Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
According to the data of the commerce ministry, the United States was the top trading partner for the second consecutive fiscal in 2019-20.
In the year 2019-20, the bilateral trade between the US and India was at USD 88.75 billion compared to USD 87.96 billion in 2018-19. China was India’s top trading partner from 2013 to 2017. The US surpassed China to become the top trading partner of India in 2018-19.

Notes:
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has recently announced that Kunal Bahl has assumed charge as the Chairman of its e-commerce committee for the year 2020-21.
Kunal Bahl is the Co-founder & CEO of popular e-Commerce firm Snapdeal. The agenda of the committee is the upcoming e-commerce policy, consumer protection rules and promotion of exports through e-commerce.

Notes:
Ace British racing driver and six-time Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton has clinched his first victory of the season at Austria’s Styrian Grand Prix.
The 37-year old, who races for Mercedes, raised a clenched fist on the podium in support of anti-racism campaigners. He has also launched a commission to insist diversity in motorsport. The driver is only six wins short from surpassing Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91.

Notes:
India’s leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has recently launched its new video conferencing app named ‘BlueJeans’.
This application is expected to compete its rival applications namely Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams and the recently launched JioMeet. BlueJeans has been launched in partnership with US-based telecom company Verizon.

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 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:
Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Giriraj Singh launched the implementation guidelines for Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, AHIDF.
The 15000 crore rupees worth fund was approved by the Union Cabinet last month under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan stimulus package. Under the fund, Farmer Producer Organizations, MSMEs, Private Companies and individual entrepreneurs with minimum 10% margin are given 90% loans from scheduled banks, for developing infrastructure for animal husbandry.

Notes:
As per the statement released by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the Government has amended the import policy of Power tillers and its components from ‘free’ to ‘restricted’.
The importer is required to seek a license from the DGFT for importing the product categorised as ’restricted’. This move is expected to curb the inward shipment of the equipment that comes mainly from China.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs is implementing the PM SVANidhi (PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi) scheme.
PM SVANidhi was launched by the government on June 1, 2020, to provide working capital loan to street vendors. Recently, the Ministry has launched a mobile application of PM SVANidhi scheme, in a virtual event from New Delhi.

Notes:
The High-Level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session of this year was recently organised at the United Nations in New York.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has recently addressed a key note address in the session. This is his first address after India has been selected as a non-permanent member of the United States Security Council.