June 2nd Week 2021 Current Affairs Online Test English

Explanation

• National Cadet Corps is the youth wing of the Indian Armed Forces with its headquarters located in New Delhi. Defence Secretary has recently launched Directorate General National Cadet Corps (NCC) Mobile Training App Version 2.0. This app will assist in conducting countrywide online training to NCC cadets during the COVID–19 pandemic conditions.

Explanation

• Actor Randeep Hooda has been removed as the ambassador of the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), United Nation’s environmental treaty.
• This announcement came after a controversy over his derogatory comments against Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati. CMS or Bonn Convention, is an international agreement signed in 1979, that aims to conserve migratory species throughout their ranges.

Explanation

• Every year, the World Turtle Day is observed on May 23, across the world. The day is celebrated to sensitise people about turtle and tortoise and their vulnerable habitats.
• A non–profit organization called American Tortoise Rescue, that was established in 1990 leads the World Turtle Day celebration since 2000. The 2021 theme of the day is, “Turtles Rock!”

Explanation

• The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is celebrated on 29 May every year, to pay tribute to the contribution of the peacekeepers. This year the theme of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, 2021 is “The road to a lasting peace: Leveraging the power of youth for peace and security”.
• UN honours more than 3,900 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives during their service, since 1948.

Explanation

• The World No Tobacco Day is observed every year on May 31 to encourage a 24–hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe.
• The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to nearly 6 million deaths each year worldwide, including 600,000 of which are the result of non–smokers being exposed to second–hand smoke. The 2021 theme is “Quit Tobacco to be a Winner”

Explanation

• Goa is the smallest state of India, by are and the fourth–smallest state by population. It recently celebrated its statehood day on May 30. In 1961, Indian Army invaded and annexed Goa, Daman and Diu into the Indian union, through Operation Vijay.
• After that, Goa along with Daman and Diu, was categorised as a centrally administered Union territory of India. On 30 May 1987, the union territory was split and Goa was made the 25th state of India and Daman and Diu remained as a UT.

Explanation

• International Everest Day is celebrated on May 29, across the world every year. On the same day in the year 1953, Tenzing Norgay of Nepal and Edmund Hillary of New Zealand had successfully scaled the Mt. Everest. The mountaineer duo were the first human beings to achieve the prestigious feat.
• Nepal decided to observe the day as International Everest Day since the climber Edmund Hillary passed away in the year 2008.

Explanation

• The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the top body of broadcasters, will be renamed the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF). The apex body is also expanding its scope to cover digital streaming platforms, by forming a self–regulatory body, the Digital Media Content Regulatory Council (DMCRC). This would bring broadcasters and OTT (over–the–top) platforms under one roof.

Explanation

• World Milk Day is celebrated on June 1, every year across the world. The first World Milk Day was held in the year 2001.
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN chose June 1 as the World Milk Day, to highlight the role of milk and to publicise activities connected with milk and the milk industry.

Explanation

• June 1 was declared as the Global Day of Parents by the UN General Assembly in 2012. Since then, June 1 is being celebrated as Global Day of Parents every year. The day is celebrated with an objective of honouring all the parents around the world for their commitment and sacrifice they do for their children. The 2021 theme of the Global Parents Day is, “Appreciate All Parents Throughout the World”.

Explanation

• The UN’s General Assembly had declared June 3 as World Bicycle Day. The UN encourage its stakeholders to encourage the use of bicycles as a means of promoting sustainable development and health. It also welcomes various initiatives to organise bicycle rides at the national and local levels and develop a culture of cycling in society.

Explanation

• The UNGA decided to commemorate 4 June of each year as the ‘International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression’. The objective of the day is to acknowledge the pain of the children across the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. UN had also ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Explanation

• World Environment Day is celebrated on June 5 every year by the United Nations, to encourage awareness & environmental protection. The theme of World Environment Day, 2021 is “Ecosystem Restoration”.

Explanation

• The International Day for the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is observed every year on June 5. The purpose of this day is to sensitise about the threats posed by unregulated fishing activities to the fisheries resources.
• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared June 5 as the International Day for the fight against IUU fishing in November 2017. The first such day was celebrated in the year 2018.

Explanation

• World Food Safety Day has officially celebrated on 7th June 2020 to strengthen efforts to ensure that the food we eat is safe. The 2021 theme of the World Food Safety Day is, “Safe Food Today for a Healthy Tomorrow”. The day is celebrated to promote global food safety awareness and to bring together countries, civil society and private firms to take required action.

Explanation

            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.

Explanation

• Aspergillosis is an infection, allergic reaction, or fungal growth caused by the Aspergillus fungus. Recently, after a sharp rise in black and white fungus cases in India, cases of aspergillosis infections have been reported. Those with weakened immune systems or lung diseases, which is common in COVID–19 patients, are said to be at high risk of infection.

Explanation

• The Assam government has recently announced Chief Minister’s Sishu Sewa Scheme for the welfare of those children who lost parents due to COVID–19. Monthly scholarship of Rs. 3,500 per month would be given to those children who lost their parents but have their extended family members. Free residential educational facilities would be provided to children who don’t have extended family members.

Explanation

• The state government of Karnataka has introduced a city sewage surveillance system in Bangalore. This is aimed to track coronavirus at an early stage. This effort of Karnataka is supported by USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and COVIDactionCollab (CAC). CAC is supporting the state by providing training to sanitation workers in collecting samples and analysing them in labs.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• The Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yediyurappa has launched a portal named Akanksha, which would provide details on all the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in Karnataka.
• This comprehensive portal would help the state Government officials, corporates and donors. It seeks to improve transparency in utilisation of CSR funds by the Government.

