Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The Union Government has announced the launch of Taxable Floating Rate Savings Bonds, 2020, that will be available for subscription for retail investors from July 1, 2020.
The bonds are issued by the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the Government, replacing the recently withdrawn 7.75% bonds. The interest rate on these bonds will be reset every six months while the initial rate of interest is fixed at 7.15 per cent. The bonds shall be repayable on the expiration of seven years from the date of issue.

Notes:
Wisden has named Ravindra Jadeja as ‘India’s Most Valuable Test Player of the 21st Century’. He is also named as the second most Valuable Test player in the world.
The list is topped by Sri Lanka’s legendary cricketer Muthiah Muralithatan. Wisden used CricViz, a detailed analysis tool in cricket to analyse performance of the players and award an ‘MVP rating’ to each player in world cricket. The 31-year old India’s spin-bowling all-rounder has scored an MVP rating of 97.3.

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:
World Trade Organisation (WTO) has set up a dispute panel on India’s tariffs on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) goods such as mobile phones, cameras, headphones.
WTO has agreed to the second request from the European Union for establishing the panel. The requests for dispute panels against India’s tariffs on ICT products were examined by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently launched the Special Liquidity Scheme improve the liquidity of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).
The corpus of the scheme is Rs 30000 crore rupees and it was launched through a Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of a trust set up by SBI Capital Markets. The Union Government will provide unconditional and irrevocable guarantee to the special securities issued by the Trust.

Notes:
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved the proposal for procurement of 21 MiG-29 and upgradation of existing 59 MiG-29 aircraft from Russia at a cost of Rs 7418 crore.
It has also approved the procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd, at an estimated cost of Rs 10,730 cr. DAC cleared the acquisition of 248 Astra Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missiles for the Indian Air Force and the Navy. Other important equipment required by the Armed Forces were also approved for Rs 38,900 crore.

Notes:
Veteran Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan recently passed away at the age of 72. She was fondly called as ‘Masterji’ in Bollywood.
During her long career spanning over forty years, she had choreographed more than 2000 songs in many languages. She had also won three National Awards for Best Choreography for Devdas, Jab We Met and the Tamil film Shringaram.

Notes:
The legal and legislative committee of Kuwait’s National Assembly has recently approved the draft expat quota bill.
If the bill is enacted into a law, over 8 lakh Indians could be forced out of Kuwait. As per the proposed bill, Indians should not exceed 15% of the population. Out of the 4.3 million population of Kuwait, there are 3 million expats. Moreover, Indians are the largest expatriate community with 1.45 million.

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:
World Chess champion, Norwegian Grand Master Magnus Carlsen has won the Chessable Masters online tournament.
This tournament is the third event of the Magnus Carlsen Tour. Carlsen has won by scoring a straight-set victory in the final. He has faced Dutch chess player Anish Giri in the final. This is also the second time, Carlsen is winning the tournament, out of the three events of the tour.