Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

Notes:
Eleven districts of West Bengal reported over 65 cases of black fever or ‘Kala-Azar’ disease recently, based on state-administered surveillance.
Kala-azar or Visceral Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease, spread by sand-fly bites. The flies are infected with the parasite called ‘leishmania donovani’. The disease is endemic in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Notes:
DBS Bank was named as the ‘World’s Best SME Bank’ by Euromoney for second time. The bank also clinched three more awards.
They include World’s Best ‘Financial Innovation of the year’, ‘Asia’s Best Bank for Wealth Management’ and ‘Best Bank in Hong Kong’.

Notes:
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India. The glaciers in the central Karakoram have remained the same or even slightly risen during the past few decades, in contrary with the global trend of glaciers losing mass.
Researchers have made progress in finding why a few areas of glaciers in the Karakoram Range are and resisting glacial melt caused by climate change. They have linked the resurgence of western disturbances (WDs) to the phenomenon known as the Karakoram Anomaly.

Notes:
India reported 2 billion cumulative Covid-19 vaccinations, surpassing the global milestone in the fight against pandemic.
India has now achieved a record 97 per cent first-dose coverage, while 90 per cent of its adult population has received both doses of the vaccine. 74% of vaccination centres have been set up in rural India and 71% of the coverage has been reported from rural areas, while 51.1% of recipients are women.

Notes:
The US House of Representatives passed a bill to protect marriage equality. It is also feared that the Supreme Court could roll back the recognition of same-sex marriage.
The legislation ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ was passed as 47 Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the measure. The bill will now go to the Senate for a vote.

Notes:
As per a recent survey of the Reserve Bank of India, the US surpassed the UAE as the top source country of India’s remittances, accounting for 23% of total remittances.
India is by far the world’s largest recipient of remittances, as it received $87 billion in 2021 with a growth of 4.6%. The share of remittances from the Gulf Cooperation Council region in India’s inward remittances is estimated to have declined.

Notes:
‘World Brain Day (WBD) 2022’ is marked every year on July 22, to increase public awareness and promote advocacy related to brain health.
This year, the World Brain Day is dedicated to the theme “Brain Health for all”. WBD 2022 campaign will focus on five key messages globally: Awareness, Prevention, Advocacy, Education and Access.

Notes:
In the 2022 edition of Henley Passport Index, Indian passport is ranked at 87 as it provides easy access to 57 countries.
Japan is at the first place of the index with hassle-free entry to 193 countries. Singapore and South Korea have the next powerful passports in the world with access to 192 countries. Indian passports had access to just 23 destinations in 2020.

Notes:
World Chess Day is observed on 20 July every year. It is also known as International Chess Day. On the same day in 1924, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded in Paris.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proposed the idea of celebrating the day in 1966.

Notes:
ISRO’s three-day Human Space Flight Expo is being held in Bengaluru. It includes model-plane-making workshops to interactive models of satellites, and a movie about the history of India’s space programme.
It is being held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru. The expo commemorates Indian achievements in space and has been organised as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations marking 75 years of Independence.