Test: July 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications, Electronics and informational technology (MEITY) inaugurated the World’s 2nd Largest & Asia’s Largest Data Center, ‘Yotta NM1 Data Center’ of Yotta Infrastructure of Hiranandani Group at Panvel data centre park, Mumbai over a virtual platform.

United States of America (USA), as a depositary of the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), has formally notified the United Nations (UN) of its decision of withdrawal from the global health body, WHO. The US, which has been a party to the WHO Constitution since June 21, 1948 is the largest funder to the WHO, contributing more than USD 450 million per annum. Notably, the US has to follow the withdrawal conditions including one-year notice period and paying outstanding financial obligations, which were agreed at the time of joining the WHO. In this regard, the US has to serve a 12-month notice period i.e. till July 6, 2021 and also needs to clear the current and past dues which currently owe the WHO around $200 million.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a not-for-profit public limited company has joined hands with tech giant company Microsoft India Private Limited, a subsidiary of American software company Microsoft Corporation, to enhance the digital skills of the country’s youth. Under this, more than 1 lakh youth will be digitally enabled in the country in the next one year.

The 4th edition of international meeting named “Ministerial on Climate Action (MoCA)” was held on July 7, 2020, which was co-chaired by European Union (EU), China and Canada. From India, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar participated in meet. MoCA, which is held annually since 2017, was held virtually for the first time in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) signed Licence Agreement and Transfer of Technology (LAToT) for Akash Missile Weapon System of Indian Army Variant with Defence Research and Development Organisation – Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDO – DRDL).

Mylab Discovery Solutions, Pune based molecular diagnostics company has launched ‘Compact XL’- India’s first machine to automate the manual processes of molecular diagnostic tests like RT-PCR test for COVID-19 on 7th July 2020. The machine was unveiled by Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII).

As a part of the Rs 20 lakh crore “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” announced in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Union Cabinet has given its approval to a 10 years long (FY2020 to FY2029) pan India Central Sector Scheme namely “Agriculture Infrastructure Fund” with an outlay of Rs. 1 Lakh Crore in order to support agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups, agri-tech players and farmer groups for infrastructure and logistics facilities. Under this, the total outflow as budgetary support from Government of India (GoI) will be Rs. 10,736 crores.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the data exchange between the two organizations via video conference.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed a 9- member working group under the chairmanship of Suresh Mathur, Executive Director of IRDAI to look into the possibility of setting up ‘Pandemic Risk Pool’ to deal with the various risks arising out of a pandemic -like health emergencies & recommend the structure and operating model for the Pool within 8 weeks.

Raneem El Welily, the 31-year-old Egyptian Squash player and world’s top ranking (No.1) Women Squash Player announced her retirement ending her 18 year sports career. Nouran Gohar of Egypt claims the No.1 ranking after the retirement of Welily.

Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly (61), the Presidential election candidate of Ivory Coast’s ruling party, died on 8 July 2020 at Abidjan, Ivory Coast within a few days after returning from two months of treatment in France.

Asia’s largest solar power project: Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power Project in Madhya Pradesh is inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, through video conferencing. The 750 MW ultra-solar power plant spread over 1,590 acres. It was developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVN) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The Rewa Solar Power project received the World Bank Group President’s Award.

The United Nations (UN) weather Agency, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its “Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update for 2020-2024” has forecasted that the annual mean global temperature are already at least 1 C higher now than during the period from 1850-1900 because of man-made greenhouse emissions and there is a 20% chance that it will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) in at least one year between 2020-2024. Overall, it is very likely to be within the range 0.91 – 1.59°C.

World Health Organization (WHO) has formulated an Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) to evaluate the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Panel will be co-chaired by former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Elizabeth Clark and former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. While Helen Clark served as an administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on the other hand, Ellen Sirleaf is a recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad announced that the state govt and State Bank of India (SBI) will set up a stress fund to revive Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects (about 370 projects) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and other urban areas of the state.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulator of the securities and commodity market in India, has reconstituted the committee advising it on matters related to regulation and development of the mutual fund industry by including five new members. The new 20-member committee, will be chaired by Usha Thorat, former deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The Hockey India (HI) in its Executive Board meeting named Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam, who was senior vice-president in the federation, as officiating president till the end of September 2022 after Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad resigned on July 07, 2020 due to personal and family commitments.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the Amazonia – 1 onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) as a primary payload by August 2020. Amazonia -1 is Brazil’s first satellite for Earth observation – designed, assembled and tested in Brazil.

Chhattisgarh State Legal Service Authority and the high Court organized India’s first e-Lok Adalat to ensure the administration of justice and to solve the financial crisis of the parties and lawyers amid COVID-19 pandemic. The high court Chief Justice P R Ramchandra Menon inaugurated the e-Lok Adalat through video conferencing.

Jharkhand government signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HDFC Bank to provide digital payment solutions to the state’s transport department.

The Results of Singapore’s General Election 2020 were announced and the ruling Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s People’s Action Party (PAP) won the election winning 83 seats out of 93 contested and Lee Hsien Loong was reinstated as the Prime Minister of Singapore.

4th edition of India’s 2018 Tiger census sets new Guinness World Record for being largest camera trap wildlife survey because the census had installed more cameras to monitor the tigers as compared to other countries. As per the census, in 2018, India had doubled the tiger population before 4 years of the target year, 2022 through the Sankalp Se Siddhi programme. As of now 75 per cent of the global tiger population are in India.

Institute for Human Development (IHD), an Indian non-profit institution conferred with ‘Development Marketplace Award 2020: Innovations to Address Gender-Based Violence’ from World Bank Group and Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) for the project alcohol, intimate partner violence and household economy: an assessment of liquor ban in Bihar. Apart from India, other 8 non-profit organizations from various countries have received this award.

China launched a new commercial telecommunication satellite “APSTAR-6D” by a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the southwestern Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Also, China’s 1st Kuaizhou-11(KZ-11), solid-fueled carrier rocket launch was failed. The rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Kuaizhou-11(KZ-11) means ‘Fast Ship’ in China’s Mandarin language.

The book titled ‘A Song of India’ authored by Ruskin Bond to be released on July 20, 2020, which will mark the 70th year of the author’s literary career. The book is the 4th instalment in his memoir series (a written record of a person’s own life and experiences). The book portrays his unknown life before he became a successful author. It is published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House India.