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:
The state government of Maharashtra has launched the world’s largest convalescent plasma therapy project named PLATINA, for treating COVID-19.
The trial-cum-project is expected to save at least 500 lives of critically-ill Covid-19 patients in the state. The trial will be carried out in government medical colleges and BMC medical colleges. All critical patients will receive two doses of 200 ml of convalescent plasma under the project, free of cost.

Notes:
The state government of Madhya Pradesh is set to launch a campaign called ‘Kill Corona’, to control the spread of coronavirus in the state.
The 15-day campaign, which is to be carried out from July 1, involves door-to-door survey and tests for other diseases. During the campaign, 2.5 lakh tests will be carried out and about 20,000 samples would be collected daily.

Notes:
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is set to launch a cashless scheme for road accident victims.
The Ministry is to establish a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund under its aegis, for implementing the scheme. It will have an insurance coverage cap of Rs 2.5 lakh per case and enables all road accident victims of Indian or foreign nationality, to be eligible.

Notes:
Young Indian author Kritika Pandey has won the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, for her short story ‘The Great Indian Tee and Snakes’.
The 29-year-old writer is currently studying at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was also declared as one of five Regional Winners for the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her literary work.

Notes:
India celebrates National Doctor’s Day on July 1 each year, in honour of the birth and death anniversary of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.
He was a veteran physician of the country and the second Chief minister of West Bengal. Indian Government established the Doctor’s Day in the year of 1991. This year, the theme of the day is “Lessen the mortality of COVID-19”.

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 Government has recently launched the Special Liquidity Scheme improve the liquidity of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).
The corpus of the scheme is Rs 30000 crore rupees and it was launched through a Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of a trust set up by SBI Capital Markets. The Union Government will provide unconditional and irrevocable guarantee to the special securities issued by the Trust.

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:
Every year, July 2 is celebrated as World Sports Journalists Day or International Sports Journalists Day.
The day also recognises the importance of sports journalists around the world. It marks the anniversary of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), that was established in 1924 during the Paris Olympics. AIPS is the peak professional body representing the international sports media.