Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

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On July 16, 2018 IIT-Madras unveils “world’s first” remotely operable LEAP (Local Electrode Atom Probe (LEAP) microscope.

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Paudhagiri campaign has been launched by Haryana CM M L Khattar for increasing the green cover in the state. Under this campaign, 22 lakh students from class 6 to 12 of all government and private schools in Haryana will plant a sapling each during three months of monsoon — July, August and September.

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The World Customs Organization is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. It was founded in 1952 and its main work is in areas covering the international conventions and standards related to customs, trade, IPR protection etc.

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According to the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/ GM Crops in 2017 by International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), India has the world’s fifth largest cultivated area under genetically modified (GM) crops. However, this entire area is under single crop – cotton. Currently, the country with highest area under transgenic crops, at 75 mh, is the United States. US grows GM soyabean, maize (corn), cotton, alfalfa, canola, sugar-beet, potato, apples, squash and papaya.

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The French National Football team has clinched the 2018 FIFA World Cup by defeating Croatia 4-2 in a thrilling final match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on July 15. Croatia were playing in their first World Cup final. They were the smallest country to reach the Final in the modern era. For France, it was a first World Cup crown since winning on home soil in 1998. England’s Harry Kane won the World Cup Golden Boot Award as top scorer with 6 goals. Croatia captain Luka Modric won the Golden Ball award for the World Cup’s best player despite being on the losing side. Kylian Mbappe of France won the Young Player of the Tournament Award after scoring his 4th goal of the competition in the final. Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper. Now, France joined Uruguay and Argentina in winning the World Cup for a second time, after their 1998 triumph over Brazil when Didier Deschamps — now the coach — was the captain.

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The Madhya Pradesh government has inaugurated the state-run power giant National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)’s 250 MW Solar Power Plant at Suwasra in district Mandsaur. This project has been set up mainly on non-agricultural land and generation of electricity has been achieved without affecting the natural eco-system with zero carbon emission at an investment of about Rs 1,500 crore. This is one of the biggest solar plant developed using domestically manufactured Solar cells and modules under the Make in India initiative. The Project has been commissioned in June 2017 and generated electricity is being supplied for consumption in Madhya Pradesh, the sole beneficiary.

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The book “The House of Islam: A Global History” has been authored by Self-proclaimed former Islamist radical Ed Husain. It explores the intricacies of Islam and the inner psyche of the Muslim world. Through the book, he makes three suggestions to help heal the rancour in the Islamic world – create a Middle East union, implement a Muslim Marshall plan and expel extremists from within Islam. The author also feels that as long as the house of Islam provides shelter for Salafi-jihadis, the rest of the world will attack Islam and Muslims. Salafi-jihadis claim to be the truest of true Muslims and inject total certainty into the minds of their adherents, so that they would be prepared to kill if they could. He suggested that there needs to be a global declaration by all 50-plus Muslim governments and their Islamic leaders, disowning these theological brigands as disbelievers.

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On July 19, the Elphinstone Road station on the suburban rail network of Mumbai has been rechristened as Prabhadevi station in honour of a local deity Prabhadevi and to erase a “colonial” name. The new nomenclature of the station will be PBHD. The station was named after Lord Elphinstone who had taken over as the then Governor of Bombay in 1853 (1853-1860), the year railways were introduced in India. The deity Prabhadevi also has its own importance as the area is locally known as Prabhadevi, after the temple that was first established by Raja Bhimdev in 13th century.

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Repco Micro Finance Ltd (RMFL), a non-banking finance company promoted by Repco Bank, has won the 2018 NABARD award for its service to Self-Help Group (SHG) linkage in Tamil Nadu for the fiscal year 2017-18. Since its inception, the NBFC has disbursed loans amounting to Rs 2,500 crore to over 10 lakh beneficiaries through 50,000 SHGs.

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Recently, Myanmar has joined the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA) and became the 68th signatory to the Framework Agreement of the ISA. The primary aim of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It is headquartered at Gwal Pahari village in Gurugram, Haryana. The initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the Paris climate summit in 2015. It is open to all 121 prospective member countries falling between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.