Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) became the first Indian company to hit a market capitalisation of Rs 12 lakh crore.
In less than a month, the company has added over a market capitalisation of Rs 1 lakh crore, to stand at Rs 12.24 lakh crore. Since April, the company witnessed investments from 12 global investors. Recently, the wireless technology leader Qualcomm invested Rs 730 crores in Jio platforms.

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:
India’s oldest apex industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has projected India’s annual median GDP growth for 2020-21 at -4.5%.
This has been projected in the association’s Economic Outlook Survey in the SBI Banking and Economics Conclave. It had previously predicted India’s growth rate to be 5.5 per cent in the January 2020 survey. In the conclave, RBI Governor said that Indian economy has started showing signs of getting back to normalcy.

Notes:
The CEO of Google Sundar Pichai has recently announced the launch USD 10 billion ‘India Digitization Fund’.
This was announced at the ‘Google for India’ virtual live-stream event, which focused on accelerating India’s digital economy. Through this initiative, Google will invest about Rs 75000 Crores in India over the next 5 to 7 years. The fund will focus on enabling affordable access and information to every Indian.

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.

Notes:
The ‘World Youth Skills Day’ is celebrated across the world on July 15 every year, across the world. The United Nations General Assembly declared the day in the year 2014.
It highlights the importance of training young people with skills for decent employment and entrepreneurship. As per the announcement from the United Nations, several virtual events focussing on the theme of “Skills for a Resilient Youth” will take place, to mark the day. Skill India Mission was launched on the same day, five years ago.

Notes:
The FIFA World Cup 2022 football tournament is to played in Qatar, for the first time in the history of FIFA.
FIFA has released the new schedule for the World Cup to be played in November and December, 2022. The 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium will be the venue for the inaugural session of the tournament. FIFA will finalise the 30 contestants of the World Cup in April 2022

Notes:
As per the recent report released by the property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, India ranks third in the list of most-suitable locations for global manufacturing, in terms of cost competitiveness and operating conditions.
Among 48 countries, China and the US bagged the top two positions of the Global Manufacturing Risk Index (MRI). Last year, India was in the fourth position in the list, which ranks 48 countries in Europe, America and the Asia-Pacific.

Notes:
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank virtually launched the first online National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) programme for key resources persons of Andhra Pradesh.
After the scheme was launched in 2019, 33 states and UTs launched the programme in collaboration under Samagra Shiksha. The NCERT provides NISHTHA training programme at the state level.

Notes:
India has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, to store strategic reserves of Petroleum in the US.
The countries are also planning to store oil in America’s strategic reserve to increase India’s oil reserves. Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan co-chaired a virtual US-India Strategic Energy Partnership Ministerial with his American counterpart Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.