Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Director General of Civil Aviation have permitted Maharashtra to use drones for inspecting power transmission lines and towers.
Maharashtra is the first state to be permitted for using drones for surveillance of faulty extra high voltage (EHV) power lines, to reduce the risk of the staff involved. As per the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (MSETCL), each zone will be given a drone with HD cameras.

Notes:
National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) has recently added the ‘UPI Autopay’ feature in its Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
This solution has been launched during the virtual event of Global Fintech Fest. The e-mandate can be used in recurring payments and for multiple payment scenarios including booking train tickets, paying DTH subscriptions among others.

Notes:
Union Information and Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad represented India in the G20 Digital Ministers’ Meet.
The Ministerial meet is hosted by Saudi Arabia, which holds the current Presidency. The Union Minister called for digital platforms to be accountable and sensitive to the concerns of all countries in terms of safety and privacy.

Notes:
Union Bank of India that was amalgamated with Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank, has announced a corporate agency agreement with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
Under the agreement, the bank will market various LIC products including term insurance, pension and endowment schemes among others, to its account-holders.

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:
Gurugram-based Indian air carrier SpiceJet has been designated as Indian scheduled carrier to operate between India and the United States.
SpiceJet is the first air-carrier to operate to the US after Air India. This approval has been given in terms of the Air Services Agreement between the Government of India and the Government of the United States of America. It has also been selected to operate to the United Kingdom.

Notes:
The Union Government has issued a certificate of Geographical Indication (GI) registration for Saffron grown in the Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir.
The GI tag would ensure better remunerative price to the farmers growing Saffron in Kashmir Valley. This would also increase export of the unique Kashmir saffron and curb the fake products being sold. The UT is also inaugurating a Spice Park next month.

Notes:
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has launched the Bureau of Indian Standard’s Mobile App ‘BIS-Care’.
He also launched Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training portals of e-BIS for consumers. Using the bi-lingual app, consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products. Consumers can also lodge complaints using this app. Earlier, BIS was directed to frame quality norms for 371 items by March 2021 to curb non-essential imports.

Notes:
A digital platform created for information exchange between the government and citizens India called ‘MyGov’ completed six years from its inception.
The first-of-its-kind participatory governance platform was on July 26, 2014 by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The portal engaged the citizens on important policy issues and governance. There are over 1.22 crore registered members of MyGov platform.

Notes:
Australia’s consumer regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accused Google of privacy breaches.
It has alleged that Google has misled millions of Australians in collecting their personal information. To target advertising, Google is alleged to have obtained consent and expanded the scope of personal information collected on internet activity of the users.