Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
Reliance Industries (RIL) and the UK-based oil company BP, to start their new fuel retail and mobility joint venture (JV).
As per the joint statement released by the companies, the newly launched JV company is named as Reliance BP Mobility (RBML). Moreover, the JV will begin to rebrand RIL fuel retail outlets to Jio-BP. The new company also aims to provide electric vehicle charging facilities.

Notes:
The Asia Cup is a popular cricket tournament organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). It was established in 1983 and includes men’s One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament.
Recently, the Asian Cricket Council announced that the tournament that was scheduled to be held in September this year in Sri Lanka, has been postponed till June 2021.

Notes:
As per the recent data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Tamil Nadu has topped market borrowings among states in the country during 2020-21.
Tamil Nadu has raised Rs 30500 crores so far, which is approximately 17% of the borrowings made through issuing bonds. Maharashtra has raised Rs 25000 crores, which is 14% of the borrowings. The state of Tamil Nadu is expected to sustain a revenue shortfall of Rs 12,000- Rs 13,000 crore in a month, due to the effect of lock-down.

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has constituted a working group to study feasibility of forming a ‘pandemic risk pool’.
A pool is proposed to be formed, which addresses the risks that are arising out of the pandemic. The existing insurance laws do not cover business interruption losses and this pool is aimed to address this issue. The panel is expected to submit its report in eight weeks.

Notes:
The Kuaizhou-11 carrier rocket, that was launched by China, has recently suffered a failure during its maiden flight.
Kuaizhou means ‘fast ship’ in Chinese. It is a low-cost solid-fuelled carrier rocket, that was designed to launch low-Earth orbit satellites. A malfunction occurred during the flight though the exact reason for the failure is not yet known.

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:
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 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 historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple located at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, has been in dispute over its management. It is considered as one of the richest temples in the country.
The Supreme Court of India has recently upholded the rights of Travancore royal family in the administration of the temple. This dispute has been pending in the Supreme Court for the past nine years after charges of financial irregularities. The Travancore Royal house had ruled southern Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson announced that the country is set to ban Chinese technology giant Huawei from the country’s 5G network.
This news has been announced amidst the rising tensions between the United States and China. The UK’s move is aligned towards supporting the US, in limiting the expansion of global telecom leader Huawei’s expansion in the west. The process will be completed by 2027.