Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

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:
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:
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:
Former captain of Australian Football team recently announced that he is retiring from all forms of football.
He had earlier announced retirement from international football in the year 2018. The 35-year old footballer led the Australian men’s national team, also called as Socceroos, to the 2015 Asian Cup title.

Notes:
India has signed a new agreement with Israel to collaborate in the field of cyber security and to tackle the challenges in the field amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
The MoU has been signed between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and Israel’s National Cyber Directorate (INCD). Under the MoU, technological assistance and mutual services in cyber security will be exchanged.

Notes:
Cochin Shipyard Limited has signed a contract for construction and supply of two autonomous electric ferries for ASKO Maritime AS, Norway.
This firm is a subsidiary of NorgesGruppen ASA, one of the major players in the Norwegian retail market. The project is partially funded by the Norwegian government and aimed at emission-free transport of goods. The 67-metre-long vessels will be delivered as a full-electric transport ferry, initially. The Ship yard is also building 23 hybrid electric boats for the Kochi Water Metro.

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:
As per the recent study released in the online edition of the Lancet, India’s population is likely to peak by 2047 at about 1.61 billion.
The study also estimated that the population of India would then decline to 1.03 billion by the year 2100. But, if the country’s targets of United Nations Sustainable Goal Development (SDG) were achieved, India’s population would decline to 929 million.

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.