Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi in collaboration with Union Health Ministry and NITI Aayog launched a national programme called ‘National Clinical Grand Rounds’.
Recently, the AIIMS held the first interactive session of National Clinical Grand Rounds led by AIIMS Director, Dr. Randeep Guleria. The session aimed to facilitate discussion on issues related to COVID-19 and was attended by Doctors from hospitals located across the country and abroad.

Notes:
The Karnataka Cabinet has recently cleared the formation of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission. The mission is incorporated as a new company with the state government holding 49 per cent and industries and other stakeholders holding 51 per cent.
The company aims to promote over 7,000 start-ups, e-commerce and other gig (informal) economy companies in the State. Prior to this mission, these firms were operating under the Technology Mission of the state and were governed by various departments.

Notes:
India is in the process of developing a rapid testing kit for Covid-19, in collaboration with Israel. The proposed kit is expected to give results in less than 30 seconds.
A team from Israel’s Research and Development (R&D) Team of Defence Ministry will arrive in India to develop the rapid testing kit. The team has been working with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Principal scientific adviser, K. Vijay Raghavan.

Notes:
E-Commerce Giant Flipkart has announced that it will acquire parent Walmart’s wholesale business, ‘Best Price’.
The loss-ridden cash-and-carry business of Walmart in India is the last part of Walmart to be acquired by Flipkart marking a complete consolidation. This acquisition is expected to help Flipkart to expand its business-to-business vertical.

Notes:
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) announced that Partha Pratim Sengupta has been appointed as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive.
He was a former Deputy Managing Director at the State Bank of India (SBI). The appointment is made up to the date of attaining the age of superannuation in 2022. He is to succeed the previous MD & CEO Karnam Sekar.

Notes:
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate is to be called as ‘Covishield’ in India, as per the statement of the Serum Institute of India (SII).
SII is the largest vaccine maker in the world and it has partnered with AstraZeneca for manufacturing the Oxford vaccine candidate. Recently, it has sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of the potential vaccine.

Notes:
As per the latest report released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), about 403 infrastructure projects are hit by cost overruns of Rs 4.05 lakh crore.
Due to delays and other reasons, the projects each worth Rs 150 crore or more have been affected by overruns. MoSPI monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Out of the 1686 projects, while 403 ones reported cost overruns and 530 projects reported time escalation.

Notes:
At the 2016 high-level meeting at the UN General Assembly, India pledged to fast track efforts towards ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat in the next five years, and to end the epidemic by 2030.
Recently, a study published by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) stated that India may miss the national target to end AIDS by 2030. The decline in annual new HIV infections is only 27% from 2020 to 2017 against the national target of 75% by 2020.

Notes:
Indian climate activist Archana Soreng has been named by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to his new advisory group.
The new advisory group comprises of young leaders, aged between 18 and 28 years, who will provide solutions and opinions on tackling the problems of climate crisis. Archana Soreng is a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is to join six other young climate leaders from around the world.

Notes:
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has recently announced the National Awards for excellence in Earth System Science.
The Life Time Excellence Award is being awarded to Professor Ashok Sahni for his contribution in the field of Geology and Biostratigraphy. The National Award for Ocean Science and technology is being awarded to Dr. V. V. S. S. Sarma and Dr. M. Ravichandran.