Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
The Ministry of Tourism has formulated a Draft National Strategy and Roadmap for Development of Rural Tourism in India – An initiative towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The Ministry has also invited feedback from all the State Governments/UT Administrations regarding the policy. The strategy focusses on new ideas like Digital technologies, Developing clusters among others. It has also identified Rural Circuit as one of the thematic circuits under Swadesh Darshan Scheme.

Notes:
Tripura has initiated steps to promote commercial cultivation of Agar, by launching the ‘Tripura Agar Wood Policy 2021’. It aims to double agar wood plantation by 2025
The state has over 50 lakh Agar trees in the state and has a potential of agar trade of Rs 2000 crore. Agar is used in perfumeries and other industries. Agar Chips and Agar Oil have high demand in the market. Under the policy, testing labs and trade centres would be set up and new technology for artificial inoculation would be introduced.

Notes:
A 53-year-old veterinarian in China is the first known human case of an extremely rare viral infection known to infect monkeys, called monkey B virus.
The virus most commonly infects macaque monkeys, and it is rarely seen in humans. There have been just 50 human cases of the virus reported since it was discovered in 1932, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Monkey B virus belongs to a family of viruses called herpesviruses while Monkeypox virus belongs to a family of viruses called orthopoxviruses

Notes:
There are 135 Centrally Protected Monuments/Sites in Andhra Pradesh. Monuments at Nagarjunakonda, Budhhist Remains at Salihundam and Veerabhadra Temple have been identified as ‘Adarsh Smarak’ in Andhra Pradesh.
The Government provides additional facilities at Adarsh Smarak including Wi-Fi, Cafeteria, Brail signages, etc. Fort at Gandikota has been included in Government’s Adopt-a-Heritage scheme.

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.

Notes:
Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan and has New Taiwan dollar as its official currency. The Government of Taiwan has proposed to establish its first office in Lithuania, a European Nation, using its own name “Taiwan”.
All the other diplomatic outposts are operational under the name “Taipei”. This move is set to have angered China and has been welcomed by the USA.

Notes:
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific, which is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand has recently released a Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. Under this evaluation 143 countries have been scored on 5 key indicators.
India has scored 90.32 per cent for the year 2021 as against its score of 78.49 per cent in 2019. In terms of transparency, India scored 100 per cent in 2021.

Notes:
The Government of Kerala has removed the upper age limit of transgender students seeking admission in the state’s universities for higher education and in the state’s affiliated arts and science colleges. This move is intended to bring more transgender into formal higher education system.
The Kerala Government has stated that universities shall make necessary changes in their statutes, to give effect to this decision.

Notes:
According to the third annual report on periodic labour force survey (PLFS), conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) between July 2019-June 2020, the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in 2019-20.
The unemployment rate in 2018-19 was 5.8% and in 2017-18 was 6.1%. Labour indicators recorded an increase in 2019-20, as compared to previous years.

Notes:
U.S. President Joe Biden authorized up to $100 million from an emergency fund to meet the emergency refugee needs caused from the situation in Afghanistan, including for Afghan special immigration visa applicants.
The funds will support those applying to the Special Immigrant Visas programme. Under the programme as many as 20,000 Afghans who worked for the US and now fear retribution from the Taliban have applied.