Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

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:
Pakistan and Russia have signed an agreement for construction of a 1,100-km gas pipeline from Port Qasim in Karachi to Lahore. This project is commonly named as North-South Gas project and is also called the Pakstream Gas Pipeline Project.
A special purpose vehicle has been formed between Pakistan and Russia, with a shareholding of 74:26 per cent.

Notes:
Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) is located in the state of Telangana. The Telangana Forest Department have recently identified 14 tigers in the Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) during the 2020-2021 annual estimation and monitoring exercise.
During the previous survey conducted in 2019-2020, 12 tigers were identified. Of the 14 tigers, five are male, seven are female and two could not be classified. Also, there might be more big cats in the reserve that are yet to be identified. Spotted deer and wild boar are found most in the reserve.

Notes:
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, is an immigration policy that grants some extra rights to illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States as minors. As per the program, they can claim a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and can receive work permits.
Recently, a Federal judge in Texas has ruled that the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by former president Barack Obama is illegal because Congress never properly approved it.

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:
Punjab government launched an automated auditory brainstem response system (AABR) under universal new-born hearing screening programme.
Punjab has become the first state in the country to introduce the AABR system to manage hearing loss in new-born and young children. This is done under the Universal new-born hearing screening programme.

Notes:
Essential Defence Services Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha recently. The Bill empowers the government to declare services mentioned in it as essential defence services.
The Essential Defence Services Bill is aimed at preventing the staff of the government-owned ordnance factories from going on a strike. Around 70,000 people are working at 41 ordnance factories located around the country.

Notes:
The Government of India has launched a dedicated portal for children who have been orphaned due to COVID 19 pandemic. Anyone can share the details of such children in this portal, in turn help them to be benefited by the PM CARES Scheme.
The portal can be accessed at www.pmcaresforchildren.in.

Notes:
Bangladesh is set to create its own social media platform called ‘Jogajog’ as an alternative to Facebook, as per the country’s Ministry for Information and Communication Technology.
It is also set to create an app called ‘Alapon’ for WhatsApp. Through this Jogajog app, the entrepreneurs of the country will be able to create their own online marketplace. The ministry successfully created ‘Boithok’ app as an alternative to Zoom online and ‘Surokkha App’ for vaccine registration.

Notes:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank group, has extended a loan of $250 million to HDFC Bank to boost affordable housing finance in India.
Under the loan agreement, at least 25 per cent of the financing has been allocated for green affordable housing, which is expected to encourage this market in India. India still has an early stage of Green housing market, which needs strengthening.