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:
Kholongchhu is the first joint venture hydroelectric project between India and Bhutan. A concession agreement for project was recently signed virtually.
This agreement will commence the construction and related works of the project, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025. The 600 MW project is located on the Kholongchhu river in eastern Bhutan. It will be implemented by Kholongchhu Hydro Energy Limited, a JV company formed between DGPC of Bhutan and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) of India.

Notes:
The United States has recently eliminated the special status under U.S. law and halted Defence Exports to Hong Kong.
U.S has also restricted the access of the country to high technology products. This decision has been taken while China is preparing new Hong Kong security legislation. U.S also proposed to end the export of dual-use technologies to the territory, which have both commercial and military uses.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched the world’s first online Diploma and Bachelor of Science Degree in Data Science and programming.
The course has no age limit and students who have passed class 12 can enrol. The course will be conducted online and its exams will be conducted in an offline mode. The course has three levels including the foundation, diploma and degree and it is divided into six semesters.

Notes:
Leading Global Technology company, Microsoft has recently announced a new global skills initiative, which aims to train as many as 25 million people worldwide, in digital skills, by the end of the year.
Under this initiative, Microsoft uses the data to identify the jobs in demand and provides free content to develop the skills of people. It also provides certifications and free job-seeking tools. This programme has been launched amidst Covid-19 crisis, where several people are hit by job losses.

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:
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with Technology major Facebook, to launch curriculum on digital safety.
The curriculum also includes practices of online well-being of students and Augmented Reality for students and teachers. This was announced by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. The curriculum has been prepared comprehensively to equip the children face the future of work.

Notes:
The state government of Odisha is set to launch a new financial assistance scheme called ‘Balaram Yojana’.
It is a sequel to the ‘KALIA’ scheme, which was launched with an aim to provide assistance to small and marginal farmers. Under the new scheme, the state will provide crop loans to 7 lakh landless sharecroppers in the state, through joint liability groups (JLGs) in the next two years.

Notes:
India’s third largest telecom operator, Vodafone Idea reported the highest net loss in a fiscal year 2019-20.
The net loss of Rs 73,878 crore is the highest ever made by an Indian firm. The company had provisioned for the statutory dues, as mandated by the Supreme Court of India. This is the main reason of their huge net losses. Out of the total dues estimated by the Department of Telecom, it has paid Rs 6,854.4 crore.

Notes:
Ace Indian boxer and World championships silver medallist Amit Panghal is ranked at the first spot, in men’s 52kg category, as per the latest world rankings released by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
Worlds silver medallist Manju Rani has been placed at the second rank in 48 kg category. Legendary boxer Mary Kom is placed at third place. Kavinder Bisht, Deepak and Manish Kaushik also found place in the top ten ranks in their categories.