Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

Notes:
ALH MK III helicopters have been indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
An advanced light helicopter (ALH) MK III squadron was commissioned in Gujarat’s Porbandar by the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard at the ICG Air Enclave. It includes advanced RADAR, electro-optical sensors, Shakti engines, advanced communication systems among others.

Notes:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the ‘Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP), 2020’. Andhra Pradesh has topped the Business Reform Action Plan 2020 Rankings in the Ease of Doing Business.
It is followed by Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The BRAP 2020 includes 301 reform points covering 15 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, Land Administration etc.

Notes:
In the QS Best Student Cities Ranking 2023, London has been ranked as the best city for students looking to study abroad.
Seoul and Munich are at the second place. The report ranks 140 cities in terms of affordability, student facilities, and university standard among other factors. India’s highest-ranked student city is Mumbai at 103 spot. It is followed by Bengaluru at 114th rank.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay has planned to introduce a mandatory course on caste awareness.
As per the surveys conducted by the SC/ST Cell of the institution, it was proposed to provide more sensitisation events and a mandatory academic course on caste and racial discrimination. Earlier, a mandatory gender sensitisation course was launched last year.

Notes:
Domestic rating agency Crisil lowered its real GDP growth forecast for India to 7.3 per cent in FY23 from 7.8 per cent estimated earlier.
It cited the reasons for downward revision to be higher oil prices, slowing of export demand and high inflation. This forecast is in line with the RBI’s estimate of 7.2 real GDP growth for this fiscal year.

Notes:
Rahul Narwekar, a first-time MLA, was elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly defeating Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi.
The 45-year old leader is the youngest speaker of India, as of now. Earlier Eknath Shinde took over as the new Chief Minister while Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.

Notes:
Scientists in the US have developed a rapid Covid-19 test that can accurately detect all current variants of SARS-CoV-2 within hours named CoVarScan.
Scientists typically use whole genome sequencing, to determine which variant of Covid-19 a patient has been infected with and it is time-consuming and expensive.

Notes:
Fields Medal is also described the Nobel Prize in mathematics. Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska, who works in Switzerland, was named as one of four recipients of the 2022 Fields Medal.
The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation to promote international cooperation in mathematics.

Notes:
Students in East Sikkim have reported skin infections after coming in contact with Nairobi flies, also called Kenyan flies or dragon bugs.
It is a species of insect native to East Africa. They are small, beetle-like insects that belong to two species, Paederus eximius and Paederus sabaeus. They are orange and black in colour and when disturbed they release a potent acidic substance called ‘pederin’ that causes burns.

Notes:
The UK has signed its first international data sharing deal with South Korea after Brexit to promote digital trade.
The deal will allow organisations in both the countries to transfer data without any restrictions. Google, Mastercard and Microsoft were advising the UK government on this deal as part of an International Data Transfer Expert Council.