Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
Little Bloodtail is a small dragonfly, which has wide presence in the state of Kerala. This species of dragonfly can be spotted from the beginning of June till September.
Since the life cycle of little bloodtail is very closely linked with monsoon, they are considered as a harbinger of monsoon (which announces the arrival of an event).

Notes:
Tasneem Aslam, an Indian student belonging to Kerala has received United Arab Emirates (UAE) 10-year Golden Visa under the exceptional student category.
The student is permitted to stay in the UAE till the year 2031. This visa is one of the most coveted documents, which is given to prominent global personalities for merit and academic credentials.

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:
Leading Tennis champion and world number two Naomi Osaka has announced that she would withdraw from the French Open and would spend some time away from the court.
She had posted that she would boycott the mandatory post-match press conferences on the grounds of mental health reasons. In turn, the organisers imposed a penalty on the player.

Notes:
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) Pune has developed a hybrid technology called “SWASTIIK”, for disinfecting water by using natural oils.
With support from the Water Technology Initiative of the department of science and technology (DST), the team has developed the technology. It involves boiling of a liquid as a result of pressure reduction (cavitation) and also uses natural oils having antimicrobial properties, to disinfect.

Notes:
Mahesh Jethmalani, who is a noted advocate has been recently nominated by the Union Government to the Rajya Sabha. Additionally, former journalist Swapan Dasgupta has also been nominated to the upper house.
Mahesh Jethmalani has been nominated to Rajya Sabha to fill the vacancy of seat due to the demise of Raghunath Mohapatra.

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:
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 was launched recently by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).
The organisations also launched a report titled ‘#GenerationRestoration: Ecosystem restoration for People, Nature and Climate’, to mark the launch of the decade. The report urges the countries to restore at least 1 billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade.

Notes:
The Tata Power group, which is involved in conservation of Blue Finned Mahseer and Golden Mahseer in Lonavala for the past 50 years, has stated that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has moved Blue Finned Mahseer out of its “Endangered Red List”.
The species has been moved to “Least Concern”. But the Golden Mahseer is still on the endangered list.

Notes:
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has collaborated with tech major Microsoft to launch coding as a subject for students of Class 6-8 and data science subject for Class 8-12. This move is in line with the New Education Policy 2020.
These new subjects would come in force from the 2021-2022 academic session. According to CBSE, these subjects are expected to develop analytical thinking and problem-solving skills of students.