Current Affairs: July 09, 2020

Notes:
Indian Railways has set up a solar power plant, for the first time in the world, which directly provides power to the Railway Overhead Line, in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL).
Such a solar power plant has been established at Bina Traction Sub Station, Madhya Pradesh. The 1.7 Mega-watt solar power plant can produce around 25 lakh units of energy in a year and save about Rs 1.37 crore per year.

Notes:
United Kingdom Minister Rishi Sunak has recently unveiled a dedicated 1.57 billion pounds rescue package for arts, culture and heritage industries.
Under the rescue package, affordable loans will be provided to the industries across the country, that employ more than 700,000 people. Thousands of organisations including performing arts and theatres, museums etc will be benefitted.

Notes:
Israel has launched a new surveillance satellite named ‘Ofek 16’, that will provide high-quality surveillance for its military activities
The satellite was launched into space by its indigenously developed Shavit rocket, which was used to launch the previous versions of Ofek satellites. It is an advanced electro-optical surveillance satellite developed by Israel Aerospace Industries.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad to establish a Research cell at the IIT.
The Defence research cell aims to meet the upcoming defence technological requirements of the country. This DRDO – IITH Research Cell will conduct research programmes in specific technology areas. This will be established as an extension of the DRDO Research and Innovation Centre (RIC), Chennai.

Notes:
The legal and legislative committee of Kuwait’s National Assembly has recently approved the draft expat quota bill.
If the bill is enacted into a law, over 8 lakh Indians could be forced out of Kuwait. As per the proposed bill, Indians should not exceed 15% of the population. Out of the 4.3 million population of Kuwait, there are 3 million expats. Moreover, Indians are the largest expatriate community with 1.45 million.