Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for changing the name and mandate of North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine (NEIFM) as North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda & Folk Medicine Research (NEIAFMR).
The NEIFM is located in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. It was established for systemic research, documentation of traditional folk medicine and medicinal practices of the region.

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates has formally opened its embassy in Israel recently, by inaugurating its diplomatic offices in Tel Aviv.
Israel and the UAE formally established diplomatic relations last year after decades of broken ties. The two countries signed the U.S.-brokered normalization agreement. Israel has also inaugurated its embassy in Abu Dhabi in June 2021.

Notes:
The Union Government has directed all the states and UTs to immediately withdraw the cases registered under the repealed Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.
This order from the central government has come days after the Supreme Court of India expressed its displeasure over continued prosecution under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which was earlier struck down by the apex court.

Notes:
Uzbekistan played host to the ‘Central South Asia connectivity conference 2021’. It is also called as the Tashkent Connectivity Conference.
On the side lines of the conference, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Tashkent and discussed the situation in Afghanistan amidst the withdrawal of US forces from the country. The Minister also inaugurated the IT room of India-Uzbekistan Entrepreneurship Development Centre.

Notes:
As per the recent framework introduced by SEBI, Credit rating agencies will now be required to provide expected loss-based ratings for projects and instruments associated with the infrastructure sector.
The expected loss-based rating is divided into a scale of seven levels, spanning from lowest to highest expected loss. Instruments rated ‘EL (Expected Loss) 1’ will be considered to have the lowest expected loss compared to the life of the ‘EL 7’ rated instruments, which will indicate highest expected loss.

Notes:
IRCON / Indian Railway Construction Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Railways, which is involved in engineering & construction.
The company has built the Jayanagar – Kurtha Railway between India and Nepal under the India – Nepal friendship rail project at a cost of Rs. 619 crores. The project is financed by the Government of India.

Notes:
The State Government of Kerala has amended its Dowry Prohibition rules and is set to appoint ‘Dowry prohibition officers’ in all 14 districts of the state.
This move has been made on the backdrop of rising number of dowry related complaints in the state. The district women and child development officers would act as dowry prohibition officers in each district.

Notes:
The United States of America, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan have in principle agreed to form a quadrilateral tie (QUAD), to boost their diplomatic relationship among the countries.
The tie is aimed to establish a long-term peace in Afghanistan leading to financial and political stability. The parties have proposed to expand the trade relationship among them.

Notes:
As on June 25, 2021, India’s forex reserves stood at US$ 608.99 billion, making India the fifth largest foreign exchange reserves holder in the world. China, Japan, Switzerland and Russia are ahead of India in the list of largest forex reserves holdings.
India’s forex reserves comprise of Foreign Currency Assets, Gold, Special Drawing Rights and Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) in IMF.

Notes:
A finger-sized fossil of a ’Microsaur’ from 308 million years ago has been unearthed in the United States.
The research finds a new species called a microsaur, which were small, lizard-like animals that roamed the Earth before proper dinosaurs made their appearance. The study gives more data on the evolution of different animal groups, including amphibians and reptiles.