Preface Dear readers, we have started edristi English edition as well since August, 2015. We are hopeful that it will help us to connect to the broader audience and amplify our personal bonding with each other. While presenting Day-to-day current affairs, we are very cautious on choosing the right topics to make sure only those get the place which are useful for competitive exams perspective, not to increase unnecessary burden on the readers by putting useless materials. Secondly, we have also provided the reference links to ensure its credibility which is our foremost priority. You can always refer the links to validate its authenticity. We will try to present the current affairs topics as quickly as possible but its authenticity is given higher priority over its turnaround time. Therefore it could happen that we publish the incident one or two days later in the website. Our plan will be to publish our monthly PDF on very first day of every month with making appropriate modifications of day-to-day events. In general, the events happened till 29th day will be given place in the PDFs. The necessity of this is to ensure the contents factual authenticity. Reader’s satisfaction is our utmost priority so requesting you to provide your valuable feedback to us. We will warmly welcome your appreciation/criticism given to us. It will surely show us the right direction to improve the content quality. Hopefully the current affairs PDF (from 1st June to 30th June) will benefit our beloved readers. Current affairs data will be useless if it couldn’t originate any competitive exam questions. E-Dristi has been very successful in that direction. Almost all the questions from UPPCS and other examinations have been asked from our materials. You can verify that by matching the question papers and e-Dristi contents from yourselves. 1 http://www.edristi.in/ National Global Peace Index 2021 Question- Which of the following country has ranked 1st in the global Peace Index 2021 report- (a) Iceland (b) New Zealand (c) Norway (d) Denmark Ans. (a) Related facts- . 15th edition of Global Peace Index (GPI) was announced by Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) Sydney, Australia. Index ranks 163 independent states and territories as per level of their peacefulness. Iceland is most peaceful country worldwide since 2008. Iceland is joined by other top countries like Denmark, New Zealand, Portugal and Slovenia. Afghanistan is the world’s least peaceful country for the fourth consecutive year, but it was Burkina Faso which recorded the largest deterioration in the Global Peace Index 2021. Afghanistan is followed by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Iraq. India has moved up by two position from its last year’s ranking. It has become 135th most peaceful country while, 5th in South Asia region. Bhutan and Nepal are first and second most peaceful in this region. Bangladesh was 91th out of 163 countries across the world while being 3rd in South Asia. Sri Lanka slipped by 19 position to become 95th peaceful country while, 4th in South Asia region. Pakistan witnessed the most improvement in peacefulness with 150th rank globally and 6th in South Asia region. Reference- https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/global-peace-index-2021-the-world-s-most- and-least-peaceful-countries-ranked-1.1243463. World Giving Index (WGI) 2021 Question – World Giving Index(WGI) 2021 has released recently by the Charities Aid Foundation(CAF). With reference to this, consider the following statements: (i) A total of 114 countries have been ranked in this. (ii) Indonesia got the credit of being the top donor country in this index. (iii) India got 14th place in this. Which of the above statement(s) is/are correct (a) only (i) (b) only (ii) (c) only (iii) (d) all of the above Answer—(d) related facts . World Giving Index 2021 has recently(June 2021) released by the UK based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). In this, 114 countries have been ranked. This year’s survey of CAF mentions the effects of the lockdown on charity and philanthropic activities. Ranking has been provided on the basis of total 3 pillars in this index. These three pillars are- I. Helped a Stranger, or someone you didn’t know who needed help? 2 http://www.edristi.in/ II. Donated Money to a Charity III. Volunteered your time to a organisation . Indonesia got the credit of being the top charitable country in this index. After this Kenya, Nigeria, Myanmar and Australia came second, third, fourth and fifth respectively. In this index, the lowest rank were respectively Japan (114th place), Portugal (113th place), Belgium (112th place) and Italy (111th place). India has been ranked 14th in this index. It is notable that Charities and philanthropic activities increased significantly in India between 2017-2019 and the trend continued in 2020. Sixty one percent of Indians helped strangers, 34 percent came forward to help and 36 percent people donated money. USA