Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

Notes:
ALH MK III helicopters have been indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
An advanced light helicopter (ALH) MK III squadron was commissioned in Gujarat’s Porbandar by the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard at the ICG Air Enclave. It includes advanced RADAR, electro-optical sensors, Shakti engines, advanced communication systems among others.

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:
Tokyo Olympian Deepak Punia won a bronze medal in the 86kg freestyle weight category at the U23 Asian wrestling championships 2022 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
The 23-year-old wrestler after losing to Azizbek Fayzullaev of Uzbekistan and Nurtilek Karypbaev of Kyrgyzstan, settled for the bronze. India won 25 medals in all in the U23 meet in the event, including 10 gold medals.

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:
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry has released ‘Start-ups Ranking 2021’.
The ranking focuses on seven reform areas. Gujarat, Karnataka and Meghalaya were categorised as best performers while Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram and Ladakh have an emerging start-up ecosystem. Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir were ranked as the top performers section.

Notes:
Weaver ants, whose scientific name is Oecophylla smaragdina, are present in Mayurbhanj district, Odisha.
The people of the district especially the tribals, make a food item with the ants called the Kai Chutney. Scientists from Odisha are in the process of presentation for the geographical indications (GI) registry of Kai Chutney.

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:
Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on the honey bees. The Varroa mite reproduces only in a honey bee colony.
After the detection of the Varroa destructor mite, Australia is taking measures to protect its honey bees. The mite has caused severe collapses of honey bee colonies in the US and other part of the world.

Notes:
According to the Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022, Bengaluru continues to be the start-up capital of India, with 46 probable Unicorns.
It is followed by Delhi NCR (25) and Mumbai (16). As per the index, India will have 122 new unicorns in the next two to four years.

Notes:
Domestic rating agency Crisil lowered its real GDP growth forecast for India to 7.3 per cent in FY23 from 7.8 per cent estimated earlier.
It cited the reasons for downward revision to be higher oil prices, slowing of export demand and high inflation. This forecast is in line with the RBI’s estimate of 7.2 real GDP growth for this fiscal year.