Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
NTPC Renewable Energy (NTPC REL) has inked a pact with the Union Territory of Ladakh to set up a ‘Green hydrogen mobility project’ in the region.
Leh would be the first city in the country to implement a green hydrogen-based mobility project, once completed. NTPC is set to ply 5 hydrogen buses and to set up a solar plant and a green hydrogen generation unit in Leh. NTPC’s first solar installations in Leh in form of solar trees and a solar car port were also inaugurated.

Notes:
In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the importance of providing young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.
This year, the theme of the World Youth Skills Day is ‘Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic’. As per UNESCO, COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the widespread disruption of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector.6th anniversary of Skill India Mission was also observed in India.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Cooperation and Convention Centre – Rudraksh in Varanasi. It has been constructed with the financial assistance from Japan.
The objective of the project is to provide opportunities for social and cultural interactions between people at the international convention centre. It is said to be an environment-friendly building, fit for level 3 of Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA).

Notes:
As per Twitter, Indian Government made the largest number of requests for account information during the July-December 2020 period.
Also, it is reported that India is the second in terms of volume of legal demands for content removal, after Japan. These details were shared by Twitter in its bi annual transparency report.

Notes:
New Zealand is the revolving host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. It is headquartered in Singapore.
Recently, New Zealand chaired an extraordinary meeting ahead of a formal meeting in November. US President Joe Biden, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and other world leaders met virtually. They discussed on collective actions to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impacts.

Notes:
China has recently fire tested its reusable suborbital space vehicle, which is a part of its mission to develop a reusable space transportation system.
The vehicle is reportedly launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and has landed safely in an airport 800 kilometers away. No other details of the spacecraft have been shared by the country.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank, headquartered in the Philippines, has released the Asian Development Outlook (ADO).
The report has downgraded India’s economic growth for the financial year 2021-22 to 10 per cent from its earlier projection of 11 per cent. This downgrade is on account of the severe impact of Indian economy due to wave 2 of COVID 19 pandemic. The projection for 2022-23 is upgraded from 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

Notes:
Jeff Bezos – the founder of Amazon owns the privately funded space agency Blue Origin. The agency’s spaceship named “New Shepard” has made a successful trip to space and back to earth, with Jeff Bezos and three others on board.
The booster rocket touched down seven minutes after lift-off and the capsule containing the astronauts landed back to earth after 10 minutes after lift-off.

Notes:
State owned PSU – Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) would build the country’s first ‘green hydrogen’ plant at its Mathura refinery. This is a part of the company’s plan to produce cleaner forms of energy.
Mathura has been selected by virtue of its proximity to TTZ (Taj Trapezium Zone).

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.