Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

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:
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:
Julia Ducournau’s Titane has been adjudged as the best movie and has been awarded the Palme d’or award, at the 74th Cannes Film Festival. She becomes the first female director in 28 years, whose movie has made it to the prestigious award.
Prior to this, it was Jane Campion who was the female director, whose movie ‘The Piano’ made it to the top list in 1993.

Notes:
Bashar al-Assad has won the recent election held in Syria and has sworn in as the President of the country for the 4th time. He has been serving as the 19th president of Syria since 17 July 2000. He would serve as the President for a seven-year term.
He has won the recent elections with more than 95% votes favouring him, while his opponents claim the election to be illegitimate.

Notes:
The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India has setup Dairy Investment Accelerator under its Investment Facilitation Cell.
It aims to promote and facilitate investments in the Indian Dairy sector. Dairy Investment Accelerator is also generating awareness among investors about Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development fund (AHIDF). Under AHIDF, Rs. 15,000 crore fund has been setup for offering financial support to entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME, FPOs etc.

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 Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a first-of-its-kind Oxygen Rationing Device, named AMLEX.
The device will help to supply a required volume of oxygen to the patients while inhaling and trips when the patient is exhaling Carbon dioxide. This process would help to save oxygen which gets unnecessarily wasted usually. The device can be operated on both battery as well as line supply.

Notes:
There are 135 Centrally Protected Monuments/Sites in Andhra Pradesh. Monuments at Nagarjunakonda, Budhhist Remains at Salihundam and Veerabhadra Temple have been identified as ‘Adarsh Smarak’ in Andhra Pradesh.
The Government provides additional facilities at Adarsh Smarak including Wi-Fi, Cafeteria, Brail signages, etc. Fort at Gandikota has been included in Government’s Adopt-a-Heritage scheme.

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:
The Gujarat High Court has become the first high court to begin live-streaming of court proceedings. Chief Justice of India NV Ramana launched the first live broadcast of the court functioning.
The Chief Justice also announced that the Supreme Court will start the live broadcast soon. This is seen as a step towards ensuring transparency and openness in the Indian judiciary. He also released the Gujarat High Court (Live Streaming of Court Proceedings) Rules, 2021.