Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’, is spread over 3,500 square kilometres across eight countries including India, Nepal and China.
As per a recent research backed by the UNDP, up to two billion people in southeast Asia can face food and water shortages, as the HKH mountain ranges lose up to two-thirds of its ice by 2100.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently raised the interchange fee on each transaction at an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). This shall be effective from August 1, 2021.
The RBI has decided to allow increase in interchange fee per transaction from Rs 15 to Rs 17 for financial transactions and from Rs 5 to Rs 6 for non-financial transactions in all centres. Customers are eligible for five free transactions every month from their own bank ATMs.

Notes:
United States President Joe Biden announced a donation of 500 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the world’s poorest countries.
The US has committed to buy and distribute 500 million Pfizer doses through the global COVAX alliance to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union. The goal is to distribute 200 million doses by the end of the year and the remaining in the first half of 2022.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended risk-based internal audit (RBIA) system for housing finance companies to improve quality of their internal audit system.
The system will apply to all deposit-taking housing finance companies irrespective of their size, and those non-deposit-taking housing finance companies with asset size of 5,000 crore and above.

Notes:
E-Commerce major Flipkart has announced that it has partnered with Telangana government to lead a consortium under the ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project.
The team has been tasked with the development and execution of the drone deliveries of medical supplies to remote areas. As part of the consortium, Flipkart will deploy drones and provide deliveries of vaccines and medical supplies.

Notes:
The UN General Assembly has recently approved the nomination of Rebecca Grynspan to head the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, known as UNCTAD.
The Costa Rican economist is the first woman and Central American to lead the Geneva-based organization. She previously served as UNDP’s Regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Notes:
Naftali Bennett has been selected as the new Prime Minister of Israel, after Benjamin Netanyahu lost his 12-year-old tenure.
Netanyahu, who was Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister, is on trial for fraud. He fell short of obtaining majority support after the general election in March this year. Yair Lapid is expected to replace Bennett as PM after two years.

Notes:
Shenzhou-12, meaning “Divine Vessel”, will be the third of 11 missions to complete China’s space station by 2022.
A Chinese spacecraft on a Long March rocket, ferrying three men to an orbiting space module is to be launched for a three-month stay. This is the first time China is to humans into space after 2016. China also aims to send a robotic cargo resupply spacecraft and three more astronauts this year.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a Consultative Document on Regulation of Microfinance. This is in line with the announcement of RBI in the fifth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement.
The suggested framework is aimed at protecting the microfinance borrowers from over-indebtedness. It also aims to enable competitive forces to bring down the interest rates. The proposals include a common definition of microfinance loans, no prepayment penalty etc.

Notes:
WISA Woodsat is a nano satellite, which would be the world’s first wooden satellite to be launched to space by the end of this year from New Zealand.
This nanosatellite is a cube shaped structure made of birch plywood with its sensors developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). It would be launched from a rocket electron which is developed by “Rocket Lab” – an American space company.