and UK on this index ranked 19th and 22nd respectively. Among India’s neighboring countries, Nepal was ranked 27th, Sri Lanka 63rd, Bangladesh 69th, China 95th and Pakistan 107th. Link: https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2021-publications/caf-world-giving-index-2021 ICC World Test Championship Question: Which cricket team has won the inaugural ICC World Test Championship? (a) India (b) New Zealand (c) Australia (d) England Answer: (b) Related facts: . New Zealand defeated India to win the first ICC World Test Championship. The final test cricket match of the Championship was played on 18 -23 June 2021 in Ageas Bowl Stadium,Southampton(England).The Championship began in 2019. New Zealand chased down the target of 139 to win the first- ever World Test Championship final with eight wickets in hand. Kyle Jamieson (NZ) has been adjudged as the “Player of the match”, while Kane Williamson (NZ) is the “Player of the series”. The top three team of Championship are New Zealand,India and Australia respectively. Links: https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cricket/story/new-zealand-crowned-world-test-champions-they- re-the-best-in-our-history-says-richard-hadlee-1818742-2021-06-24 India approves 4th vaccine for Covid-19 Question: Which vaccine has been given license by India on 29th June 2021 for emergency use? a) Moderna’s mRNA-1273 b) Sputnik c) Cinovac d) None of the above Ans: a Facts . Government of India has given approval to its fourth Covid-19 vaccine, and its first mRNA vaccine, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 for emergency uses. 3 http://www.edristi.in/ . Other vaccines available in India are Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik. This also cleared the path for importing foreign regulator-approved Covid vaccines to India without bridging clinical studies. Moderna vaccine which has 94.1 percent efficacy will be available here through its Indian partner Cipla. Moderna Vaccine . Moderna’s method of creating vaccine to protect against Covid-19 is based on messenger RNA (mRNA). mRNA helps the cells to generate immunity against coronavirus. This vaccine along with Pfizer is being preferred among wealthy countries. Reference: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/moderna-vaccine-is-first- mrna-jab-to-get-emergency-use-nod-in-india-121062901472_1.html Government Extends NITI Aayog CEO Term Question: Whose term as a CEO of NITI Aayog has been extended by Government of India recently? a) Amitabh Kant b) Arvind Pangariya c) Shaktikant Das d) None of the above Ans: a Facts . Central government has extended tenure of NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Amitabh Kant, by one year. He was appointed as the CEO of Niti Aayog on February 17, 2016, for a fixed two-year term. He was later given an extension till June 30, 2019. His term was then further extended for two years in June 2019. His tenure will now end in June 2022. Extension order was issued by Department of Personnel and Training after it was approved by Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. NITI Aayog . The NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) is a public policy think tank of the Government of India, established established in 2015 by replacing the planning commission . It is established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals with cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach. Reference: https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/industry/article/niti-aayog-ceo- amitabh-kant-given-another-extension-till-june/777835 Black Guava Question: Which institute has developed a unique variety of guava termed as black guava? (a) Bihar Agriculture University (b) Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (c) Kerala Agricultural University (d) Central Agricultural University Answer: (a) Related facts: 4 http://www.edristi.in/ . Scientists of Bihar Agriculture University, Bhagalpur has developed a unique variety of guava ‘black guava’. This exclusive variety of black guava with red pulp inside is rich in antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. It has been developed with more than three years of scientific research and is likely to be launched for commercial farming soon following some improvement in its size, fragrance and longer shelf life. The exclusive variety of black guava will be fully ripe by August end or September. Links: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/bau-develops-black-guava-rich-in-minerals- vitamins/articleshow/83899604.cms National Technical Textiles Mission Question: Consider the following statements: (1) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval to set up a National Technical Textiles Mission. (2) Technical Textiles are futuristic and nice segment of textiles used for automotive applications, medical usages, crop protection, protective clothing etc. (3) The Mission would have a four year implementation period from FY 2020-21 to 2023- 24.