Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has come out with “Green Deal: Fit for 55” plan, which aims to reduce the dependence of Europe on fossil fuels and impose new national limits on emissions.
This also seeks to produce 40 per cent of the Europe’s energy from wind, wave and solar sources by 2030.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, along with Mynvax has developed a heat-tolerant COVID-19 vaccine formulation, which has been proven effective against all current SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, according to a study in animals.
The formulation also protected hamsters from the virus and remained stable at 37 degrees Celsius up to a month, and at 100 degrees Celsius for up to 90 minutes. Covishield must be kept between 2-8 degrees Celsius while the Pfizer requires specialised cold storage at (-)70 degrees Celsius.

Notes:
Muhammad Yunus, the noble laurate from Bangladesh will receive the Olympic Laurel at the Tokyo Games 2021. This was informed by the International Olympic Committee. (IOC). His pioneering work of micro lending has led to much poverty reduction across the globe.
As per the IOC Muhammad Yunus would be honored for “his extensive work in sport for development”.

Notes:
The Prime Minister-designate of Lebanon Saad Hariri has stepped down from the post since he has failed to form a responsible government in the country for the last 8 months.
He resigned from the position, after meeting the country’s President Michel Aoun. It is said that the PM refused to accept the amendments proposed by President Michel Aoun on the latest cabinet lines proposed by the PM.

Notes:
Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who is a Pulitzer Prize awardee for the year 2018, was killed in Afghanistan at Kandahar, while covering the escalating conflict in Afghanistan. He is known for his breath-taking images of wars, riots and human suffering across the globe.
He was reportedly killed while covering the clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters, near the Pakistan border.

Notes:
The Project 75I is the Defence Ministry’s ambitious project to design and construct submarines for Indian Navy, indigenously.
Recently, the Defence Ministry has issued a tender amounting Rs.50,000 crore for building six conventional submarines under the project 75I and the tenders have been issued to Mazagon Dockyards Limited and Larsen and Toubro.

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:
Meghalaya Cabinet approved the Meghalaya Youth Policy 2021. Drafted by the Sports and Youth Affairs Department, Government of Meghalaya, the final policy is to be notified soon.
The Meghalaya state Government has fixed a target of transforming the state to be amongst the top 10 states in 10 years in GSDP per capita and SDG ranking. 45 programmes would be implemented and would be measured by 54 performance monitoring indicators. These indicators have been mapped to 10 departments and is planned to measured quarterly, bi-annually and annually.

Notes:
Government has permitted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route for renewable energy projects, including offshore wind energy projects.
Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh recently replied in Lok Sabha that Government notified the ‘National Offshore Wind Energy Policy’ in 2015, to provide basic framework for developing offshore wind sector. The Government also enabled private investors to carryout offshore wind resource assessment.

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.