Current affairs June Important points:

1.Nasha Mukt Bharat: Annual Action Plan (2020-21): Launched for on the occasion of “International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking”.Launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It would focus on 272 most affected districts and launch a three-pronged attack combining efforts of Narcotics Bureau, Outreach/Awareness by Social Justice and Treatment through the Health Dept.

2. The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ministry has issued consolidated notification for classification and registration of MSMEs to be effected from July 1. An MSME would hereafter been referred to as Udyam and the registration process as Udyam Registration. Micro enterprises would be those with investments not exceeding Rs one crore and turnover of Rs 5 crore. International MSME Day was observed on 27 June under the theme “COVID-19: The Great Lockdown and its impact on Small Business.”

3.Statistics day Celebrated on 29th June every year. Observed in recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. He is referred to as the chief architect of Indian statistical system as well as father of statistical science in India. He also helped in the establishment of Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI). He established the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1931 in Kolkata. The Mahalanobis model, was employed in the Second Five Year Plan, which worked towards the rapid industrialisation of India.

4. Anthropause in news: It refers to the coronavirus-induced lockdown period and its impact on other species.

5.Maareech: It is an advanced anti-torpedo decoy system that is capable of being fired from all frontline ships. It was recently inducted by the Indian Navy.

6. Ministry of Culture is celebrating the “Sankalp Parva” from 28th June to 12 July 2020.

7. The Odisha Government has started a two-year conservation project for Fishing Cats in Bhitarkanika National Park. Fishing Cat Project, launched in 2010 started raising awareness about the Cat in West Bengal.

8. World Bank’s STARS project: STARS stands for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS). It is a project to improve the quality and governance of school education in six Indian states. Six states are- Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

9. The government has launched the scheme- Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (PM FME). The scheme will be implemented for five years until 2024-25. Aim is to Increase in access to finance by micro food processing units.

10. Indian government has put a ban on 59 apps including TikTok and WeChat. These measures have been undertaken since there is credible information that these apps are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.

11. Article 371A(1)(b) in news: It applies exclusively to Nagaland and bestows upon the governor “special responsibility with respect to law and order”. According to the provision, the governor, for all practical purposes, has the final say on all matters related to the state’s law and order and on what constitutes law and order.

12.Covaxin: It is India’s first COVID vaccine candidate approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine created from a strain of the infectious SARS COV-2 virus.

13. 2020 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report released by UNESCO. In line with its mandate, the 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda.

14. International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2020: Observed on 26 June.Theme: “Better Knowledge for Better Care”.

15. NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum (ITF) of OECD jointly launched the ‘Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies’ (DTEE) project in India on 24June. The ambitious five-year project will help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system.

16. Scheme for Promotion of academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC): Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras are collaborating with their counterparts in Germany to develop new materials for green energy solutions. This project has been taken up under the Scheme for Promotion of academic and Research Collaboration or SPARC.

17. Andhra Pradesh State government has extended the time for submission of report by the high-power committee that is probing the styrene monomer vapour leak incident at the LG Polymers unit till June 30. Styrene — an organic compound used in the production of polymers, plastics and resins — is manufactured in petrochemical refineries.

18. First global report on the illegal wildlife trade was recently released by FATF. It is called the “Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade” report. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has described illegal wildlife trade as a “global threat".

19. Madhya Pradesh (MP) this year surpassed Punjab to become the number one contributor of wheat. Punjab, however, is still a way ahead from MP as far as per hectare productivity of wheat is concerned, which is around 52 per cent more (per hectare) than MP.

20. World’s first yoga university outside India has been launched in Los Angeles. It is named Vivekananda Yoga University (VaYU).

21. Indian Naval Ship Kesari arrived at Kochi today after 55 days of deployment to the Southern Indian Ocean region as part of ‘Mission Sagar’. The ship was deployed on a special ‘COVID Relief Mission’ and made port calls at Male (Maldives).
22. Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' today virtually participated in G20 Extraordinary Virtual Education Ministers’ Meeting. This special session  has been convened to discuss the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on the education sector.
23. Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today launched the web portal of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan. The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan is the massive employment generation-cum-rural infrastructure creation programme of the Government of India which was inaugurated on 20th June 2020 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi with the objective of providing employment to returnee migrant workers at their native places for next four months.