Explanation

• 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.

• 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.

Explanation

• Tianzhou–2, or “Heavenly Vessel” is China’s cargo spacecraft which carried supplies, equipment and propellant to the space station which is being developed by China. It has successfully docked itself to the module Tianhe, which is a part of a space station. The spacecraft was launched from earth using the Long March–7 Y3 rocket.

Explanation

• Indian woman boxer Pooja Rani Bohra has clinched her second continental title at the Asian boxing championships, being held in Dubai. The Olympic bound boxing champion registered this victory against Mavluda Movlonova of Uzbekistan in the 75kg category with a score of 5–0.

Explanation

• Every year, 31st May is observed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the “World No Tobacco Day”. The theme for this year is “Commit to quit”. This day was created by the WHO members in the year 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the deaths associated with using tobacco. A resolution was passed in 1988 to observe 31st May as the No Tobacco Day.

Explanation

• The Union Government has launched the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 4.0 and has expanded the scope of the scheme by including the civil aviation sector and loan to health institutions for on–site oxygen generation. Under ECLGS 4.0 a maximum loan of 40% of the outstanding loan, or Rs 200 crore whichever is lower can be availed by borrowers from financial institutions.

Explanation

• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting urged the private TV news channels to display four new national helpline numbers to help the citizens during the COVID–19 awareness initiative.
• In a letter to all private TV news channels, the said these national helpline numbers should be displayed in appropriate way: The National helpline number of Health Ministry –1075, Child helpline of the Ministry of Women and Child Development–1098, Senior citizens helpline of the Social Justice Ministry – 14567 and helpline of NIMHANS for psychological support – 08046110007.

Explanation

• NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the images of the clouds seen above Gale Crater of the Mars. The crater is 154 km in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old. The image is a combination of 21 individual photographs the rover took recently to study a strange type of cloud over the Gale Crater.

Explanation

• Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) said that it has introduced the world’s first Nano Urea Liquid for farmers across the world. The technology was developed at Nano Biotechnology Research Centre, Kalol. This is expected to reduce the input cost of farmers and will significantly bring down the cost of logistics and warehousing.

Explanation

• World Brain Tumour Day is observed on 8 June every year, across the world. The objective of the day is to raise awareness and educate general public about brain tumour. The World Brain Tumour Day was initially designated by Leipzig based non–profit organisation German Brain Tumour Association in the year 2000.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• China has reported the first human infection of a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3. The case has been confirmed in a 41–year–old man, by China’s National Health Commission.
• This bird flu variant is supposed to be low pathogenic, which means it causes relatively less severe disease in poultry. No other case of this infection has been reported in the world.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• The State Government of Goa has constituted a Think Tank named Goa Institution For Future Transformation (GIFT). This institution would assist, advise and guide the state government on various policy matters and welfare decisions. The functions of GIFT would be very similar to that of NITI Aayog.

Explanation

• China has announced that it would permit couples to have three children as against the present two children limit, which was brought in 2016. This decision has been made by the Chinese government, since the country’s birth rates have registered a steep decline as per the latest census release.

Explanation

• P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 summit is hosted by the Republic of Korea / South Korea and was organised at Seoul. It is an acceleration event for promoting market–based partnerships to build sustainable and resilient economies. The theme of the event is “Inclusive Green Recovery Towards Carbon Neutrality”.

Explanation

The Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme. The programme has been launched on a pilot basis in 12 clusters covering 11 States / UTs. This is a central sector programme implemented by the National Horticulture Board (NHB), which aims to make identified horticulture clusters globally competitive.

Explanation

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced new labels, using Greek alphabets, for various variants of the coronavirus disease (Covid–19). As per the WHO, Covid variant first found in India (B1.617.2) will be referred to as Delta, while earlier found variant in the country (B.1.617.1) will be known as Kappa.

Explanation

• The Gujarat government has decided to grant Centre of Excellence (CoE) status to seven private universities in the state. The Chief Minister Vijay Rupani gave in–principle approval to grant CoE status to seven universities including Nirma University, CEPT University, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, DAIICT, Ahmedabad University, Charotar University of Science and Technology and Marwadi University.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• Two Russian cosmonauts named Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov ventured out of the International Space Station on a 7–hour spacewalk to prepare for the arrival of a new Russian module. It’s the first spacewalk for both the cosmonauts, who arrived at the space station in April. They conducted technical works including replacing the old batteries outside the International Space Station, before the arrival of the new Nauka (Science) multipurpose laboratory module.

Explanation

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has set up an Export Promotion Forum (EPF) to promote exports of dairy products. It also aims to address various issues in the sector. The authority has recognized two clusters: Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Banaskantha in Gujarat, to develop dairy merchandise. Farmers and small dairy owners in these clusters shall be given coaching and aid in capability building in exports.

Explanation

• 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, 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.

Explanation

• The Research Design & Standards Organization (RDSO), which functions under the Indian Railways has recently become the country’s first institution to be declared as Standard Developing Organization (SDO). Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) launched the scheme of ‘Recognition of SDO’, to attain the “One Nation One Standard” of the Government.

Explanation

• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID–19 was launched to provide personal accident cover of Rs. 50 lakhs to all healthcare providers.
• Recently, a new system for approval of claims has been introduced. The District Collector will certify that the claim is in accordance with SoP of the Scheme and on the basis of this certificate, Insurance Company will approve and settle the claims within a period of 48 hrs.

Explanation

International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) is being hosted by the Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt–UBA). The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the main focus of the eighth triennial conference of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI). It is being held virtually from May 31–June 3, 2021.