Daily Current Affairs Quiz 18th July 2024

” Notes:ivory coast is the first country to deploy the r21 malaria vaccine developed by the serum institute of india and oxford university. authorized by multiple african countries, the vaccine aims to initially immunize 250,000 children, with plans to reach millions more with gavi’s support. recommended by who for children under five, the vaccine targets a disease responsible for over 600,000 deaths annually, predominantly in africa.”

” Notes:president paul kagame of rwanda has won his fourth term with 99% of the votes, according to the national electoral commission, with 79% of votes counted. kagame, in power since 2000, previously won the 2017 election with a similar margin. approximately 9.5 million rwandans voted, with 65% of the population under 35. opponents frank habineza and philippe mpayimana received 0.53% and 0.32%, respectively.”

” Notes:union minister jyotiraditya scindia launched the north east region agri commodity e-connect (nerace) web portal and app in shillong to benefit northeastern farmers and buyers. nerace supports products like spices, fruits, and vegetables, providing farmers with larger markets and better pricing. the platform supports seven languages and aims to connect producers, buyers, and service providers globally. it emphasizes the region’s potential as a hub for high-value horticultural products.”

” Notes:external affairs minister dr. s. jaishankar inaugurated the india-mauritius maitree udyan in port louis on july 16, 2024, marking his first bilateral visit after re-appointment. he planted a tree alongside mauritius foreign minister maneesh gobin. during his two-day visit, dr. jaishankar met with prime minister pravind jugnauth, visited the india-assisted civil service college project, and supported mauritius’s claim on the chagos archipelago, enhancing bilateral relations.”

” Notes:the coalition of epidemic preparedness innovations (cepi) inaugurated its first asian “pre-clinical network facility” in faridabad, haryana, on july 16, 2024, by union minister dr. jitendra singh. this biotechnology research and innovation council (bric)-translational health science and technology institute (thsti) lab is asia’s first and the world’s ninth cepi-accredited lab.”

” The export-import bank of india (exim bank) signed an agreement with the government of guyana to provide india-supported line of credit (loc) of usd 2.50 million for installing a solar photovoltaic(pv) power plant at cheddi jagan international airport (cjia) in timehri, guyana. the agreement under the loc was signed on 29th february 2024 and effective from 24th june 2024. this agreement aligns with guyana’s efforts to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, aiming to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable energy solutions.”

” On 8th july 2024, the reserve bank of india (rbi) released measuring productivity at the industry level- the india klems (capital (k), labour (l), energy (e), material (m) and services (s)) database. as per rbi’s data, india’s employment rate provisionally grew at 6% in the fiscal year ended on 31st march, 2024 from a growth of 3.2% in fy23 (2022-23). rbi data showed that employment in the country increased by 4.67 crore (46.7 million) to 64.33 crore (provisional) in fy24 (2023-24) from 59.67 crore in fy23. this number is much higher than the estimates by private surveys that point out the country’s high unemployment rate. rbi’s klems database highlighted that the total number of employed people as a ratio of the total population has increased from 34.7% in fy18 (2018-19) to 44.2% in fy24. as per rbi database, the employment in sectors like: agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing increased from 24.82 crore in fy22 to 25.3 crore in fy23.”

” Shooter gagan narang, four-time olympian and london 2012 olympic games men’s 10m air rifle bronze medalist, has been appointed as the chef-de-mission for the indian at the paris 2024 olympics, officially, ‘games of the xxxiii olympiad’ in paris, france.i.india’s two-time olympic medallist badminton player, pv sindhu, and 13-time commonwealth games medallist table tennis veteran, a sharath kamal will be flag bearer during the opening ceremony of paris olympics.ii.olympic gold medalist in javelin throw neeraj chopra will lead the 28-member indian athletics contingent at the paris olympics.”

” On july 2, 2024, the union cabinet of india, chaired by prime minister narendra modi, has approved the signing of the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (bbnj) agreement or ‘high seas treaty’, an international treaty under the united nations convention on the law of the sea (unclos). the ministry of earth sciences (moes) will lead india’s implementation of the agreement, thus, enhancing india’s role in marine conservation, and its strategic presence in areas beyond its exclusive economic zone (eez). the bbnj agreement, agreed upon in march 2023, is open for signature for 2 years starting september 2023. it will become a legally binding international treaty 120 days after the 60th ratification. as of june 2024, 91 countries have signed, and 8 countries have ratified the agreement. this agreement aims to conserve and sustainably utilize marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, known as the high seas.”

” Rajasthan is all set to become the 1st state in india to adopt an action plan for road safety for the next 10 years. the proposed action plan aimed at reducing road accidents in the state by 50% till 2030. the world bank (wb) would provide assistance to the state government in the preparation of an action plan and safety plan by incorporating the best practices adopted in different countries. as per the draft, the action plan will be implemented in 3 phases. the phase 1 will be implemented between 2025 till 2027. it will focus on safety audits of 500 kilometer (km) of state highways and major district roads. the phase-2 of action plan will be implemented from 2027 till 2030 and will focus on the reduction of 50% of road accident fatalities which is in line with united nations (un)’s second decade of action for road safety. the phase-3 of action plan will be implemented from 2030 till 2033 and will focus on the reduction of 75% of road accident fatalities.”

On 8 july 2024 rbi approved the reappointment of govind singh as managing directormd and chief executive officer ceo of utkarsh small finance bank limited usfbl for a period of three years with effect from 21 september 2024 his current term is expected to end on 20

” Yury borisov, director general of roscosmos, russia’s state corporation for space activities, approved a general schedule for creating the russian orbital station (ros) by 2033. the document was also signed by 19 general directors of roscosmos enterprises involved in making the ros. russia is set to launch the 1st research and energy module for the ros in 2027, and 3 other core modules, namely the universal nodal, gateway, and base modules, will be launched by 2030. in the 2nd stage, from 2031 to 2033, 2 special-purpose modules (tsm1 and tsm2) will be launched.”

” The department for promotion of industry and internal trade (dpiit), ministry of commerce & industry(moci), has signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with national council of applied economic research (ncaer) for the development of framework and assessment of logistics cost in india.under this mou, nacer and dpiit will collaborate toi.develop a detailed framework for assessment of logistics cost in india.ii.create a comprehensive study for assessment of logistics cost for 2023-24.iii.identify cost differentials across various factors and sectors like routes, modes, products, types of cargo, and service operations, etc.iv.identify the major determinants along with influence on the logistics in different sectors, etc.”

The inaugural tourism index fund was launched by tata asset management private limited on 8 july 2024 and will open for subscription from 8 july 2024 to 19 july 2024 the scheme will be open for continuous sale and repurchase on or before 29 july 2024 it is an open-ended index fund

” Roshni nadar malhotra, chairperson of hcl technologies limited (hcltech), indian multinational information technology (it) consulting company, has been honoured with france’s highest civilian award  – the “chevalier de la légion d’honneur” (knight of the legion of honour). the award recognises her contributions to the business; her efforts to strengthen economic ties between france and india; and her commitment to social and environmental causes. thierry mathou, ambassador of france to india presented the award on behalf of the president of the french republic, emmanuel macron, at a ceremony held at the residence of france in delhi.”