Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Washington-headquartered International Monetary Fund releases its flagship report titled ‘World Economic Outlook (WEO)’.
In the recent forecast report, the International Monetary Fund has estimated that the economy is expected to contract by -4.5 per cent, in the fiscal year 2020. IMF has also projected that the Indian economy will bounce back in 2021-22 with a growth rate of around 6%, though it is lower than the 7.4% growth predicted in April.

Notes:
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated a Product Application & Development Centre (PADC) setup by Indian Oil, jointly with the Chief Minister of Odisha at Paradip, Odisha.
The Centre has been set up at Paradip with a capital expenditure of Rs 43 crores. It has been equipped with latest polymer testing and processing equipment. PADC, Paradip is also recognized as a research centre by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology.

Notes:
Haritha Haram is a tree-planting program implemented by Telangana to increase the amount of tree cover in the state.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has recently launched the sixth phase of Haritha Haram programme. He also inaugurated the Narsapur Urban Forest Park and examined the Forest revival programme being implemented in Narsapur forest area.

Notes:
Indian Railways has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with RailTel for installing video surveillance at over 6000 stations, across the country.
RailTel is a public sector undertaking (PSU) operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Railway. The IP-based video surveillance system will be provided at 6,049 railway stations, under specific categories of the Indian Railways. Existing standalone CCTV network would also be integrated with the video surveillance system.

Notes:
The state government of Tripura has recently launched a new scheme called ‘Mukhyamantri Matru Pushti Uphaar’ scheme.
The scheme aims to combat infant and maternal mortality and malnutrition, by providing nutrition kits to pregnant and lactating women. The government also announced that pregnant women would be tested four times in nearby Primary Health Centers (PHC) and be given a nutrition kit after each test.

Notes:
The Japanese camera brand Olympus has been in the business of manufacturing cameras, lenses, audio recorders, and related accessories since 1936.
Recently, it has decided to sell off its entire camera business to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). This step has been taken as the digital camera market has been severely crashed due to the evolution of smart phones. JIP had earlier bought Sony’s VAIO computer business.

Notes:
Karnataka becomes the first state to amend Industries (Facilitation) Act for all Small, Medium & Large-Scale Industries.
The amendments in the sections of the Karnataka Industries (Facilitation) Act 2002, removed the statutory nods required to begin construction and other works in the state. It allows the industries to commence work without clearances for first 3 years. 100% stamp duty exemption for agreements and other resources for production of electric vehicles (EV) will be given.

Notes:
The Union Government has announced the launch of Taxable Floating Rate Savings Bonds, 2020, that will be available for subscription for retail investors from July 1, 2020.
The bonds are issued by the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the Government, replacing the recently withdrawn 7.75% bonds. The interest rate on these bonds will be reset every six months while the initial rate of interest is fixed at 7.15 per cent. The bonds shall be repayable on the expiration of seven years from the date of issue.

Notes:
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, headquartered at Vienna, Austria.
According to the latest UNODC World Drug Report, about 26.9 crore people used drugs in 2018, which was 30% more than the 2009 count. The largest share of drug users comprised of adolescents and young adults. Overall opioid users in India is estimated to have increased five times, as compared to those in 2004.

Notes:
The state government of Maharashtra has launched the world’s largest convalescent plasma therapy project named PLATINA, for treating COVID-19.
The trial-cum-project is expected to save at least 500 lives of critically-ill Covid-19 patients in the state. The trial will be carried out in government medical colleges and BMC medical colleges. All critical patients will receive two doses of 200 ml of convalescent plasma under the project, free of cost.