Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The government of New Delhi has recently announced the launch of the country’s first dedicated plasma bank for treating Covid-19 patients.
The facility would be set up at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), and it will be made available to all government and private hospitals of the UT. The therapy involves drawing blood from patients who have recovered from covid-19 and using the plasma and antibodies to treat active patients.

Notes:
The state government of Madhya Pradesh is set to launch a campaign called ‘Kill Corona’, to control the spread of coronavirus in the state.
The 15-day campaign, which is to be carried out from July 1, involves door-to-door survey and tests for other diseases. During the campaign, 2.5 lakh tests will be carried out and about 20,000 samples would be collected daily.

Notes:
Union Defence Ministry has launched a new portal to issue No Objection Certificate (NOC) for power projects and Research Survey Exploration Exploitation (RSEE) activities in the Indian Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone.
The Ministry of Defence gives security clearances to various Private and Public Sector Undertakings for power, wind and solar projects in areas near defence installation. The new portal will allow applicants to submit their proposals online for seeking security clearance from the Ministry.

Notes:
The President of India has re-appointed K.K. Venugopal as the Attorney General (AG) of India for one more year. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister approved the extension in term of Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor General (SG) for three years.
Six new Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) were appointed and tenure of five existing Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) was extended. Venugopal took over as the AG in 2017, succeeding Mukul Rohatgi.

Notes:
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has recently released the ‘State of World Population 2020’ report.
UNFPA is the sexual and reproductive health agency of the United Nations (UN) located in New York. As per the report, the number of missing women has more than doubled over the past 50 years, from 61 million in 1970 to 142.6 million in 2020. Out of that, India accounts for 45.8 million of missing females of the world.

Notes:
The Indian Air Force has successfully designed and developed an Airborne Locust Control System on Mi-17 helicopters to tackle the locusts attack.
The machine developed by the Indian Air Force can help in spraying pesticides over 750 hectares of affected land in a single mission. Union Agriculture Minister has also ordered for five aerial spray machines from United Kingdom, to deploy in IAF helicopters for locust control.

Notes:
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan have jointly launched the online competition to identify drugs against coronavirus.
The competition is named “Drug Discovery Hackathon” 2020. Students, researchers and experts from across the country and the world can participate in the event, to submit their discoveries on potential drugs. While HRD Innovation cell and AICTE will identify potential drug, CSIR will conduct synthesis and laboratory testing.

Notes:
The United Kingdom has recently recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s constitutional interim President.
A case has been held over whether Guaido or Nicolas Maduro have control on the country’s USD 1 billion worth gold reserves held in the Bank of England. In the ruling of the English High Court, it has declared Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Though Maduro won the second term, the opposition has majority.

Notes:
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister has launched toolkit for the sixth edition of the annual cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan 2021.
MoHUA organises the annual survey for urban India. As part of Swachh Survekshan-2021, the Minister launched a new category of awards titled ‘Prerak Dauur Samman’. The award has a total of five sub- categories which awards top three cities, on the basis of six indicator-wise performance criteria.

Notes:
The President of France Emmanuel Macron has named Jean Castex as the next French Prime Minister.
The previous Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had resigned earlier. The President has reshuffled the Government to restart the country’s economy. Jean Castex is a 55-year-old public servant, who has also coordinated the re-opening strategy in the country.