Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
A team of Australian scientists has discovered a new species of a tree frog from the rainforests of New Guinea.
Also called as the “chocolate frog” due to its chocolate colour, it belongs to the Australasian tree frog genus Litoria. Hence the new species was named as ‘Litoria mira’. The closest known relative of this new species is the Australian green tree frog.

Notes:
Marine mucilage or “sea snot” is reported to have accumulated along the coast of Turkey. The sea snot is a thick jelly-like layer of slime which is formed by the population explosion of microscopic plants called phytoplankton.
Some Researchers believe that the increase in sea surface temperature due to climate change, has led to this effect while few others see over-fishing as the root cause.

Notes:
A bill named “Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement” or EAGLE Act has been moved in the USA’s legislative body. This bill is seen as a counter to the policy challenges posed by China.
The bill seeks for increased investment to promote US manufacturing, trade and seeks for increased US intervention to Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Notes:
Germany and Norway have opened the operations of a 623-kilometer undersea power cable between the two countries. This project is called the NordLink and is aimed to exchange green energy between the two countries.
The project has cost more than $2.2 billion and is seen as a major initiative to shift to green energy.

Notes:
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that, children who have lost both parents due to COVID-19 would be taken care and supported by the Government of India, under the PM CARES for Children scheme.
Such children would be entitled to receive a monthly stipend once they attain 18 years of age and would receive a corpus of Rs.10 lakh on attainment of 23 years, out of the funds available in PM CARES.

Notes:
Offshore patrol vessel ICG Sajag has been commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard, by the National Security Advisor to India (NSA) Ajit Doval. The ship was commissioned by NSA virtually.
This vessel is constructed by the Goa Shipyard Limited exclusively for the Coast Guard. At present, the Indian Coast Guard has 160 ships and 62 aircraft in its fleet.

Notes:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) cut its growth projection for India for FY22 to 9.9 per cent from 12.6 per cent estimated in March.
OECD also estimated the Global GDP growth at 5.8 per cent this year, compared with 4.2 per cent projected in December. It also changed its projections to 4.4 per cent in 2022, compared to 3.7 per cent, estimated in December.

Notes:
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in computer software and hardware rose over threefold to $26.14 billion during 2020-21. It accounted for about 43 per cent in the total $59.63 billion foreign inflows that India attracted in 2020-21.
As per the data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the sector received $7.67 billion FDI in 2019-20 and $6.41 billion in 2018-19.

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.