Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

Notes:
The 11th World Urban Forum was held in Poland. The National Institute of Urban Affairs’ (NIUA) Climate Centre for Cities (NIUA C-Cube), World Resources Institute India (WRI India) and their partners launched India’s first national coalition platform for urban nature-based solutions (NbS).
‘India Forum for Nature-Based Solutions’ aims to create a collective of NbS entrepreneurs, government entities and like-minded organisations, to aid in scaling urban nature-based solutions.

 

Notes:
The government allowed firms like ONGC and Vedanta to sell locally produced crude oil to any Indian refinery for turning it into fuel, such as petrol and diesel.
The deregulation of locally produced oil is one of the last few areas that were still under its control. The government was fixing buyers for crude produced from older fields. From October 1, the companies will have the freedom to sell crude oil in the domestic market.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the report titled ‘Benchmarking India’s Payment Systems’. It provides a position of the payments ecosystem in India relative to other major countries.
As per the report, India has made significant progress and moved to a leadership position in large-value digital payment systems. But India is still weak in certain parameters relating to ATMs and card payments.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 30-ft bronze statue of legendary freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju on his 125th birth anniversary.
The 15-tonne statue was carved out at a cost of Rs 3 crore and installed by the Kshatriya Seva Samiti in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. The leader was known for the ‘Rampa Rebellion’ or ‘Manyam Uprising’, in the Rampachodavaram forest area, which was undertaken against the mighty British forces.

Notes:
Railway Protection Force launched a month long pan India drive against smuggling of narcotics through rail, under code name Operation “NARCOS”.
In the month of June 2022, RPF has recovered various narcotics products worth Rs 7.40 Crores, and arrested 165 persons who were carrying Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS). RPF has been empowered to conduct search, seizure and arrest under NDPS Act since April 2019.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay has planned to introduce a mandatory course on caste awareness.
As per the surveys conducted by the SC/ST Cell of the institution, it was proposed to provide more sensitisation events and a mandatory academic course on caste and racial discrimination. Earlier, a mandatory gender sensitisation course was launched last year.

Notes:
Scientists in the US have developed a rapid Covid-19 test that can accurately detect all current variants of SARS-CoV-2 within hours named CoVarScan.
Scientists typically use whole genome sequencing, to determine which variant of Covid-19 a patient has been infected with and it is time-consuming and expensive.

Notes:
World Zoonosis Day is observed annually on July 6 across the world to raise awareness about the infectious diseases called zoonotic diseases.
The day is celebrated in memory of Louis Pasteur, a French biologist who successfully administered the first-ever Rabies vaccine to a patient on July 6, 1885. Zoonotic diseases originate in animals and can spread to humans.

Notes:
SBI General Insurance has recently launched the Cyber VaultEdge insurance plan, which covers against financial losses arising from cyber risks and attacks.
Individuals exposed to any form of cyber risks can buy this policy for themselves and their family. Some of the inclusions of the policy includes theft of Funds, Identity Theft, Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Loss of Reputation, Cyber Shopping, Online shopping among others.

Notes:
Google has expanded its Google News Initiative India Training Network to cover five new Indian languages. This Google initiative helps teach journalists and newsrooms learn digital skills needed to tackle misinformation online. It will now be available in Punjabi, Assamese, Odia, Gujarati, and Malayalam.
The Google News Initiative India Training Network was launched four years ago in partnership with DataLeads. Google is set to launch a Fact-Check Academy in partnership with DataLeads.