Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
The United States Government has started providing monthly pay-outs, as part of an expanded income-support programme.
Under the Child Tax Credit programme, that is further broadened under recent COVID-19 stimulus, eligible families collect an initial monthly payment of up to 300 for each child under six years old and up to 250 for each older child.

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.

Notes:
Arjun Munda, Minister of Tribal Affairs, virtually launched the nationwide campaign “COVID Teeka Sang Surakshit Van, Dhan aur Uddyam”. It aims to fast-track the pace of COVID vaccination among tribals, in India.
The campaign will focus on the 45,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVK) of the Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). It will be implemented with the help of traditional village headsmen, SHGs and ground level workers in villages.

Notes:
A rare case of monkeypox was detected in Texas, in the United States, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Monkeypox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox. It induces flu-like symptoms, swelling of the lymph nodes and rashes. Scientists have discovered two distinct genetic groups of monkeypox virus—Central African and West African. The first case of monkeypox in humans was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Notes:
As per the recent framework introduced by SEBI, Credit rating agencies will now be required to provide expected loss-based ratings for projects and instruments associated with the infrastructure sector.
The expected loss-based rating is divided into a scale of seven levels, spanning from lowest to highest expected loss. Instruments rated ‘EL (Expected Loss) 1’ will be considered to have the lowest expected loss compared to the life of the ‘EL 7’ rated instruments, which will indicate highest expected loss.

Notes:
Two world former champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik played at the finals of Sparkassen Trophy at Dortmund, during which Viswanathan Anand defeated Vladimir Kramnik to win the trophy.
Viswanathan Anand is an India chess champion, who became a grand master as early as 1988. Also, he is one of the few in the world to surpass Elo rating of 2800.

Notes:
UNESCO has removed the Liverpool city of the United Kingdom from its World Heritage status. This decision was taken after the UN Committee found some developments threatening the value of the city’s waterfront.
UNESCO had announced that the developments, including the proposed Everton FC stadium, had resulted in serious deterioration of the historic site. Liverpool is only the third site to lose its World Heritage status since the list began in 1978, the others being Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009.

Notes:
NASA and the Canadian space agency are building a telescope named the Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope or SuperBIT. It is said to be the successor to the Hubble telescope.
As per recent media reports, a stadium-sized helium balloon is going to be used to lift up the telescope, which is to be sent to the upper levels of the earth’s atmosphere. It has been designed by the University of Toronto, Princeton University and Durham University in England together, in conjunction with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

Notes:
Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan and has New Taiwan dollar as its official currency. The Government of Taiwan has proposed to establish its first office in Lithuania, a European Nation, using its own name “Taiwan”.
All the other diplomatic outposts are operational under the name “Taipei”. This move is set to have angered China and has been welcomed by the USA.

Notes:
Bhilar, a village in Maharashtra’s Satara district, was declared a ‘village of books’ by the State government in 2017.
India’s second village of books, has been set up in the small Kerala village, Perumkulam, five kilometres from the Kottarakkara town in Kollam district. A library has been started in memory of Mahatma Gandhi, to promote readers from the village to read more books.