June 3rd Week 2021 Current Affairs Online Test English

Explanation

• Oil sector PSUs in India namely Indian Oil, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL and IGL have come together into a Cooperation Agreement for promotion and development of SATAT Scheme.
• SATAT stands for Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation, which was launched on 01.10.2018 to set up Compressed Biogas production plants and make CBG available in the market.

Explanation

• Every year, the United Nations observes 1st June as the Global Day of Parents. A resolution in this regard was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and the first–ever Global Day of Parents was observed in the year 2012. This day is observed to celebrate parenthood and its selfless commitment.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• The rate of global unemployment in the year 2022 is estimated to be 5.7% by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). ILO has estimated that nearly 205 million unemployed people would exist around the world, which is higher than the 2019 level of 187 million. Further the ILO has stated that 108 million more number of workers have been categorized as poor or extremely poor.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Arun Mishra took charge as the new Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission. Justice Mishra is the first non–CJI to be appointed to the NHRC chief post since the amendment of the Protection of Human Rights Act in 2019. 
• Former Chairperson Justice H L Dattu completed his tenure in December last year. Two other members were also appointed in the Commission.

Explanation

• Kerala retained the top spot in the Niti Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index released in the year 2021.
• India’s overall score across SDGs improved by six points, from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2021. The annual index evaluates the progress of states and UTs on social, economic and environmental criteria. Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu grabbed the second and third spots respectively while Bihar is placed at the last place in the index.

Explanation

• 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.

Explanation

• David Diop has become the first French writer to win the International Booker Prize, as he was selected for the prestigious award in 2021. His second novel, At Night All Blood is Black, was translated by the US author and poet Anna Moschovakis.

Explanation

• China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) has set a new record in the latest experiment. The experiment achieved a plasma temperature of 216 million Fahrenheit for 101 seconds.
• The scientists working on the “Artificial sun” project also achieved 288 million Fahrenheit for 20 secs. The Tokamak device has been designed to reproduce the nuclear fusion process, natural to the Sun and stars.

Explanation

• The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030 was launched recently by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).
• The organisations also launched a report titled ‘#Generation Restoration: Ecosystem restoration for People, Nature and Climate’, to mark the launch of the decade. The report urges the countries to restore at least 1 billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade.

Explanation

• Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a first–of–its kind ‘Programmable Digital Fiber’.
• This digital fiber contains memory, temperature sensors, and a neural network program to infer physical activity. It was created by placing hundreds of square silicon microscale digital chips into a preform, which was then used to create a polymer fiber.

Explanation

• 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 smartphones. This would benefit investigative agencies to produce credible evidences against criminals.

Explanation

• Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad has developed nano–fibre based oral tablets of Amphotericin B, called as AmB. This was the first–ever attempt to fabricate nanofibrous oral tablets of Amphotericin B for curing Kala Azar. As Kala–Azar treatment is being currently used as a treatment for Mucormycosis, this can be used to treat fungal infections post COVID treatment.

Explanation

• The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) six–member monetary policy committee, headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das, kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged. The repo rate will continue at 4.00% and reverse repo rate at 3.35%. With this, the repo rate has remained unchanged for a sixth consecutive time. The decision has been taken amid coronavirus uncertainty and fears over inflation.

Explanation

• The World Sustainable Development Summit is the annual flagship event of the Energy and Resources Institute. The WSDS 2021 is being held under the umbrella theme of ‘Redefining Our Common Future: Safe and Secure Environment for All’.
• Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar addressed the summit on the occasion of the World Environment Day.

Explanation

• 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.

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has discovered three new caves in the Trirashmi Buddhist cave complex, which is located near Nashik in Maharashtra. This cave complex is also called the Pandav Leni. This site was first documented by a British military officer nearly two decades ago.

Explanation

• Lakshmi Nandan Bora, a noted Assamese litterateur and Padma Shri awardee belonging to Assam, passed away recently, due to COVID. He was 89 years old. Lakshmi Nandan Bora has authored more than 60 books in Assamese language.
• Patal Bhairavi and Kayakalpa are his famous writings. He received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India in 2015.

Explanation

• The Indus Best Mega Food Park, has been launched in Raipur of Chhattisgarh, by the union minister for Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar. This mega food park aims to make value addition, increase shelf life and provide better price realisation to farmers. It is expected that this park would provide direct and indirect employment to about 5,000 persons.

