Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
India’s chief hydrographer Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar received the Alexander Dalrymple award by the British government, in recognition of his works in areas of hydrography and nautical cartography.
The award has been named after the first hydrographer of the British Admiralty and was instituted in 2006. Vice Admiral Badhwar was conferred with the award in 2019 but the award ceremony was held recently, due to the pandemic.

Notes:
Sohra, also known as Cherrapunjee, is a high-altitude town in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya.
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah, launched the Green Sohra Afforestation Campaign at Sohra. Amit Shah also inaugurated the Greater Sohra Water Supply Scheme. This afforestation campaign will be run by the Meghalaya Government with the help of Assam Rifles.

Notes:
The Union Government has proposed to set up a National Research Foundation (NRF) to strengthen the research ecosystem in the country.
NRF would be an umbrella structure that will link Research and Development, academia and industry. The total proposed outlay of NRF is 50 thousand crore rupees over a period of five years. It will mainly focus to facilitate research at academic institutions like universities and colleges.

Notes:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently conferred the ‘World Heritage Site’ status to the 13th-century Ramappa which is situated in Palampet, Telangana.
This temple is said to be built in the year 1213 by Recharla Rudra of Kakatiya Dynasty. At the world heritage committee, a consensus of 17 countries supported this move.

Notes:
Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, commenced on July 26 along the East Coast of Africa. It is an annual maritime exercise conducted to promote national and regional maritime security in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of 12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India and various international organisations, like IMO, UNODC, EUNAVFOR, CRIMARIO and EUCAP Somalia. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Talwar is participating in Exercise Cutlass Express 2021.

Notes:
The non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans of banks were worth Rs 8.34 lakh crore, at the end of March 31, 2021.
‘Gross Loans and Advances – Outstanding’ of Scheduled Commercial Banks rose to Rs 113.99 lakh crore as of March 31, 2021. NPAs have declined by Rs 61,180 crore from Rs Rs 8.96 lakh crore carried at the end of March 2020. Rs 9,33,779 crore was the NPA of the banks in 2019.

Notes:
Spain’s iconic , landscape of arts and sciences- Paseo del Prado (Madrid) and Buen Retiro Park have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The addition of the sites was in recognition of Paseo, a wide tree-lined area, which home to prominent buildings such as the Prad o Museum and the adjoining Buen Retiro park, a 125-hectare green space.

Notes:
The Union Government has decided to set up a National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics. It will be set up in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
The Centre aims to create a world-class talent pool in India in the field of Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics. India has also entered into audio-visual co-production treaties with as many as 15 countries.

Notes:
The “Good Food for All” competition was conducted by the United Nations, in search of the ‘Best Small Businesses’ that are providing inspiring, diverse and impactful solutions to improve access to healthy and sustainable food.
In the competition, 3 India-based enterprises – Edible Routes Private Limited, Oorja Development Solutions India and Taru Naturals are among the winners of the “Best Small Businesses”.

Notes:
Jammu & Kashmir’s mountainous Kishtwar district has been affected by a cloud burst which is followed by a severe flash flood.
The state’s Disaster Response Force has been swung into action, but the hilly region and difficult terrain are posing challenges in the rescue operations, since the upper areas of the districts are not accessible by road.