Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
Economist and former Indian Administrative Service officer N K Singh is the Chairperson of the 15th Finance Commission.
Recently, the Finance Commission has decided to form a group to develop a mechanism to incentivise states for carrying out the agricultural reforms, that were announced as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package. The group consists of Finance Commission member Ramesh Chand, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal and Agriculture, Research and Education Secretary T Mahapatra.

Notes:
The World Bank has approved USD 250 million loan for affordable housing projects of Tamil Nadu. The Government of India, state government of Tamil Nadu and the World Bank has signed legal agreements regarding the project.
Out of the total loan, USD 200 million is approved for First Tamil Nadu Housing Sector Strengthening Programme and USD 50 million for Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project. It aims to ease regulatory barriers and encourage private sector participation in affordable housing.

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:
Lepidopterists, those who specialises in studying moths and butterflies, have recently discovered two new species of butterflies namely Striped Hairstreak and Elusive Prince in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Striped Hairstreak was first recorded in Japan and the Elusive Prince was discovered in Vietnam. As per the Society for Education and Environmental Development (SEED), the discovery of two new species have increased the number of butterfly species of the country to 1327.

Notes:
Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced that the ministry will launch Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Junior.
The scheme aims to train to train young athletes for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics. Under the existing TOPS scheme, senior athletes who have been identified as medal achievers for the Olympics are being trained. This was announced during the ‘Fit Hai To Hit Hai Fit India’ webinar.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of the state of Karnataka has launched ‘Weavers Sammaan Yojana’, to provide annual financial assistance of two thousand rupees to handloom weavers.
Around 20000 weavers of the state are to be provided financial aid through Direct Benefit Transfer. For implementing the scheme, the state has allocated Rs 10.96 crore rupees. The state has also proposed to give a one-time financial assistance to workers employed in power looms.

Notes:
India and Afghanistan have recently signed five agreements for developing educational infrastructure in Afghanistan.
The MoUs, that were signed under the High impact community development projects (HICDP) programme. It is implemented by India to promote bilateral partnership. The educational infrastructure is to be improved in four Afghan provinces of Nooristan, Badakhshan, Farah and Kapisa.

Notes:
A mysterious appearance of pink glacial ice was found in the highest mountain range lying across Europs, the Alps.
The species of algae known as Ancylonema nordenskioeldii, that is present in Greenland is said to be the reason for this phenomenon. The ice is said to be melting in the same place. Scientists say that this is a natural phenomenon that occurs during the spring and summer.

Notes:
As per the latest issue of a research newsletter on life forms- ‘Bionotes’, a Himalayan butterfly named ‘Golden Birdwing’ is declared the largest butterfly of India.
Until now, another butterfly named the Southern Birdwing holds the record of the country’s largest butterfly for 88 years, after a British military officer and butterfly researcher recorded it in 1932. The female Golden Birdwing has a wingspan of 194 mm, larger than that of the Southern Birdwing.

Notes:
As per the recently published study by the scientists from Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Lithium (Li) is produced in the Universe, by Sun like stars in their later life.
IIA, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, has published the study in Nature Astronomy. Low mass stars like Sun produce Lithium during their Helium core burning phase, as per the scientists. This is the first time that a clear observational evidence has been provided.