Explanation

• The state of Mizoram has been severely affected by African Swine Fever (ASF), which has claimed more than 4,700 pigs in over two months, since the first case was reported.
• As of now, the state government has declared 99 villages and localities as “infected areas”, of which 56 are located in Aizawl District, which is the state capital.

Explanation

• INS Sandhayak, the Indian Navy’s oldest Hydrographic Survey Vessel, was decommissioned from the Navy at Visakhapatnam on July 4, 2021. The vessel is 40 years old and has conducted more than 200 major hydrographic surveys. It has also been a part of important operations like ‘Operation Pawan’ in Sri Lanka (1987), Operation ‘Rainbow for Humanitarian Assistance’ (2004) etc.

Explanation

• The Union Territory of Ladakh has launched a scheme named “YounTab”, under which the Ladakh Lt Governor RK Mathur distributed tablets to the students studying in 9 to 12, in the UT. This was the first phase of the scheme’s implementation. The scheme aims to provide free tabs to nearly 12,300 students of 6th to 12th class who are studying in government schools of the UT.

Explanation

• The Government of India has announced that it would procure 30 crore doses of the COVID vaccine “Corbevax” which is manufactured by the company Biological E. The firm is headquartered in Hyderabad. This indigenously made vaccine is a “Recombinant Protein Sub Unit Vaccine ” (i.e.) made from the spike protein of COVID virus and is different from Covaxin or Covishield vaccines.

Explanation

• Mount Merapi, is an active stratovolcano which is located in Indonesia, between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta – Indonesia. This is considered to be the most volatile volcanoes and has been erupting regularly since 1548. Presently, the volcano has started to erupt again.

Explanation

• Every year, 5th of June is observed as the World Environment Day by the United Nations. This day first came into being in the year 1972. The theme for this year is “Reimagine – Recreate – Restore” and the Global Host for 2021 World Environment Day is Pakistan.

Explanation

• The Raimona reserve forest in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) of Assam, has been upgraded as the sixth national park of the state. The other five national parks in Assam are Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Orang and Dibru–Saikhowa. This Park is famous for its rich flora and fauna especially the Golden langur, clouded leopards, Indian gaur and Hornbill.

Explanation

• The international law enforcement agency Interpol has launched a global database named “I–Familia”. This database is aimed to identify missing persons, using the DNA of family members. I–Familia has three components namely a dedicated global database on DNA profiles, DNA matching software called Bonaparte and interpretation guidelines developed by Interpol.

Explanation

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi–Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an intergovernmental organization comprising seven nations of South Asia and Southeast Asia.
• It is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This organization was first established in the year 1997. The 24th BIMSTEC day was celebrated on June 6th 2021.

Explanation

The State of India’s Environment Report 2021 is an annual publication of the Down To Earth magazine. As per the report, India has been ranked at 117th position in implementing and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030. Last year India was ranked at 115 and now it has slipped by 2 positions due to major challenges faced in ending hunger, gender equality etc.

Explanation

• On June 10th, a Solar Eclipse is to be witnessed while on June 20–21, Summer solstice, the astronomical end of spring, and the beginning of summer will occur.
• This will be the day with the longest period of daylight. On the summer evenings, a curved grouping of stars is noticed across the southern sky, with red beacon. This is the constellation Scorpius, which can be observed in June. The full Moon of June is also called as ‘Strawberry Moon’.

Explanation

• The Group of seven (G7) advanced economies has recently made an announcement on taxing multinational companies.
• This would be the “Minimum global tax rate” and its lower floor limit has been fixed at 15%. G7 is an intergovernmental organization comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Explanation

• Alexander Pushkin is a Russian poet, who is considered the father of modern Russian language. His birthday is selected as the UN Russian Language Day. It is observed annually on June 6.
• The event was initially established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2010. The UN language days aim to celebrate multilingualism and promotion of equal use of all six of the UN’s official working languages.

Explanation

• World Oceans Day is observed on June 8, every year. On the occasion of the day, the United Nations (UN) has called for sustainable efforts and stopping plastic pollution in order to save the oceans. This is the second year of virtual celebration of the UN World Oceans Day due to the coronavirus pandemic. The theme of this year’s World Oceans Day is ‘The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods’.

