Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
The State Government of Punjab has launched an initiative named Mission Fateh 2.0, which is a part of Corona Mukt Punjab Abhiyan.
Under this initiative, the state government has directed to form a group of 7 “Rural Corona Volunteers” (RCV) per village or per municipal ward, under the aegis of the state’s Department of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Notes:
As a measure to mitigate the distress caused due to COVID 19 pandemic, Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in India have announced to provide financial assistance to individuals in the form of unsecured loans up to a limit of Rs 5 lakh.
This is a part of the three new loan products introduced by the PSBs to provide financial support to vaccine manufacturers, hospitals/dispensaries, pathology labs etc.

Notes:
West African leaders have suspended Mali from their regional association- the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The 15-member bloc held an emergency summit in Ghana’s capital, Accra, in response to last week’s coup. Mali’s military has toppled the President and Prime Minister for the second time in nine months.

Notes:
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a detailed photograph of a spiral galaxy called NGC 691.
NGC 691 is a spiral galaxy located at around 125 million light-years away in the constellation of Aries. It is the foremost member of the NGC 691 group, a collection of nine galaxies of varied shapes and colors.

Notes:
New Zealand has entered into an agreement for space exploration with NASA.
With this, New Zealand becomes the eleventh country to sign the Artemis Accord, which is an agreement with NASA to be a part of its plans to send humans to the moon by 2024 and further to Mars.

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:
The National Statistical Office (NSO) released the provisional estimates of annual national income and quarterly estimates.
As per the release, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.6 per cent in the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2020-21. Last quarter, there was 0.5 % growth. The GDP contracted to a record low 7.3 per cent, for the full financial year 2020-21. This was a marginal improvement from the earlier estimate of 8 per cent contraction.

Notes:
NASA has planned to send 128 baby squids and some 5,000 tardigrades, also called as Water Bears to the International Space Station for research purposes.
The water animals will be launched aboard SpaceX’s 22nd cargo resupply mission to the ISS. The experiments will also help to understand how beneficial microbes interact with animals. The experiments would also help design protective measures for astronauts going for long space travel.

Notes:
Recently, a piece of space debris hit and damaged a part of the ISS’s robotic arm, called as Canadarm2.
The astronomers confirmed that the arm’s functions will not be impacted by the damage. Canadarm2, the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), is used to move objects outside the station and to help in repairing works in the station.

Notes:
Leading rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has pegged India’s GDP growth at 9.3% for the financial year 2021-22. It has further estimated India’s GDP growth at 7.9% for FY23.
The agency has stated that India’s economic activity would be affected by reimposition of lockdown measures along with investment behavioural changes, but the same would not have deep impact on the economy as that during the first wave.