Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
1987 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer Rajesh Bhushan has been appointed as the new Health secretary, after July 31 this year.
As per the recent Personnel Ministry order, Rajesh Bhushan, the Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Health and Family Welfare will succeed the present Secretary Preeti Sudan. Sushil Kumar has been appointed secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. Ram Kumar Mishra has been named Women and Child Development secretary.

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:
The Reserve Bank of India has released the ‘Report of the Committee for Analysis of QR (Quick Response) Code’.
The Committee was constituted by RBI in December 2019 under the Chairmanship of Prof. D.B. Phatak, to review the present system of QR Codes in India in digital payments. The report asked the Government to provide incentive schemes to popularise QR code transactions among consumers. It also recommended phasing out proprietary and closed loop QR codes.

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 Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced that the Union Government is to collaborate with the World Bank, to convert the Gwalior-Chambal belt of Madhya Pradesh into arable land.
This has been decided in the virtual meeting with the World Bank representative. As per the statement, more than 3 lakh hectares of rugged land that remains not cultivable can be improved. As a result, the region’s agricultural development, environmental protection and employment opportunities can be improved.

Notes:
The Central Reserve Police Force has recently celebrated its 82nd Raising Day on July 27. The Prime Minister and Home Minister greeted its personnel.
The CRPF came into existence as Crown Representative’s Police on July 27, 1939. After the enactment of the CRPF Act on December 28, 1949, it became the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). It aims to secure the internal security of the country.

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:
During the Saint Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation that was signed by Tiger range countries in 2010, it was decided to celebrate 29th July as Global Tiger Day across the world.
The countries had pledged to double the tiger population by the year 2022. Global Tiger Day aims to create awareness on tiger conservation. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has released the All India Tiger Estimation Report-2018 and said that India has nearly 70 per cent of the global tiger population.

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:
The government has recently notified changes in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms on civil aviation.
As per the amendments, it will permit Non-resident Indian (NRI) nationals to own 100 per cent stake of Air India. The divestment process for the national carrier, Air India was initiated in the month of January and the deadline to bid has been for three times. Recently, the deadline was extended till August 31.