Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

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 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:
A MoU was recently signed between Indian Oil, NTPC Ltd and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), to develop a demonstration Waste-to-energy Plant at Okhla landfill site in Delhi.
The plant is to be developed using Gasification technology and it shall process 17500 tons per annum of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) from combustible components of Municipal Waste. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R K Singh were present during the virtual event.

Notes:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has released the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report.
As per the report, 40% of poorest countries failed to support learners at risk during COVID-19 crisis. It also revealed that fewer than 10% of countries have laws that help ensure inclusion in education. UNESCO urged all countries to focus on people who are left behind and improve inclusion.

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:
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.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission, Niti Aayog has launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge.
The challenge seeks to support and build a strong ecosystem for Indian applications. In its first phase, the challenge will identify the potential Indian Apps that are being used, that are capable of becoming world class apps. The second phase will focus on developing new applications.

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.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved the capital infusion for an overall value of Rs.12,450 crore in the three Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) namely Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OlCL), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL).
This includes the Rs 2500 crore infused in the year 2019-20. The Cabinet also approved to increase the authorised share capital of NICL to Rs.7,500 crore and that of UIICL and OICL to Rs 5,000 crore.

Notes:
In March 2020, the Union Government has announced ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
Under the scheme, additional 5 kg rice/wheat per person per month, are being provided to beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act, 2013, free of cost from April to June. Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved to further extend the scheme till November 2020.