Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
‘India Cycles4Change Challenge’ is a new initiative of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under its Smart Cities Mission.
The Ministry has recently opened the registration for the Challenge, which was originally launched on June 25, 2020. All cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of States/UTs and all cities with above 5 lakh population can apply through the newly launched portal and provide quick solutions for promoting cycling.

Notes:
The birth anniversary of Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakta Acharya is celebrated as ‘Bhanu Jayanti’, in the state of Sikkim.
The poet is revered in Nepali Literature as ‘Adikavi’ and he is said to have laid the foundation of the Nepali literature. He had also translated several religious scripts from Sanskrit to Nepali. The Governor Ganga Prasad and Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang participated in the commemorative event.

Notes:
The comet C/2020 F3 comet also called as NEOWISE was discovered on March 27, this year. It was seen in news recently, as the comet would be visible in the sky.
In India, the NEOWISE comet will be visible in the northwest sky which is 20 degrees from the horizon. It is expected to be visible after sunset for around 20 minutes for 20 days from July 14, 2020 and it will fade away in the month of August.

Notes:
The Kochi International Container Trans-shipment Terminal is locally known as the Vallarpadam Terminal is located in the Kochin port, Kerala. It is claimed to be the first trans-shipment port of India.
Union Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has recently reviewed the development activities at the Terminal. A terminal at the port, which handles containers, stores them and transfers them to other ships for further movement, is called as Trans-shipment Hub.

Notes:
The Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank launched a low-cost Covid-19 test developed by Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT) Delhi.
The test kit named ‘Corosure’, has been claimed as the world’s most affordable probe free RT-PCR based Covid-19 diagnostic kit. It uses an alternative method of testing samples and costs approximately Rs 650 per kit.

Notes:
The state of Tamil Nadu is set to launch a trial to study the efficacy of the BCG vaccine in reducing mortality due to COVID-19 in the elder people.
The trial, which has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), would be taken up by the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai. The BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) is being administered to new-born for 50 years as a vaccine against tuberculosis.

Notes:
Coir Board is a statutory body established by the Government of India under the Coir Industry Act 1953, functioning under Ministry of MSME.
Recently, the export of coir and coir products from India in the year 2019-20 touched the highest point at Rs. 2757.90 crore. This is also Rs. 30 crore more than that of the last year, which stood at Rs. 2728.04 crore. Around 9 lakh metric tonnes of coir and coir products were exported.

Notes:
The 15th summit between the India and the European Union was held recently through a virtual mode. India was represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The EU was represented by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The leaders adopted the “India-EU Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025”, a strategic guide for mutual cooperation, over the next five years.

Notes:
The BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) has launched a BRICS CCI Young Leaders Initiative.
The Initiative has been launched with an objective to support and empower young leaders and entrepreneurs. It also aims to provide industry exposure and job opportunities across member nations, to the youngsters.

Notes:
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched development projects worth Rs 44 lakhs in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The projects include the formation and development of Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The SHG members are provided training and skill development to promote rural entrepreneurship in Mushroom Cultivation and Bamboo Handicrafts making etc. An annual Micro-Entrepreneurship Development Programme will also be organised by NABARD in the UT.