Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
Hima Das, the country’s first track athlete to win a global title, has been nominated for the prestigious ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna’ by the state government of Assam.
Hima Das is a 20-year-old athlete from Dhing village in Assam and is one of the youngest nominees for the country’s highest sporting honour this year. The sprinter will compete with javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Table Tennis ace Manika Batra, women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal and cricketer Rohit Sharma.

Notes:
India has been recently elected as the non-permanent member of UN Security Council for 2021-22, along with Ireland, Mexico and Norway. India’s term is to begin from January 2021.
Each year the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members, out of the 10 total seats, for a two-year term. In the recent election, India won 184 votes out of 192 valid votes cast. Previously, India has been elected as a non-permanent member of the Council for seven terms.

Notes:
Achyut Kashinath Sinai Usgaonkar, former Goa Minister passed away recently, at the age of 92, due to age-related ailments.
Achyut Usgaonkar was a leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), the oldest regional party in Goa. He served as a cabinet Minister from 1977 to 1979. Before that, he also served as the deputy speaker of Goa during the government of Dayanand Bandodkar, the first chief minister of Goa.

Notes:
Leading Indian FinTech company MobiKwik has partnered with e-commerce majors including Flipkart, Snapdeal and Confirmtkt, to promote digital ecosystem in India.
MobiKwik has introduced a new product for its partners called ‘MobiKwik Biller Stack’, using which the users of the e-Commerce platforms can pay utility bills through their application. Payment of all bills including electricity, TV, mobile recharge can be done easily through the feature, from multiple payment options.

Notes:
The US Chamber of Commerce has recently announced that ‘India Ideas Summit 2020’ is scheduled to be held virtually on July 21-22.
The summit is organised by US India Business Council (USIBC). This year is the 45th annual meeting and will focus on geopolitics in the post-COVID world, technology trends and the future of healthcare, among others. Last year, the Summit was organised in Washington. It brings together scholars, diplomats and think tanks for high-level dialogue on key issues related to India.

Notes:
As per a new study published in the journal Nature, the 68 million-year-old egg found nine years ago, might belong to Mosasaur.
The fossilised egg is the second-largest to be discovered in the world. It is also the largest soft-shelled egg to be found in Antarctica. Mosasaurs are an extinct species of large marine reptiles which lived in the dinosaur era in Antarctica.

Notes:
The Finance ministry has recently proposed restrictions on pension fund investments from any of India’s bordering countries, including China.
Foreign Direct investment (FDI) in pension funds, that are regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is fixed at 49 per cent under the automatic route. Till now, government permission is mandatory only for investments coming from Bangladesh and Pakistan. The draft guidelines make government permission mandatory for all bordering countries.

Notes:
According to the data from the US Treasury Department, India has become the 12th largest holder of US government securities at the end of April.
Japan stood at the first position by holding securities worth 157.4 billion dollars. It is followed by China at 1.1 trillion dollars and the UK at 368.5 billion dollars. At the end of April, India had an exposure of 157.4 billion dollars.

Notes:
China has successfully launched the last satellite of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), onboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket.
This BDS system is claimed to be a competitor to the popular Global Positioning System (GPS) of the United States. The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Southwest China. It is the 55th in the family of BeiDou, which means “Big Dipper” in Chinese language.

Notes:
The PM CARES Fund Trust has allocated Rs 2000 crore for supply of 50000 ‘Made-in-India’ ventilators to government-run COVID hospitals in all States and UTs.
Out of the 50,000 ventilators ordered, 30,000 ventilators are being manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The remaining ventilators are being jointly manufactured by other Indian companies including AgVa Healthcare and AMTZ Basic among others. Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat received maximum out of 1340 ventilators distributed.