Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
Tiananmen Square is located in central Beijing, China. In May 1989 more than a million young Chinese crowded in the square for a protest in favour of greater democracy.
As a repressive measure, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square and fired extensively on the protesters. At least 300 were killed and more than a 1000 arrested. This incident is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Recently, Hong Kong organisers lost appeal to hold Tiananmen vigil.

Notes:
Race To Zero is a global campaign to mobilise support from across the world for a healthy zero carbon recovery.
Recently, World leaders convened at the Climate Breakthroughs Summit, which is a collaboration between the World Economic Forum, UN Climate Champions, the UK COP26 Presidency and partners. During the summit, several companies joined the Race to Zero campaign.

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:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved a proposal to notify the Second Positive Indigenisation List of 108 items.
With this, all the 108 items will be procured from indigenous sources, as per provisions given in Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020. The Second list, which comprises of complex systems and weapons, is to be implemented progressively with effect from December this year to December 2025.

Notes:
Sinovac vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd has been granted emergency use approval by the World Health Organisation.
WHO has recommended the vaccine to be used by people who are 18 years and above. The vaccine needs to be administered in two doses with a gap of two to four weeks.

Notes:
The Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched the Seed Minikit Programme by distributing kits of higher yielding varieties of seeds to farmers.
It aims to introduce new varieties of seeds to the farmers and helps in increasing the seed replacement rate. The mini kits are being provided by the National Seeds Corporation (NCS), NAFED and Gujarat State Seeds Corporation and wholly funded by the Union through the National Food Security Mission.

Notes:
India and the UK have launched a new workstream to promote industrial energy efficiency, under the Clean Energy Ministerial’s (CEM) Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative (IDDI).
The 12th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is being organised by Chile in virtual mode. IDDI is coordinated by the by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). It is also supported by Germany and Canada.

Notes:
The Scientists at Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad have developed an indigenous Chip-off technique.
The main objective of the technique is to retrieve encrypted data from locked and severely damaged smart cell phones. This would benefit investigative agencies to produce credible evidences against criminals.

Notes:
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) has received a patent for black pepper micronutrient foliar formulation.
ICAR-IISR has developed crop-specific micronutrient foliar formulations for major spices (black pepper, ginger, turmeric, and cardamom) to overcome micronutrient deficiencies.

Notes:
The Consumer Confidence Survey is conducted by the Reserve Bank of India, which provides the respondent’s perceptions on general economic conditions.
Recently, the RBI has released the Consumer Confidence Index, which has recorded an all-time low due to the second wave of COVID 19 disease. The Current Situation Index (CSI) fell to 48.5 and the Future Expectation Index (FEI) fell to 96.4.