Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
As per a new study, a 4,000-year-old war memorial known as the ‘White Monument’ in Syria was built to honour soldiers who died in battle.
The White Monument, was first excavated several years ago, is found to be built above layers of buried adult males, may have been a memorial to the community’s dead, rather than a symbol of victory over the enemy.

Notes:
India’s premier research institution – the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has announced that it has developed near-isothermal forging technology, for production of high-pressure compressor (HPC) discs, used in jet engines.
These discs are made of titanium alloy, using a unique 2000 MT (metric tonne) isothermal forge press, which even technology rich countries like China are struggling to achieve.

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:
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:
China launched ‘Red Tourism’ in the year 2004 to promote locations with historical and cultural significance to the history of the Communist Party.
It also aimed at promoting tourism and local businesses in the country. Recently, there has been a record high footfall in the historic places under the Red Tourism. Some of them include Nanhu Lake, where the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in 1921, and Mao Zedong’s birthplace Shaoshan.

Notes:
The Singapore based vessel MV X-Press Pearl carrying chemicals sank off the coast of Sri Lanka recently. The 12-day long efforts to put of the ship’s fire and tow it into deep waters went vain after the ship’s stern became submerged and rested on the seabed.
This has posed a great environmental threat to the coast of Sri Lanka.

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 UN Sustainable Transport Conference is to be held from 14 to 16 October 2021 in Beijing, China. The Conference aims to encourage sustainable transport to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
To acknowledge the longevity, versatility and environmental sustainability of bicycles, the UN General Assembly declared 3 June as World Bicycle Day.

Notes:
The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has announced that the validity period of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualifying certificate would be extended from the present 7 years to life time.
This decision was made in the National Council for Teacher Education’s (NCTE) 50th general body meeting.