Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Jharkhand is set to become the first state to launch an employment guarantee scheme for urban poor on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The scheme named ‘Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojna’ will guarantee 100 days of work in a financial year for urban unskilled labourers. Under the scheme, if the person doesn’t get work within 15 days of request, unemployment allowance would be given. An urban employment guarantee council would be formed, headed by the Chief Minister and Urban development minister as the vice president.

Notes:
The Department of Economic Affairs, Finance Ministry has recently announced that there is no objection to the proposal of contributions from individuals or institutions towards the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
The proposal has been accepted based on the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The NDRF was constituted under the same act and it supplements SDRF of a state, when adequate funds are not available in SDRF in case of a severe disaster. The central government may constitute a fund to be called the NDRF for meeting any severe disaster.

Notes:
Serbia is the first country in Europe to successfully conduct its national election in Europe during the coronavirus epidemic.
The voting, which had been initially planned for April, was postponed because of the pandemic. However, the turnout appeared lower compared to previous elections due to the fear of coronavirus. The ruling governing conservative party led by President Aleksandar Vucic is set to obtain a landslide victory.

Notes:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting.
It has been attended by the Union External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This is the first time the foreign Ministers of India and China are virtually meeting through video conference after the recent standoff between their troops at Ladakh. On June 24, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attends the Victory parade in Russia.

Notes:
Moody’s Investor Service has released the June update of its flagship Global Macro Outlook report. It has estimated that India’s GDP growth would be -3.1% this year.
It had earlier estimated the growth to be 0.2% in April. The report also projected that India’s GDP would grow at 6.9% in the fiscal year 2021-22, as compared to 6.2% estimated in the April update. It has lowered its estimates for all major economies.

Notes:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is an UN agency created to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. Its headquarters is located in Amman, Jordan.
Recently, India has pledged contributing 10 million US dollar to the UNWRA over the next two years. This was announced during the Extraordinary Virtual Ministerial Pledging Conference for UNRWA. This year, India has already disbursed two million dollars and will soon remit the balance three million dollars. India also provides 250 annual scholarships to Palestinian youth and officials.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently approved a six-month extension to the commission appointed to examine sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes.
The Commission is headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice G. Rohini. As per the extension, the commission will submit its report by January 31, 2021. The commission had been formed initially in October 2017. It was looking into the issues of communities that were not getting the benefits of reservation.

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.

Notes:
As per the annual banking statistics released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the United Kingdom has the highest aggregate foreign funds parked with the Swiss banks.
It is followed by the US and West Indies. The top-5 countries account for more than 50 per cent of the aggregate funds. India has moved down three places to 77th rank at the end of 2019, accounting for 0.06% of foreign funds. The funds parked by Indians fell by 5.8 per cent in 2019 to 899 million Swiss francs (Rs 6,625 crore).

Notes:
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released its first report on “Money laundering and illegal wildlife trade”.
In the first global report, illegal wildlife trade has been described as a ‘global threat’, which also has links with other organised crimes like slavery, drug trafficking and arms trade. As per the report, the illegal trade is estimated to generate revenues of up to USD 23 billion a year. It also highlighted that legislative changes were necessary to apply the laws to illegal wildlife trade-linked offences.