Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
Jack Dorsey, the technology entrepreneur is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter. He is also the founder and CEO of Square, a financial payments company.
Recently, Square has confirmed that it will initiate plans to develop a new tool for Bitcoin- a Hardware wallet and accompanying service for the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. A hardware wallet is a special type of cryptocurrency storage that maintains and secures the user’s private crypto keys in the hardware device.

Notes:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved a Blue Origin license to carry humans on the New Shepard launch system into space.
Former Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos is the founder of the American Aerospace company, Blue Origin. It is set to fly to the edge of space on Blue Origin’s maiden crewed voyage, scheduled on July 20. Recently, space-tourism rival Virgin Galactic successfully sent a crew to the edge of space.

Notes:
India has formally set up a bad bank, registered as the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. has been registered in Mumbai with a paid-up capital of ₹74.6 crore ($10 million).
Padmakumar Madhavan Nair has been appointed as the Managing Director. He had earlier handled stressed assets resolution in the SBI. Sunil Mehta, CEO of the Indian Banks’ Association, will be a director. Initially, public sector banks will transfer 22 bad loan accounts worth ₹89,000 crore to NARCL.

Notes:
Bhutan becomes the very 1st nation to adopt India’s UPI (Unified Payment Interface) standards for its quick response (QR) code mechanism. It is also the second country and first neighbouring country to accept India’s NPCI BHIM UPI at its merchant locations, after Singapore.
BHIM Stands for Bharat Interface for Money, which is India’s digital banking application based on UPI.

Notes:
As per the data released by World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF, 23 million children across the globe have missed their routine immunization in the year 2020 and this figure is 3.7 million more than the 2019 value.
This reflects the global service disruptions due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Notes:
The Centre has taken complete control of the district mineral foundation (DMF) funds. It has rejected the states’ right to sanction or approve any expenditure out of the funds accrued from mandatory contribution from mining lease holders.
Under Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana, The DMFs are required to use these funds for the welfare of persons and areas affected by mining-related operations. The tribal population are the main targeted beneficiaries.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has barred the financial services company Mastercard from onboarding new customers in India. This move is made by the RBI on grounds of non compliance with the Data localization and data storage in India.
This restriction would not affect the existing customers of Mastercard. The action has been initiated by RBI using the powers vested to it under Section 17 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007

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:
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:
The Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy – Shri R.K. Singh has launched an initiative named NEERMAN Awards, which stands for “National Energy Efficiency Roadmap for Movement towards Affordable & Natural Habitat”.
This initiative has been announced as a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’ and is aimed to encourage exceptionally efficient building designs that comply with BEE’s Energy Conservation Building Codes.