Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
Veteran Opposition leader of Ireland Micheál Martin has been named as the next Prime Minister of the country, by the Parliament.
The 59-year-old leader took charge as the Prime Minister, to head the first coalition uniting the two prime parties. Micheál Martin had earlier held several important ministries including health, trade, foreign affairs and education.

Notes:
The state government of Madhya Pradesh is set to launch a campaign called ‘Kill Corona’, to control the spread of coronavirus in the state.
The 15-day campaign, which is to be carried out from July 1, involves door-to-door survey and tests for other diseases. During the campaign, 2.5 lakh tests will be carried out and about 20,000 samples would be collected daily.

Notes:
Former Union minister and Rajya Sabha member Suresh Prabhu is to lead a Co-Operative Development Forum (CDF).
The CDF forum, that is likely to be formally launched on July 24, aims to work towards promoting cooperative movement in the country and boost the rural economy. Suresh Prabhu is also the Sherpa of India for G 20. The forum also aims to formulate the modern National/ State Cooperative Policy.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched the world’s first online Diploma and Bachelor of Science Degree in Data Science and programming.
The course has no age limit and students who have passed class 12 can enrol. The course will be conducted online and its exams will be conducted in an offline mode. The course has three levels including the foundation, diploma and degree and it is divided into six semesters.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently launched the Special Liquidity Scheme improve the liquidity of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).
The corpus of the scheme is Rs 30000 crore rupees and it was launched through a Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of a trust set up by SBI Capital Markets. The Union Government will provide unconditional and irrevocable guarantee to the special securities issued by the Trust.

Notes:
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has partnered with Bharat Biotech for development of potential COVID-19 vaccine called Covaxin.
The Drugs Controller General of India has granted permission to conduct phase-1 and 2 human clinical trials. Recently, ICMR has announced that it is acting in accordance with the globally accepted standards to develop the vaccine.

Notes:
The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal has recently inaugurated the Sardar Patel COVID care centre, which is claimed to be the largest in the world.
The 10,000-bed care centre has been built in a record time of 10 days. It has a COVID Care Centre (CCC), to treat asymptomatic positive patients and a Dedicated COVID Health Care (DCHC), to treat symptomatic cases.

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.

Notes:
New York headquartered United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recently released a report titled “Community based programme for children below 5 years of age with severe acute malnutrition in India—Progress so far and lessons learned 2020”.
The report considered the malnutrition programmes being implemented in 12 states. As per UNICEF, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted care for malnourished children. This may increase the burden and availability of food and livelihood in the country.

Notes:
As per the recent notification of the Corporate Affairs Ministry, the tenure of Justice B L Bhat as the acting Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT), for three more months.
His three-month tenure as officiating Chairman was scheduled to end on June 15. This decision would be in effect for three more months or until a regular Chairperson is appointed or until further orders. The last NCLAT Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya retired on March 15, 2020.