Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
National Statistics Day is observed on June 29 every year in India. This year it was celebrated through virtual conference with the theme of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) and SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls).
The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation instituted a new award ‘Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis National Award in Official Statistics’, which was conferred upon Former RBI Governor C Rangarajan. ‘Prof. P.V. Sukhatme National Award in Statistics 2020’ was given to Dr Arvind Pandey and Dr. Akhilesh Chandra Kulshreshtha.

Notes:
Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has unveiled National Anti-Doping Agency’s first mobile application to provide information about prohibited substances and their use.
This application is expected to provide easily accessible information of NADA, so that the athletes and their coaches would remain cautious about the prohibited drugs and medicines. The app also provides means for easy process of conducting a dope test.

Notes:
The Union Home Ministry has extended the Armed Forces (Special power Act) (AFSPA) in Nagaland, for six more months.
The whole state has been declared as a “Distributed area” for a period of six months with effect from 30th June. This has been exercised under the powers provided by section 3 of the AFSPA Act. Earlier, Nagaland Governor R. N Ravi has written to the Chief Minister that the law and order has collapsed in the state.

Notes:
The World Bank has approved a USD 750 million MSME Emergency Response program, to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, the programme will help in improving funding capacity of Small finance banks (SFBs) and Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for the MSME sector. This is expected to provide liquidity to about 1.5 million viable MSMEs. The loans have a maturity period of 19 years.

Notes:
The state Government of Madhya Pradesh is set to launch a new scheme called ‘Hamara Ghar-Hamara Vidyalaya’.
It means My Home-My school and the scheme aims to teach the school-going children, in a school-like environment. Under the scheme, the children of the state will learn to read and write and perform yoga, as per the State Education Centre.

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:
Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Mars Orbiter Mission has recently captured the image of Phobos.
Phobos is the closest and biggest moon of Mars, which has been captured by the Mars Colour Camera (MCC) onboard the MoM spacecraft. The image was taken when the spacecraft was about 7,200 km from Mars and 4,200 km from Phobos.

Notes:
Germany has recently become the first major economy to shut down coal and nuclear power. Both the houses of German Parliament have approved the phase-out decision.
It has decided to shut down coal-fired power plants by 2038 and nuclear power by the end of 2022. The country has also proposed to spend about 40 billion euros to help the affected regions in their transition.

Notes:
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has partnered with Bharat Biotech for development of potential COVID-19 vaccine called Covaxin.
The Drugs Controller General of India has granted permission to conduct phase-1 and 2 human clinical trials. Recently, ICMR has announced that it is acting in accordance with the globally accepted standards to develop the vaccine.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Asia’s largest solar plant in the state.
The 750 MW Rewa Ultra-Mega Solar plant would be inaugurated through video conferencing. It is claimed to be the one of the largest single-site solar power plants in Asia. The plant is located in the Rewa district of Vindhya region of the state.