.

Notes:
The world’s first yoga university outside India has been launched in Los Angeles, United States. It has been named ‘The Vivekananda Yoga University (VaYU)’.
The University has been jointly launched during a virtual event held at the Consulate General of India in New York, as part of the 6th International Yoga Day celebrations. The first Chairman of the University is Indian yoga guru Dr. H R Nagendra. It would offer programmes that combine scientific and research approaches to the Indian practice of yoga.