Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The state government of Rajasthan has recently approved the ‘One-stop shop’ scheme, to fast-track investments and enable recovery of industries amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new scheme will fast-track all processes in the investment proposals above ₹10 crore. Over 98 types of clearances will be given under one roof through the Bureau of Investment Promotion (BIP). For implementing the scheme, the Cabinet approved amendments to the Rajasthan Enterprises Single Window Enabling and Clearance Act, 2011.

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:
Turkmenistan became the 25th country with a status of an observer in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The member-states of the WTO General Council unanimously adopted the resolution on granting the status of an observer in WTO to the Central Asian country. There are 164 WTO member-states at present and 25 countries possess the status of an observer including Turkmenistan.

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India releases a bi annual report called the financial stability report (FSR). The latest edition was released recently.
RBI has estimated that the gross non performing asset (GNPA) ratio of all banks may increase from 8.5% in March 2020 to 12.5% by March 2021. GNPA ratio of public sector banks will increase to 15.2% in March 2021. The main reason for this dip is the slowdown in the economy due to the Covid-19 induced lock-down.

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:
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations releases the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA)’ report.
FAO has been publishing this assessment once in every 5 years since 1990. It evaluates the state of forests and their management in all member countries. As per the recent report, India has ranked third among the countries that gained in forest areas in the last decade (2010-2020). China and Australia held the first two ranks.

Notes:
India Meteorological Department, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences launched a weather forecast application for general public.
Named as Mausam, the application offers information on five details including current temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction for 200 cities. The information is updated eight times a day. While this app is meant for everyone, IMD already has another app meant only for farmers and agriculturists called Meghdoot.

Notes:
The world’s first electrified rail tunnel fit to run double-stack containers is being constructed by the Indian Railways in Haryana.
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) has recently conducted a tunnel-breaking ceremony on completion of caving work for the tunnel of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) through Aravalli mountain range. One among the biggest railway tunnels, it connects Rewari and Dadri and itwill be completed within a year.

Notes:
E-commerce major Flipkart has launched a hyper-local delivery service called Flipkart Quick that aims to deliver products in 90 minutes.
The company also expands its services to sell perishable goods, including fruits, vegetables, and milk among others. Flipkart is to begin the services in Bengaluru initially and will expand them throughout the country. Earlier, it had launched Flipkart Wholesale ecosystem.

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.