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The bonds are issued by the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the Government, replacing the recently withdrawn 7.75% bonds.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:
Amazon has recently acquired the Self-driving Car start-up firm Zoox, in a deal estimated to be worth over USD 1 billion.
Zoox is an American company, which employs more than 1000 persons and was also developing an electric self-driving vehicle. As per sources, this is Amazon’s biggest investment so far in self-driving car technology. This is also one of its biggest purchases ever. The technology is expected to be deployed in automated delivery projects of Amazon.

Notes:
June 30 is the day designated by the United Nations to celebrate the International Day of Parliamentarism.
The United Nations General Assembly recognized the role of parliaments in developing the world, and designated the special day. On the same day in the year 1889, the global organization of parliaments called the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was established.

Notes:
Former Union minister and Rajya Sabha member Suresh Prabhu is to lead a Co-Operative Development Forum (CDF).
The CDF forum, that is likely to be formally launched on July 24, aims to work towards promoting cooperative movement in the country and boost the rural economy. Suresh Prabhu is also the Sherpa of India for G 20. The forum also aims to formulate the modern National/ State Cooperative Policy.

Notes:
Indian Oil Corporation and Beximco LPG have signed an agreement to form a Joint venture company for LPG business in Bangladesh.
The Joint venture company (JVC) aims to set up a large LPG terminal at a deep-water port in Bangladesh, to receive LPG and reduce import. It will begin functioning by acquiring existing LPG assets of Beximco.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
NGFS is a group of central banks and supervisors who will share best practices about climate risk management in financial sector. It was launched at the Paris One Planet Summit in the year 2017. It also mobilises finance for maintaining a sustainable economy.

Notes:
Edelweiss Asset Management Company manages the Bharat Bond Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). It has formally launched the second series of the ETF.
During December 2019, it had launched the first series. With this tranche, the fund house seeks to raise up to Rs 14,000 crore from retail and institutional investors. Bharat Bond ETFs invest in AAA-rated papers of public sector companies (CPSEs and PSEs).

Notes:
‘Dharma Chakra Parvattana’ is a famous celebration of Buddhism, which commemorates Gautam Buddha’s first discourse to his first five disciples at Sarnath.
The International Buddhist Confederation, under the Ministry of Culture, celebrates Ashadha Poornima as Dharma Chakra Day. The Prime Minister has recently conveyed his greetings on Ashadha Poornima, also known as Guru Purnima.

Notes:
The Cabinet Secretary of India Rajiv Gauba has ordered to revamp the e-SamikSha platform of the Indian Government.
It is a real time, online system for monitoring projects and decisions taken by the Union government and the follow-up actions by ministries. In the revamped platform, additional information related to milestones with target dates, beneficiary states and districts will also be captured.

Notes:
Reliance Industries has recently launched a new video conferencing application named ‘JioMeet’, as a competition to the popular video conferencing app Zoom.
The JioMeet video conferencing app is available across all play stores and web. As per the statement of Reliance Jio, the application supports High Definition audio and video call quality. It allows a maximum of 100 participants and unlike Zoom, it does not have a restricted meeting time of 40 minutes.