Daily Current Affairs Quiz 19th July 2024

” Notes:roberta metsola was re-elected as president of the european parliament, winning 562 votes in the first round. a centre-right politician from malta, metsola will serve another two and a half years. she ran almost unopposed, with irene montero receiving only 61 votes. metsola has served as an mep since 2013 and first became president in january 2022. she received over 90% of valid votes, a historic high.”

” Notes:external affairs minister s. jaishankar inaugurated india’s first overseas jan aushadi kendra in mauritius, joined by prime minister pravind kumar jugnauth. this project aims to provide affordable, made-in-india medicines, enhancing healthcare in mauritius. jaishankar also inaugurated a mediclinic in grand bois village, funded by indian assistance, offering secondary healthcare to 16,000 residents. these initiatives underscore india’s commitment to health and people-centric policies under pm modi’s leadership.”

” Notes:the railway protection force (rpf) has rescued 84,119 children at risk in indian railway stations and trains over the past seven years under operation nanhe farishtey, launched in 2018. the operation focuses on runaway, abandoned, impoverished, disabled, or kidnapped children, protecting them from crime syndicates. rescued children are handed over to the district child welfare committee. in 2022, rpf rescued the highest number, 17,756 children.”

” Notes:shaurya bawa won a bronze medal at the wsf world junior squash championships 2024 in houston, usa, on july 17, 2024, after losing in the semifinals to egypt’s mohamed zakaria. this marks the second medal for an indian male player in the tournament’s history, following kush kumar’s 2014 bronze. indian female player anahat singh missed a medal, losing in the quarter-finals to egypt’s nadien elhammamy.”

” Notes:maharashtra chief minister eknath shinde announced the ‘ladka bhau’ yojana on july 17, 2024, in pandharpur. this scheme offers job training and stipends to unemployed male youth, providing rs 6,000 to 12th-pass, rs 8,000 to diploma holders, and rs 10,000 to graduates. the program aims to enhance employability by offering apprenticeships in various sectors. the announcement coincides with the upcoming legislative assembly elections in november 2024.”

” The niti aayog (national institution for transforming india) launched  niti gearshift challenge as part of the e-fast india initiative. this aims to foster innovative business models for the adoption of zero-emission trucks (zets) in india.  the challenge was launched in collaboration with operations management club (omc) of the indian institute of management (iim) bangalore (bengaluru, karnataka), smart freight centre india, calstart/drive to zero, and wri india. the niti gearshift challenge invites students, transport service practitioners, academics, and researchers, to join the hackathon organised as part of vista 2024: iim bangalore’s international business summit. this hackathon aims to foster innovative business models for adopting zets in india’s freight sector.”

” Ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (msde), government of india (goi) commemorated the 10th anniversary of the skill india mission on 15th july, 2024. union minister of state (mos) (independent charge) jayant chaudhary attended an open house dialogue, “kaushal samwaad” organised by msde, to celebrate world youth skills day(wysd), coincided with anniversary of the skill india mission. prime minister (pm) narendra modi launched the skill india mission in 2015 in accordance with his vision to help india to become ‘aatmanirbhar’ (self-reliant). world youth skills day is observed annually  across the world on 15th july. theme for wysd 2024: “youth skills for peace and development”.click here to read more”

” Sudarsan pattnaik (odisha), indian sand artist has won the golden sand master award with a gold medal at the international sand sculpture championship/festival 2024 held in st. petersburg, russia. the international sand sculpture championship, held between july 4th to 12th 2024, had a theme of ‘history, mythology, and fairy tales’. a total of 21 world sand masters around the world participated in the championship, with pattnaik being the sole participant from india. in 2014, he was awarded padma shri by government of india(goi) for his contribution in sand arts.”

” The securities and exchange board of india (sebi) has introduced new rules impacting investments by passively managed mutual fund(mf) schemes in the group companies of their sponsors. aim: to simplify and ease compliances by mf by streamlining norms related to passive schemes with respect to exposure to securities of group companies of the sponsor. as per sebi new rules, passive mf, except for equity-oriented exchange traded funds (etfs) and index funds, are now restricted from investing more than 25% of their net assets in listed securities of companies belonging to the sponsor group. for equity-oriented etfs and index funds based on widely tracked and non-bespoke indices can now invest up to 35% of their net asset value (nav) in the sponsor’s group companies only if the investments align with weightage of the constituents of the underlying index.”

” According to the world population prospects 2024 published by the population division of the united nations department of economic and social affairs (un desa), india‘s population is expected to peak at about 1.701 billion in 2062 and then decline by 12% between january and july 2062. currently, india is the most populous country in the world with 1.45 billion people and is likely to remain so until 2100. india is followed by china at the 2nd place with a population of 1.419 billion and the united states of america (usa) at the 3rd place with a population of 345 million. in 2054, india’s current projected population will peak at 1.69 billion and will start declining in 2062. india’s population is projected to decline to 1.5 billion by the end of the century in 2100.click here to read more”

Ariane 6 esa’s new heavy-lift rocket launched into space for the first time from europe’s spaceport in kourou french guiana an overseas department of france in south america the 63 metres tall rocket was developed at an estimated cost of 4 billion euros by arianegroup

” On 15 july 2024, india signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with the republic of the marshall islands (rmi) on the annual grant-in-aid (gia) for the implementation of 4 community development projects (cdps) in the rmi, at the embassy of india in tokyo, japan. it is part of india’s pacific outreach. india is also working on providing desalination and dialysis units to address healthcare needs in the rmi. the mou marks a milestone in expanding bilateral ties under the forum of india-pacific islands cooperation (fipic), which serves as a platform for india to engage with the pacific island nations. the mou covers projects including a community sports center in ailuk atoll, an airport terminal on mejit island, and community centers at arno and wotje atolls. these projects are aimed at improving the lives of rmi citizens through india’s grant assistance.”

” Mumbai (maharashtra) based branchx india private limited, a leading neobank innovator, has launched india’s first personal loan solution through the open network for digital commerce (ondc) which marks the significant step towards financial inclusion for india’s 1.4 billion people. it mainly focuses on the young professionals, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who face hurdles in acquiring loans from traditional ways, replaced with a paperless experience. the ondc framework is an initiative by the indian government to democratise digital commerce which forms the backbone of branchx’s cutting-edge lending solution.”

” The union minister jyotiraditya scindia, ministry of development of north eastern region (mdoner), launched the north east region agri commodity e-connect (nerace) app and web portal (https://nerace.in/) to integrate farmers and sellers, enhancing agricultural connectivity in the north eastern region (ner). the initiative aims to connect 50,000 farmers and 5,000 buyers over the next five years. it operates as a unique farm to business (f2b) marketplace, facilitating price negotiation, bookings, and real-time product availability cross over 50 crop categories. it supports agricultural and horticultural products, enhancing profitability of high-value agro-horticultural products.”

” Sumant sinha, chairman and chief executive officer (ceo) of renewable energy solutions provider renew energy global plc (renew) has been appointed as co-chair of alliance of ceo climate leaders in the world. sinha has also been co-chair of the india part of the alliance since 2022. he joins a group of international business leaders in this role, collaborating with eminent figures such as: ester baiget, ceo of novonesis, and jesper brodin, ceo of ingka group ikea. he will work closely in an alliance comprising 130 member ceos from 12 different industries across 26 different countries. alliance of ceo climate leaders is a flagship initiative of world economic forum (wef) which was launched in 2014. it is the largest ceo-led climate alliance in the world.”