Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath has recently launched ‘Navin Rojgar Chhatri Yojana’.
The scheme aims to promote the overall development of the people belonging to scheduled castes in the state. The Chief Minister also provided an assistance of around Rs 17.42 crore to more than 3000 people under the ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Swarojgar Yojana’.

Notes:
The House of Representatives of the United States has unanimously passed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), condemning China’s aggression.
China’s military activities against India in the Galwan Valley, its growing territorial actions around disputed areas like the South China Sea are condemned. The United States also added 11 Chinese companies to economic blacklist over its treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently announced that the Work-from-home exemption for IT and IT-enabled services companies is extended till December 31, 2020.
In March, the Department of Telecommunication had relaxed the norms till April to facilitate work from home amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which was then extended till July 31 and now to December 31. At present, more than 90% of the IT workforce are working remotely.

Notes:
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has extended the suspension of the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) by another six months.
The reason for the current extension is due to non-conformation to international standards. The WADA had initially suspended NDTL in August 2019 for six months. After being suspended, the lab cannot carry out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples.

Notes:
Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a new low-cost, portable device that can test for Covid-19 and give results in an hour.
The new technology has accuracy similar to the RT-PCR test, which is now considered the standard for testing. The device uses a disposable paper strip for analysing the sample and the results are made available in a mobile application.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc has recently signed an order that bans all imports of wildlife either dead or alive including eggs and larvae.
The order also includes tougher penalties for crimes involving the trade in wildlife. Amidst the coronavirus spread, this ban has been imposed in Vietnam, which is a popular destination for endangered wildlife products used in medicine or cuisine.

Notes:
According to the recently released United Nations World Wildlife Crime Report, India and Thailand supplied highest illegal tiger products in the world.
It also highlighted that the biggest destination of the tiger parts was China, followed by Thailand and Vietnam. The most valuable body part of the tigers is their bones which are used to treat bone and ligament injuries in humans.

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:
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.