Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched three satellites from Singapore in its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C53) mission.
It is being launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. PSLV-C53 is also the second dedicated mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a corporate arm of the Department of Space. ISRO has successfully launched the PSLV-C52 mission in February 2022 by injecting Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-04).

Notes:
NATO member Turkey has agreed to support Sweden and Finland’s membership of the alliance. It had initially opposed the bids of the Nordic countries to join.
A trilateral deal was reached at a meeting between Turkey’s President, Finland’s President and the Swedish Prime Minister in the Spanish capital, Madrid. Foreign Ministers from the three countries signed a joint security pact that addressed Turkey’s concerns.

Notes:
Four Indian cities namely Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai appeared in the list of top 20 sustainable cities, as per the Asia Pacific Sustainability Index 2021.
Knight Frank’s APAC Sustainably Led Cities Index rated 36 cities based on urbanisation pressure, climate risk, carbon emissions and government initiatives. Singapore, Sydney, Wellington, Perth, and Melbourne were the top five green-rated cities. Bengaluru at 14th rank in the region, was the only Indian city to achieve the ‘Gold’ standard category.

Notes:
The UK government announced 75 fully-funded scholarships for Indian students to study in the UK, beginning September 2022, in honour of India’s 75th anniversary of Independence.
The scholarships are being offered in association with top Indian companies. There are about 18 scholarships for women in STEM fields offered by the British Council in India. The UK government has sponsored the Chevening international honours programme since 1983, in which India is the largest participant.

Notes:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the ‘Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP), 2020’. Andhra Pradesh has topped the Business Reform Action Plan 2020 Rankings in the Ease of Doing Business.
It is followed by Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The BRAP 2020 includes 301 reform points covering 15 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, Land Administration etc.

Notes:
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched the ‘Naari Ko Naman’ scheme. It aims to 50 per cent concession on bus fares to women for travel within the state.
The state government also announced to sanction 25 new posts of women drivers in the ‘Ride With Pride’ government taxi service – an initiative to ferry women passengers and senior citizens.

Notes:
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a Government of India initiative that aims to build an open network for buyers and sellers to democratise the current e-commerce ecosystem in the country.
It has launched a ‘Grand Hackathon’ in collaboration with NABARD. The event is divided into two categories: Agri Grant Challenge and Agri Innovation Hackathon, to showcase the innovations to aid the adoption of e-commerce in the agricultural sector.

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:
Tamil Nadu and the Singapore-based IGSS Ventures signed a MoU, for establishing a 300-acre semiconductor high-tech park and a semiconductor fab unit in the State.
The company will invest Rs 25,600 crore in the project in the next five years, generating direct employment for 1,500 people. The MoU was signed with ‘Guidance’, the State’s nodal agency for investment promotion and single-window facilitation.