Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
Reliance Industries has recently launched a new video conferencing application named ‘JioMeet’, as a competition to the popular video conferencing app Zoom.
The JioMeet video conferencing app is available across all play stores and web. As per the statement of Reliance Jio, the application supports High Definition audio and video call quality. It allows a maximum of 100 participants and unlike Zoom, it does not have a restricted meeting time of 40 minutes.

Notes:
The Government of Maharashtra’s industrial infrastructure development agency, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has recently signed a MoU with UK India Business Council.
The agreement aims to promote sustainable business relations between UK and India. This will help the state to develop its business environment and promote its partnership with the British business.

Notes:
World Zoonoses Day is celebrated on July 6 every year, to commemorate the work of the famous French biologist Louis Pasteur.
On the same day in 1885, he successfully administered the first vaccine against the zoonotic disease rabies. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) jointly launched a report on the day titled ‘Preventing the Next Pandemic: Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission’.

Notes:
As per the recently published study by the scientists from Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Lithium (Li) is produced in the Universe, by Sun like stars in their later life.
IIA, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, has published the study in Nature Astronomy. Low mass stars like Sun produce Lithium during their Helium core burning phase, as per the scientists. This is the first time that a clear observational evidence has been provided.

Notes:
The state government of Odisha has approved to provide around Rs 23,848 crore to its Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), for a period of six years.
This allocation has been done, on the recommendation of the fifth State Finance Commission. The state Secretary has directed to release the funds directly to the bodies through PRIASOFT portal. The second instalment will be provided only after 30% of the work taken is completed.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the evidence that the novel coronavirus spreads through air.
WHO has previously said the virus spreads through small droplets expelled from nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sinks to the ground. A group of 239 scientists from 32 countries wrote an open letter to the WHO, in which they claimed the airborne spread of the virus and urged WHO t update its guidance.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently approved to establish an Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Under the scheme, loans amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore will be provided to Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Group (SHG), agriculture entrepreneurs, start-ups among others, to improve their infrastructure and logistics facilities. This fund is a part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced by Union Government

Notes:
The IIT Alumni Council is setting up the world’s largest molecular diagnostic lab in Mumbai, Maharashtra named ‘MegaLab Mumbai’.
Recently, the council has partnered with a CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), to conduct research on spread of COVID-19 and patient data analysis. The IIT Alumni Council is the largest association of alumni, students and teachers from all the 23 IITs and partnering technical institutes.

Notes:
Indian Army has directed its personnel to delete 89 applications from their smartphones including Facebook, TikTok, Tinder, PUBG, and Instagram.
This decision has been taken to curb leakage of information, as per the Indian Army sources. Several applications including Snapchat and UC Browser that are in the order, were also in the list of applications banned by the Indian Government earlier.

Notes:
The fifteenth summit between India and the European Union (EU) is scheduled to be held on July 15, through video conferencing.
Prime Minster Narendra Modi is to represent India. The President of European Council, Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen will represent the EU. The summit was supposed to be held in March and Indian Prime Minister was scheduled to visit Brussels, the capital of EU.