Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
Kármán line is the most widely accepted boundary of space, which is 100km above mean sea level. But the United States uses 80km as the edge of space. It was named after aerospace veteran Theodore von Kármán.
Recently, British businessman Richard Branson reached the edge of space, to promote space tourism. But experts are in doubt whether he has really touched the official edge of space. While Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight reached a height of 86km, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flight is expected to fly above 106km.

Notes:
‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD) was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in the year 2014-15. The scheme aims for integrated development of selected pilgrimage and heritage destinations.
Union Minister of State (IC) for Tourism & Culture Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the “Tourist Facilitation Centre” facility constructed under the project “Development of Guruvayur, Kerala” under PRASHAD Scheme. Prime Minister also inaugurated PRASHAD projects in Varanasi (UP).

Notes:
Defence Ministry Rajnath Singh launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered grievance management application.
It is developed by Ministry of Defence with the help of IIT-Kanpur. This is also the first AI based system developed to improve grievance redressal in the Government. The AI tool can understand the content of the complaint and can identify repeat complaints or spam automatically. It can categorise complaints of different categories and enables geographical analysis of complaints.

Notes:
India has recently opposed a move by developed countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to scrap subsidies for fishermen.
India demanded a balance between current and future fishing needs of developing countries as well as effective special and differential treatment (S&DT). India justifies its opposition that it wants to subsidies for low-income, resource-poor fishermen while developed countries see this as a distortion in global fish markets.

Notes:
Indian and Sri Lankan Navies and Maldives National Defence Force held a tri-nation table top anti-narcotics and maritime search and rescue exercise, ‘Exercise Shield’.
The Table top Exercise (TTX) held virtually, aims to share best practices and fine-tune procedures to curb narcotics smuggling in the region. Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command was the lead agency and the exercise was coordinated by Maritime Warfare Centre, Mumbai.

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:
The Union Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar has launched a digital portal named “Kisan Sarathi”. Using this platform, farmers can get the right information at the right time, in the language of their choice.
Using the portal, farmers can avail personalised advisories from respective scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs).

Notes:
The Union Government has decided to set up the Indian Institute of Heritage in Noida, as an umbrella body under which all heritage institutes in the country will operate.
The institute will offer masters and PhD courses in history of arts, archaeology, manuscriptology among others. It will be a “deemed to be university” institute formed by integrating the Institute of Archaeology, National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property, National Museum Institute of History of Conservation and Museology (NMICHM) and the academic wing of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu Forest Department is to develop a standard operating procedure for the capture and release of wild elephants based on science and best practices.
As per the state officials, the process of kraaling and training an adult into captivity could be generally tortuous and scientifically not well-established. Kraaling involves capture of the animals by closing them in a stockade (kraal). The Asian elephant species in Tamil Nadu is declining to an alarming level, and so they propose the wild elephants should be sent back to the breeding population.

Notes:
Russia has invited India for the first time to the Russia-US-China Troika Plus meet on Afghanistan. The meeting aims to discuss the role of Taliban and the future of the landlocked country, among other issues.
As per media reports, Iran has also been invited for the meeting. Pakistan and representatives from Afghanistan are also expected to take part in the meeting.