Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
On June 10th, a Solar Eclipse is to be witnessed while on June 20-21, Summer solstice, the astronomical end of spring, and the beginning of summer will occur.
This will be the day with the longest period of daylight. On the summer evenings, a curved grouping of stars is noticed across the southern sky, with red beacon. This is the constellation Scorpius, which can be observed in June. The full Moon of June is also called as ‘Strawberry Moon’.

Notes:
Ranjitsinh Disale , the first Indian teacher to receive the Global Teacher Award, has been appointed by the World Bank as an Advisor to the World Bank.
The World Bank has appointed 12 advisors from across the world and Mr. Disale is one of them representing India. World Bank has recently launched the Global Coach Program, to help countries improve in-service teacher professional development (TPD) programs.

Notes:
Abdulla Shahid, who is currently the Foreign Minister of Maldives, has been elected as the next president of the United Nations General Assembly.
This is the first time the Maldives is to occupy the office of the President of the UNGA. The 76th UNGA session (2021-22) was the turn of the Asia-Pacific group. The election to the UNGA presidential post is held on an annual basis.

Notes:
Weyan, a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district has become the first village in the country to vaccinate all its adult population against Covid-19.
Vaccination in village was covered under the J&K model, a 10-point strategy to vaccinate all eligible citizens at a faster pace. The Union Territory has also achieved 70 per cent vaccination for those in the 45+ age group.

Notes:
The World Bank has forecasted GDP growth of India to be 8.3 per cent for FY22, as against its earlier estimate of 10.1 per cent. This has been published in the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects Report’s latest issue.
This slash in GDP is on account of unprecedented impact of second wave of COVID 19.

Notes:
Assam’s Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary has been recently notified as the seventh national park of the state of Assam.
Recently, Raimona was declared as the National Park in the state. Assam is the state with the second highest number of national parks in the country, after Madhya Pradesh (11). The UT of Andaman and Nicobar has nine national parks.

Notes:
Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is defined as the fraction of applied nitrogen that is absorbed and used by the plant.
Recently, Indian biotechnologists have identified candidate genes for nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice. This is expected to save nitrogenous pollution and fertilisers worth billions of rupees. After analysing over 16000 genes, researchers shortlisted 6 high priority target genes, to improve NUE in rice.

Notes:
The UK holds the presidency of G7 and has invited India, Australia, South Africa and South Korea to the outreach summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to virtually participate in the outreach sessions of the G7 summit, hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This is the second time the Prime Minister is participating in the G7 meeting after France invited India in 2019 as a ‘Goodwill Partner’.

Notes:
During the 44th GST Council meeting, the tax rate on the supplies was cut and medicines for treating the black fungus infection were exempted off GST.
This was decided based on the recommendations of the group of ministers (GoM) constituted to advise on the tax rates of COVID-related essential items. COVID vaccines will continue to be taxed at five per cent GST.

Notes:
The World Giving Index (WGI) for the year 2021 has been released by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). The report states that COVID 19 and associated lockdowns have changed the giving behaviour of countries across the globe.
India stands at 14th most generous countries in the world. Indonesia has been ranked at the 1st spot.