Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

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:
In the QS Best Student Cities Ranking 2023, London has been ranked as the best city for students looking to study abroad.
Seoul and Munich are at the second place. The report ranks 140 cities in terms of affordability, student facilities, and university standard among other factors. India’s highest-ranked student city is Mumbai at 103 spot. It is followed by Bengaluru at 114th rank.

Notes:
Peter Brook, one of the greatest theatre directors of the 20th century, passed away recently at the age of 97.
He is also regarded as one of the world’s most innovative theatre directors. He was known for staging Peter Weiss’s “Marat/Sade” and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”. He is known for bringing nine-hour adaptation of the Sanskrit epic “The Mahabharata” from France to New York in 1987.

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:
Indian Bank has signed a pact with the Government of Haryana towards distribution of mobile phones to consumers through e-Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system.
Under the agreement, the bank would provide e-upi coupons to beneficiaries. The coupons can be redeemed without any credit or debit card and the customers can avail a mobile phone from a designated vendor.

Notes:
The European Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently released the Global Liveability Index 2022, which ranked 173 cities on the basis of their living conditions.
Five Indian cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmadabad and Bangalore were included in the list. Delhi was ranked the best at 140, followed by Mumbai at 141, Chennai and Ahmadabad at 142 and 143 respectively. Bengaluru was the last of Indian cities at 146^th rank.

Notes:
The UK has signed its first international data sharing deal with South Korea after Brexit to promote digital trade.
The deal will allow organisations in both the countries to transfer data without any restrictions. Google, Mastercard and Microsoft were advising the UK government on this deal as part of an International Data Transfer Expert Council.

Notes:
NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NTPC REL) signed an MoU with National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) to collaborate in the field of Renewable Energy and Green Chemicals.
The agreement also includes collaboration in synthesizing Green Ammonia for captive use for production of Industrial products by NFL. NTPC recently announced Green Hydrogen initiatives and first pilot projects for synthesizing green Methanol, setting up Green Hydrogen filling station, Green hydrogen blending into PNG and Green energy storage project.

Notes:
Sikkim and West Bengal Government recently signed a new reciprocal transport agreement.
As per the agreement, ‘All-Bengal’ permits for Sikkim vehicles and ‘All-Sikkim’ permits for Bengal vehicles will be issued to facilitate vehicular movement across both the states. Previously the vehicles had limited permits for movement across the other states.

Notes:
Mangarh Hillock, situated in Rajasthan near the Gujarat Border, is set to be declared monument of national importance.
It is a site of a tribal uprising where a massacre of over 1500 Bhil tribal freedom fighters took place in 1913. Tribals gathered at the site were holding a meeting in protest, led by a leader from the community Govind Guru. The place is also known as the Adivasi Jallianwala.