Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
US-based (Educational Testing Service), the world’s largest private educational assessment organization, conducts several tests including TOEFL and GRE.
It was recently announced that Aadhaar Card will be accepted as an identification for taking the TOEFL and GRE tests. Students have to, however submit the original version of their Aadhaar Card as received in the mail.

Notes:
Union minister of education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released Unified District Information System for Education Plus report (UDISE+) for 2019-2020. UDISE+ report highlighted some interesting facts, both positive and negative about Indian school education system.

Notes:
The Government of Jammu & Kashmir recently ended 149-year-old practice of ‘darbar move’. Darbar Move is the name given to the bi-annual shift of the secretariat and all other government offices of Jammu and Kashmir from one capital city to another.

Notes:
Indian Navy’s athlete MP Jabir qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 400m hurdles on July 1, 2021 after he clocked 49.78s to win gold at the recently concluded Inter-State Athletics Championships in Patiala. Jabir qualified through the World ranking quota where there are 14 spots available.

Notes:
Indian Navy’s Hydrographic Survey Ship INS Sarvekshak successfully completed survey action around the site of ill-fated MV X-Press Pearl on July 2 and handed over the survey data to the Sri Lankan authorities. The X-Press Pearl reported an onboard acid leak and caught fire just as it was due to enter the Colombo harbour on May 20. The fire was put out only after 13 days.

Notes:
Virachey National Park is one of the two Cambodian ASEAN Heritage Parks located at the northeastern part of the country and spanning across more than 3,000 square kilometres. It overlaps Ratanakiri and Stung Treng Provinces. The national park, under the jurisdiction of the Cambodian Ministry of Environment, consists of semi-evergreen lowlands, montane forests, upland savannah, and several patches of mixed deciduous forests.

Illegal logging is a major concern in this national forest since the 2000s, leading to a vast expanse of forest being degraded at an exponential scale. However, this situation has improved over the recent years. The rare sighting of giant muntjac in the recent months is the outcome of this progress.

Notes:
Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix 2021. Max Verstappen is a Belgian-Dutch racing driver currently competing in Formula One, under the Dutch flag, with Red Bull Racing.
The race was the ninth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was the runner-up. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton were on the 3rd and 4th positions respectively.

Notes:
Philippines Air Force transport plane- the C-130 Hercules, crashed recently, killing at least 50 people.
As many as 49 soldiers were injured in the fiery crash, when the C-130 Hercules transport plane missed the runway while trying to land on the southern island of Jolo. The military is fighting the Abu Sayyaf and other armed groups in the island.

Notes:
India has been outperforming the global growth in market- capitalisation for the last five years, at 14.7% annually against 13.25%.
In the month of June, India’s share of the world market capitalisation rose to 2.60%, which was more than the long-term average of 2.45%, as per media reports. India’s market-cap rose 66% in one year to $3.02 trillion last month, which was also higher than the 44% growth of global market-cap.

Notes:
The International Olympic Committee, for the first time, had made provisions for flagbearers from both genders at the opening ceremony only last year. This will be made effect from the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Indian Boxer M.C. Mary Kom and men’s hockey team skipper Manpreet Singh will be flagbearers for India at the opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics. Wrestler Bajrang Punia will be the flagbearer at the closing ceremony on August 8.