Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2019

Notes:
The Punjab & Sind Bank has set up the Centralised MSME & Retail Group (Cen-MARG) for credit facilities at its head office in New Delhi. Now, all MSME and retail credit approvals will be performed at this centralised set up. This will help branches focus better on lead generation for retail and MSME lending and enhanced customer service. The Cen-MARG would be linked with pan-India branches in a phased manner. It has been envisioned to ensure a qualitative improvement in credit appraisal, improved turnaround time, uniform documentation and efficient monitoring.

Notes:
As per the Finance Bill 2019, a new section — 15HAA — has been inserted in the SEBI Act to act against entities that tamper or destroy electronic databases or fail to furnish information when sought by the capital markets regulator. Now, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) can impose penalties of up to Rs 1 crore on brokers for certain violations. These new powers assume significance as the regulator is in the midst of probing the leak of sensitive data through WhatsApp and also recently passed fresh orders on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location matter, which had been challenged at the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).

Notes:
The new human atlas initiative – named Manav – has been launched by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Persistent Systems for holistic understanding of human body. The aim of the initiative is to create a unified database of molecular network of all the tissues in the human body and to derive a holistic picture of working of human body. The database would eventually help researchers in identifying gaps in current knowledge and help in future projects in diagnostics and disease biology. In this public-private venture, DBT and Persistent Systems will invest Rs 13 crore and Rs 7 crore respectively. The project will be executed by Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and National Center for Cell Sciences (NCCS) based at Pune.

Notes:
The Plan Bee initiative of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has won the Best Innovation Award in Indian Railways for the 2018-19 fiscal. The initiative helps in preventing trains from hitting elephants crossing tracks. The Plan Bee is an amplifying system imitating the buzz of a swarm of honey bees to keep wild elephants away from railway tracks. The unique initiative is helpful in diverting herds of elephants, especially when trains approach and dashing becomes imminent. The first prize comprises a citation along with a cash award of Rs 3 lakh.

Notes:
Prasar Bharati has signed MoU with IIT Kanpur for research collaboration in newly emerging technologies and broadcasting-related areas in New Delhi. The move is likely to boost research activities in the broadcasting field. Direct to mobile broadcasting, Convergence of 5G, Artificial Intelligence Incubation Centre by Prasar Bharati and student internship for students of IIT Kanpur at Prasar Bharati are among the main areas in the research collaboration.

Notes:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. His party – New Democracy – won a landslide victory in the 2019 legislative election with a score of 39.85% of votes and 158 seats in the Hellenic Parliament.

Notes:
The French government has decided to impose a tax of up to 18 euros ($20) on plane tickets for all flights from airports in France to fund less-polluting transportation projects. The move, which will take effect from 2020, will see a tax of 1.5 euros imposed on economy-class tickets on internal flights and those within Europe. The new measure is expected to bring in some €182 million a year which will be invested in greener transport infrastructures, notably rail. It will only be applied on outgoing flights and not those flying into the country. Earlier, in April 2018, a similar tax was introduced in Sweden that imposed an added charge of up to €40 on every ticket in a bid to lessen the impact of air travel on the climate.

Notes:
Italy’s Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene has been named as the UNESCO World Heritage at the 43rd Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is the site where the grapes that produce the world-famous prosecco sparkling wine are grown. It is an area of hilly terrain in northeast Italy known for its Prosecco production. The landscape is characterized by hogback hills, ciglioni — small plots of vines on narrow grassy terraces — forests, small villages and farmland. The prosecco sparkling white, which has the highest classification available to Italian wine, is produced in a territory spread over 9 provinces in Italy’s northeast. The region has become the 55th Italian site inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Notes:
Vikas Swarup, a 1986-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, has been appointed as Secretary, (consular, passport, visa and Overseas Indian affairs) in the External Affairs Ministry. His appointment will come into effect from August 1, 2019. At present, he is India’s High Commissioner to Canada. Swarup is the author of award-winning book Q&A, which was adapted into the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. The book bagged the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize 2006 and the Paris Book Fair’s Reader’s Prize.

Notes:
Uttarakhand will host the first-ever Himalayan states` conclave in Mussoorie on July 28 where the prime focus will be on sustainable development. The conclave will deliberate on the problems faced by Himalayan states. It will be attended by the chief ministers of all Himalayan states – Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland, along with administrators and specialists. The conclave will discuss methods to protect the Himalayan eco system from global warming, water conservation measures to be adopted besides working out an action plan for sustainable development in the Himalayan region and submitting its draft to Niti Ayog.