Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The World Bank has recently approved of project called ‘Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS)’ for India.
The project aims to improve the quality and governance of school education in six States of India namely Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan, through the Samagra Shiksha. World Bank would provide an assistance of USD 500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore).

Notes:
The President of India has re-appointed K.K. Venugopal as the Attorney General (AG) of India for one more year. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister approved the extension in term of Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor General (SG) for three years.
Six new Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) were appointed and tenure of five existing Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) was extended. Venugopal took over as the AG in 2017, succeeding Mukul Rohatgi.

Notes:
The International Asteroid Day is celebrated on June 30, every year across the world, to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution declaring 30 June as International Asteroid Day. The day also marks the anniversary of the impact of Tunguska explosion caused by an asteroid, on Siberia and Russian Federation in 1908.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana would be extended till the end of November.
The scheme aims to provide free grains to more than 80 crore poor people of the country. The Prime Minister announced that more than Rs 90,000 crore will be spent in this expansion of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

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:
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 World Bank assigns the countries of the world to four income groups namely low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries.
The classifications are updated on July 1 every year and it is based on GNI per capita. In this year’s classification, seven economies including Nepal and Indonesia are moving to a higher category. Three economies including Sri Lanka have moved down to a lower category. India retains its Lower-middle position.

Notes:
Indian Railways has set up a solar power plant, for the first time in the world, which directly provides power to the Railway Overhead Line, in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL).
Such a solar power plant has been established at Bina Traction Sub Station, Madhya Pradesh. The 1.7 Mega-watt solar power plant can produce around 25 lakh units of energy in a year and save about Rs 1.37 crore per year.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad to establish a Research cell at the IIT.
The Defence research cell aims to meet the upcoming defence technological requirements of the country. This DRDO – IITH Research Cell will conduct research programmes in specific technology areas. This will be established as an extension of the DRDO Research and Innovation Centre (RIC), Chennai.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has launched the state’s own document scanning application named ‘Self Scan’.
The application has been developed by the state’s information technology department. This has been launched amidst the ban imposed by the Centre over 59 Chinese mobile apps. The Chief Minister also inaugurated the state’s first Plasma Bank for treatment of COVID-19 positive patients.