Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Odisha has recently launched a monitoring system named ‘BLUIS’, and it has become the first state to use Space Technology & Artificial Intelligence to safeguard Government Lands.
BLUIS stands for Bhubaneswar Land Use Intelligence System, which would monitor changes in government lands in Bhubaneswar by deploying high resolution satellite imagery. BLUIS is a geo-tagged repository, which works both in web and mobile.

Notes:
National Fish Farmers Day is celebrated in India on July 10, every year, to commemorate the two scientists: Dr K H Alikunhi and Dr. H.L. Chaudhury, who had invented ‘Induced breeding technology’ on this day in 1957.
A webinar was conducted by the Department of Fisheries in association with National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). The Union Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries attended the webinar. The Government has launched Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for fish farmers.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) has recently partnered with the multinational technology company NVIDIA, to establish India’s first ‘NVIDIA AI Technology Centre’ (NVAITC).
The centre aims to accelerate research on Artificial Intelligence and its commercial adoption. In this technology centre, more than 200 faculty will carry out research in this field. NVIDIA is a partner to the government of Telangana, in its project to establish Hyderabad among the top 25 global AI innovation hubs.

Notes:
The incumbent Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong’s People’s Action Party has retained its power in the recently held general elections.
The ruling party has been in power in Singapore since 1965. This time it has won 83 of 93 parliamentary seats, which implies 61.2 per cent of the vote. In a surprise move, the opposition Workers’ Party made their best performance by securing a record 10 seats, for the first time.

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:
NITI Aayog has estimated that India needs 6.2% additional spending of GDP to achieve 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The country’s think tank said this in its second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the UN high-level political forum (HLPF) on sustainable development, 2020. India needs to upgrade its statistical system, improve its monitoring mechanism and capacity building of all stakeholders. It also advised that the Budget should be aligned with SDGs.

Notes:
The Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, has successfully established stable cultures of coronavirus from patient samples.
The Seventeen in-vitro cultures have been established using Vero cells, from samples of different locations and different virus loads. The cultured SARS-Cov-2 can be used in developing antibodies or antidotes, testing of antibodies and identifying therapeutic agents.

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 flagship initiative of NITI Aayog, Atal Innovation Mission, (AIM) has launched a programme named ‘Demo-Days’.
The programme aims to identify start-ups with potential Covid-19 innovations and help them develop their ideas into workable solutions which will be deployed across the country. This was launched in partnership with other state-owned bodies including BIRAC, DBT, DST, Start-up India etc.

Notes:
Election Commissioner of India Ashok Lavasa, has been appointed as the Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships at the Asian Development Bank.
Ashok Lavasa is to replace the incumbent Vice President Diwakar Gupta, whose term is ending on August 31. The retired IAS officer was appointed as the Election commissioner in January 2018 and he was the next senior Election Commissioner, to be appointed as the Chief, after the present CEC Sunil Arora.