Current Affairs: June 27, 2020

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to declare Kushinagar airport as an international airport.
The airport is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Kushinagar is a Buddhist cultural site and its declaration as international airport will improve connectivity to several other Buddhist sites including Sravasti, Kapilvastu and Lumbini. As the place is near the international border, it would improve tourism and economic development of the region.

Notes:
As per the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, India is the first country in the world which is controlling Desert Locust through Drones.
Under Make in India initiative, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW), Agriculture Ministry has indigenously developed a vehicle mounted Ultra-low volume (ULV) sprayer for locust control. After Ministry of Civil Aviation approved conditional exemption for Drone operations for locust control, trials were conducted in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh).

Notes:
Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh has recently inaugurated two important Bridges Devika and Puneja in Jammu and Kashmir, virtually.
The 10-meter-long Devika Bridge inaugurated in Udhampur district, was constructed in about one-year time span by the Border Roads Organisation. The cost of construction of the bridge is Rs 75 lakhs. Another bridge named Puneja has also been inaugurated at a cost of Rs 4 Crore in Doda District.

Notes:
Every year ‘Passport Seva Divas (PSD)’ is celebrated on 24 June in India, to commemorate the enactment of the Passports Act on 24 June, 1967.
This year, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) celebrated Passport Seva Divas (PSD) on 24 June, 2020, by organising a special virtual event. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar noted that more than 1.22 crore passports were issued during 2019 in India and abroad. Passport Seva Puraskars were announced for the best performing Passport Offices and their personnel.

Notes:
The state government of Haryana and Reliance Jio TV have signed an agreement to telecast education material to school children.
The new agreement is done under the Chief Minister’s Distance Education Programme in order to expand education in rural areas. All four channels of the ‘Edusat’ platform will be available on the Jio platform free of cost, which will benefit around 52 lakh school children in rural areas.