Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
As per the GST law states were guaranteed to be compensated bi-monthly for loss of revenue in GST implementation for five years, from July 1, 2017.
The government has borrowed and released Rs 75,000 crore to the states and Union Territories to compensate them for the shortfall in GST revenue. This is in addition to normal GST compensation being released every 2 months out of actual cess collection. This release aims to meet the resource gap due to the short release of compensation.

Notes:
The Labour Ministers of five BRICS nations -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa took part in the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ Declaration.
India’s Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav chaired the 7th BRICS meeting. The five countries resolved to recover with stronger national economies, inclusive labour markets and social protection systems. Russia organized the 6th meeting of Labour and Employment Ministers in Moscow on October 9, 2020.

Notes:
Gira Sarabhai, veteran Architect and Designer, passed away recently at the age of 97, due to age-related illness.
The architect played a pivotal role in founding the National Institute of Design (NID), by bringing in top most people of the world as faculty. She also established Calico Museum of Textiles, which houses some of the rare specimens of textile from different parts of the country and the world.

Notes:
Pakistan and Russia have signed an agreement for construction of a 1,100-km gas pipeline from Port Qasim in Karachi to Lahore. This project is commonly named as North-South Gas project and is also called the Pakstream Gas Pipeline Project.
A special purpose vehicle has been formed between Pakistan and Russia, with a shareholding of 74:26 per cent.

Notes:
The Indian Navy has received two MH-60R multi-role helicopters from the US. The Indian Navy formally received the choppers from the US Navy in a ceremony held at a naval air station in San Diego.
The helicopters were manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation. They are all-weather helicopters, which are designed to support diverse missions with modern avionics and sensors.

Notes:
The Hong Kong’s legislature has proposed legislation on tackling “doxxing behaviour”. This legislation, if implemented, is feared to have a huge impact on technology giants operating in the country.
It is also said that such legislation could be used by the people in power, targeting civil society.

Notes:
The Russian Multipurpose Research Module (MLM) named the Nauka has been launched into space, towards the International Space Station.
This module is intended to service the Russian segment of the International Space Station. This is said to be the largest Russian component of the ISS.

Notes:
Union Cabinet has been approved Rs 6,322 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for speciality steel.
It is expected to attract an additional investment of about Rs 40,000 crore and capacity addition of 25 million tonnes in the segment. Out of a production of 102 million tonnes of steel in 2020-21, only 18 million tonnes of value-added steel/speciality steel were produced in the country.

Notes:
Union Government is implementing Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) as a sub scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2020-21.
It aims to promote traditional indigenous practices. The scheme focusses on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes on-farm biomass recycling. Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs 12200 per hectare for 3 years is provided for cluster formation.

Notes:
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has approved the The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, without any changes.
The Bill amends the term ‘major airport’ to include group of airports. It also increased the threshold of annual passenger traffic in a major airport to 35 lakh. Previously, an airport with annual traffic more than 15 lakh were called as major airports. AERA will regulate tariff and other charges for aeronautical services for major airports and also a group of airports.