Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
A team of Australian scientists has discovered a new species of a tree frog from the rainforests of New Guinea.
Also called as the “chocolate frog” due to its chocolate colour, it belongs to the Australasian tree frog genus Litoria. Hence the new species was named as ‘Litoria mira’. The closest known relative of this new species is the Australian green tree frog.

Notes:
The State Government of Punjab has launched an initiative named Mission Fateh 2.0, which is a part of Corona Mukt Punjab Abhiyan.
Under this initiative, the state government has directed to form a group of 7 “Rural Corona Volunteers” (RCV) per village or per municipal ward, under the aegis of the state’s Department of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Notes:
The State Government of Goa headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has launched a solar-based electrification programme to provide power connectivity to rural households of the state.
This project aims to deliver renewable power to the households, where grid connectivity is not possible. In this regard, the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) has entered into an agreement with Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL).

Notes:
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting urged the private TV news channels to display four new national helpline numbers to help the citizens during the COVID-19 awareness initiative.
In a letter to all private TV news channels, the said these national helpline numbers should be displayed in appropriate way: The National helpline number of Health Ministry -1075, Child helpline of the Ministry of Women and Child Development-1098, Senior citizens helpline of the Social Justice Ministry – 14567 and helpline of NIMHANS for psychological support – 08046110007.

Notes:
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a detailed photograph of a spiral galaxy called NGC 691.
NGC 691 is a spiral galaxy located at around 125 million light-years away in the constellation of Aries. It is the foremost member of the NGC 691 group, a collection of nine galaxies of varied shapes and colors.

Notes:
The State Bank of India, in its economic research report “Ecowrap” has predicted India’s GDP to grow at 7.9% for the FY 2021-22.
Earlier the report had predicted a growth of 10.4%, and it has now been downgraded due to the large impact of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

Notes:
NASA has planned to send 128 baby squids and some 5,000 tardigrades, also called as Water Bears to the International Space Station for research purposes.
The water animals will be launched aboard SpaceX’s 22nd cargo resupply mission to the ISS. The experiments will also help to understand how beneficial microbes interact with animals. The experiments would also help design protective measures for astronauts going for long space travel.

Notes:
The Government of Japan has announced to find an additional USD 800 million towards the COVAX programme.
COVAX programme is promoted by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO. It is a platform that aims to achieve equal access to vaccines by all countries, regardless of their income levels.

Notes:
India’s Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan completed his tenure as Chairman of WHO Executive Board on June 02.
During the 149th session of the WHO Executive board, Harsh Vardhan announced that Dr Patrick Amoth, Acting Director-General for Health, Ministry of Health of Kenya has been appointed as the Chair of WHO Executive Board.

Notes:
The Government has constituted an expert group to provide technical inputs and recommendations on fixation of minimum wages in the country.
The Group would be chaired by Professor Ajit Mishra, director of the Institute of Economic Growth. As per the Labour and Employment Ministry, the group, which is set up for three years, would also recommend on the national floor wage.