Explanation

• The World Bank has approved a USD 500 million program to help boost India’s MSME sector. RAMP stands for Raising and Accelerating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Performance.
• The programme targets to improve the performance of five lakh 50 thousand MSMEs, by providing better access to finance and working capital for MSMEs. The World Bank had earlier launched Rs 750 million MSME Emergency Response Program in July last year.

Explanation

• The 107–year–old narrow gauge heritage train service between Billimora in Navsari and Vaghai in Dangs of South Gujarat made its first trial run recently. The service was scrapped by the Western Railway in December 2020, which was then reconsidered.
• The rail service was started by the Gaekwad dynasty of princely state of Baroda in 1913.

Explanation

• In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that every year June 7 would be observed as World Food Safety Day. According to the UN, unsafe food causes an estimated 420,000 deaths every year. The theme of World Food Safety Day this year is: Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow.

Explanation

• The Supreme Court of India has directed the State Government of Haryana and the Faridabad Municipal Corporation to remove all encroachments in Aravali forest near a village in Faridabad. These encroachments also consist of around 10,000 residential constructions.

Explanation

• The Government of India launched the food security scheme named Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM–GKAY) as a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package, which aims to provide free food grains to poor and migrants.
• Recently, the Prime Minister has announced that the scheme would be extended till Diwali 2021 (i.e) till November 2021.

Explanation

• The Indian Navy would receive MH–60 Romeo helicopters from the United States of America. India had earlier in 2020, signed a Rs.16,000 crore deal with the USA. A batch of Indian pilots have reached the US to be trained to operate the chopper.

Explanation

• The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the main organs of the UN and has 54 members. These members are elected every year for a term of 3 years. India has been recently elected to the ECOSOC for a term from 2022 to 2024 by way of voting by secret ballot.

Explanation

• Abdulla Shahid, who is currently the Foreign Minister of Maldives, has been elected as the next president of the United Nations General Assembly. This is the first time the Maldives is to occupy the office of the President of the UNGA. The 76th UNGA session (2021–22) was the turn of the Asia–Pacific group.

Explanation

• The Australotitan cooperensis has been recently identified as the biggest dinosaur of Australia. This was announced after its bones were first uncovered. This is a part of the titanosaur family that lived about 100 million years ago. It is estimated to had a height of 5–6.5 metres and a length of 25–30 metres. Based on the limb size comparisons, this new titanosaur is estimated to be in the top five largest in the world.

Explanation

• NITI Aayog launched the Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan, in association with Piramal Foundation. The campaign is part of a special initiative– Aspirational Districts Collaborative. It aims to provide home–care support to asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Covid–19 patients in 112 aspirational districts.

Explanation

• Indian football star Sunil Chhetri has surpassed Lionel Messi in international goals taking his total to 74 goals for India. He has recently scored both goals in India’s 2–0 win over Bangladesh at Doha. Chhetri moved past Messi’s 72 goals, in a qualifying match for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Portugal player Cristiano Ronaldo tops the international list with 103 goals.

Explanation

• As per a recent study, the younger generation of North Atlantic right whales are about three feet shorter than whales were 20 years ago. Entanglements with fishing gear, collisions with ships and climate change moving their food supply north are said to be the reasons for this phenomenon. The whales are being classified as ‘Critically endangered’ by IUCN.

Explanation

• Residents of Himachal Pradesh have been protesting against the proposed 804 MW Jangi Thopan Powari hydroelectricity project (JTP HEP). This is a proposed project over the Sutlej River. The run–of–the–river (ROR) project involves construction of a concrete gravity dam across river Sutlej and underground powerhouse on the right bank.

• Recently, a team of wildlife enthusiasts have sighted two species of monal birds on Mount Eko Dumbing at 4,173 metres above mean sea level. It is located in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) is widely distributed from Afghanistan to northeast India, the Sclater’s (Lophophorus sclateri) monal is found in China and Myanmar.

Explanation

• The Union Cabinet has approved an increase in minimum support prices (MSP) for various kharif crops or the summer–sown crops for marketing season 2021–22. MSP of paddy was hiked by ₹72 to ₹1,940 per quintal for 2021–22 crop year from ₹1,868 per quintal last year.
• The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year is recommended for sesame (₹452 per quintal) followed by tur and urad (₹300 per quintal each).

Explanation

• The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World Rankings 2022, which is an annual publication of university rankings has been recently published. 
• As per the release, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru has secured the position of the “world’s top research university”. This institution has achieved a score of 100/100 under the metric Citations Per Faculty (CPF) assessment.