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 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:
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has recently inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 11 highway projects in Haryana worth over 20,000 crore rupees.
These projects are part of the new Economic corridors in the state, which includes the Ambala Kotputli corridor among others. The projects will provide better connectivity to neighbouring states such as Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

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 state of Tamil Nadu is set to launch a trial to study the efficacy of the BCG vaccine in reducing mortality due to COVID-19 in the elder people.
The trial, which has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), would be taken up by the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai. The BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) is being administered to new-born for 50 years as a vaccine against tuberculosis.

Notes:
Malini Parthasarathy has been named the new Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications. She is to replace the current head, N Ram.
The former editor of the Hindu from 2013 to 2016 was also the Co-Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications. She also founded a think tank named ‘The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy’.

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 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:
As per the data recently released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), India has recorded the largest reduction in the number of people living in multi-dimensional poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16.
About 273 million Indians moved out of multi-dimensional poverty in the said decade. As per the report, 65 out of 75 countries reduced their multi-dimensional poverty levels between 2000 and 2019.

Notes:
The Lourdes Roman Catholic shrine located in France has recently organised the world’s first ever e-pilgrimage after the coronavirus crisis.
About 80 million from across the world attended the programme. Mass and prayers are broadcasted on television and social media for the e-pilgrimage named ‘Lourdes United’. During summer, pilgrims visit the shrine and light candles in the sanctuary, where Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared.