Daily Current Affairs : 11th June 2020 | Daily GK update Quiz

Exp. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, on 9th June launched the “Panchavati Yojana” for senior citizens of rural areas in the state. Under this scheme, parks and gardens will be developed in all the development blocks with necessary facilities under the MNREGA scheme of Rural Development Department.

Aims:  “The main objective of the scheme is to provide parks and gardens along with entertainment to the senior citizens of the state. Keeping in mind the health needs of senior citizens, these parks and gardens will be developed on the flat land of minimum one bigha in MNREGA, Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) and 14th Finance Commission Convergence.

Exp. Hon’ble Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs: Shri Pralhad Joshi.

India is reportedly planning to open its first coal trading exchange on the basis of commodity or energy exchanges. Coal consumers and traders throughout the country welcomed the move but said the exchange should be started only when there are more buyers and sellers.

Reason: The country’s coal import reduced by 20 percent to 18.93 million tonnes (MT) in May 2020. The government is planning to bring the country’s coal imports to zero by 2023-24. All this while, the government had a monopoly on coal mining which is the reason why India imports call despite being the third-largest producer of coal in the world. The government wants to now allow liberalized entries in the coal sector.

Exp. Fitch Ratings has exuded confidence that the Indian economy will bounce back from the prevailing contraction and slowdown largely on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic and projected India’s GDP to grow at a healthy rate in the next fiscal year. 

The credit ratings agency has projected India’s GDP to grow at 9.5 per cent in FY 2021-22 after a contraction of 5% (means -5%) fiscal year 2020-21.

Exp. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore has emerged as the best university in India followed by the Jawaharlal National University (JNU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), as per the National Indian Ranking Framework (NIRF) Ranking 2020.

The annual ranking by the Ministry of Human Resource Development has put IITs, IISc among top-ranking institutes and are promoting these institutes as the hubs for ‘Study in India’.

Exp. India has been ranked 56th out of 200 countries in a comprehensive report on safety and risk assessment of nations tackling Covid-19. Switzerland is the safest country in the world for Covid-19, followed by Germany and Israel. South Sudan is the most dangerous.

Published on 4 June 2020, the study used 130 qualitative and quantitative parameters with over 11,400 data points to create an index analysing “health, societal and economic status of each region in terms of their absolute and relative stability, safety and risk”.

This risk analysis report was conducted by the Deep Knowledge Group, a consortium of commercial and non-profits owned by Deep Knowledge Ventures. It is an investment firm in Hong Kong and was founded in 2014.

Exp. Three premier institutes led by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay (Rank 172), followed closely by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore (Rank 185), and IIT Delhi (Rank 193) have featured in the top 200 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings.

However, all three—along with 11 others—have dropped in their rankings over the past 12 months. In total, 21 Indian higher education institutions have found their place among the world’s top 1,000.

Exp. Three premier institutes led by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay (Rank 172), followed closely by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore (Rank 185), and IIT Delhi (Rank 193) have featured in the top 200 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings.

However, all three—along with 11 others—have dropped in their rankings over the past 12 months. In total, 21 Indian higher education institutions have found their place among the world’s top 1,000.

Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) USA continues to be at number one spot for the ninth consecutive year. Stanford University, Harvard University, and California Institute of Technology are at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rank respectively.

Exp. In order to eliminate the use of physical card or touch an ATM PIN pad, amid the spread of coronavirus from contaminated surfaces, Empays Payment Systems has joined hands with Mastercard to launch “Cardless ATM powered by Mastercard” in India based on the standards of EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa). With this, India will be the first country outside the United States (US) where this product will be launched.

Exp. Former NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first woman to reach Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the ocean. Sullivan was also the first American woman to complete a spacewalk over 36 years ago. Now, she’s the first human to have done both.

Sullivan was a part of a roughly 5-hour expedition this week that went 10,925 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. She was joined by pilot Victor Vescovo of Caladan Oceanic, a private company dedicated to the advancement of marine technology.

Exp. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has reconstituted a committee to look into the welfare of freedom fighters, with the minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy as the chairman and nine “eminent freedom fighters” from across the country as its members.

The ministry has a separate division to serve freedom fighters who are alive and their families. It disburses pension to about 30,000 freedom fighters and their families.

Exp. The Gargo International, the delhi based lubricant company under the RG group appoints Sonu Sood as the brand ambassador in January 2020 & praised him now for his support works for the migrants and went live with their TVC starring Sonu Sood.

Exp. Russian high jumper Alexander Shustov, the 2010 European champion, has received a four-year ban for anti-doping violations. 

Shustov, who retired from competition in 2017, has been suspended until 2024 for “use or attempted use of a banned substance or prohibited method”.