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The bonds are issued by the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the Government, replacing the recently withdrawn 7.75% bonds.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:
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor C Rangarajan has been conferred with the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to statistics.
The award has been given to him on the occasion of Statistics Day, which is celebrated on June 29 every year, to commemorate the birth anniversary of PC Mahalanobis, the ‘father of Indian statistics’. C Rangarajan had served as the Chairman of the National Statistical Commission.

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:
The World Bank has approved a USD 750 million MSME Emergency Response program, to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, the programme will help in improving funding capacity of Small finance banks (SFBs) and Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for the MSME sector. This is expected to provide liquidity to about 1.5 million viable MSMEs. The loans have a maturity period of 19 years.

Notes:
The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched a new scheme called ‘Accelerate Vigyan’.
It aims to provide a single exclusive platform for research internships and science workshops across the country. It also aims to encourage high-end scientific research and research careers. Several programmes to identify research potential, training programmes are to be carried out across the country.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution implements the “PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana” scheme.
The Minister for Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has recently released the details of the 2nd Phase of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Under the scheme, 5 kilograms of Wheat or Rice to every family member and 1 kilogram of Chana (Pulse) for each beneficiary family will be provided without price for five more months, till November.

Notes:
Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian-American author and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee has been named as the ‘2020 Great Immigrants’ honourees by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Another Indian American Professor of Economics at Harvard University Raj Chetty also jointly received the honour. They have been honoured for their contribution towards the efforts in containing the COVID-19 crisis.

Notes:
The United Kingdom has recently recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s constitutional interim President.
A case has been held over whether Guaido or Nicolas Maduro have control on the country’s USD 1 billion worth gold reserves held in the Bank of England. In the ruling of the English High Court, it has declared Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Though Maduro won the second term, the opposition has majority.

Notes:
Two Central public sector undertakings under the Ministry of Coal, namely the NLC India Ltd and Coal India have signed an agreement to form a Joint Venture Company, to develop green power.
The JV company aims to develop solar and thermal power assets of 5000 MW (5 GW) across the country. In the proposed company, both the enterprises will invest in the ratio of 50:50. The expertise of both PSUs would be used for developing power sector.

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.