Daily Current Affairs Quiz 21st July 2024

” Notes:the mv sea change, the world’s first commercial passenger ferry powered by 100% hydrogen fuel, launched at the san francisco ferry building. built by all american marine shipyard for switch maritime and designed by incat crowther, it carries 75 passengers and operates for 16 hours, covering 300 nautical miles per refueling. emitting only heat and water vapor, it reaches speeds up to 20 knots and features drinkable water emissions.”

” Notes:indian space scientists prahlad chandra agrawal and anil bhardwaj received prestigious awards from cospar during its 45th scientific assembly in busan, south korea. agrawal, a retired professor from tifr, earned the harrie massey award for contributions to x-ray astronomy and leading astrosat. bhardwaj, prl director since 2017, won the vikram sarabhai medal for his work in planetary space sciences and key roles in isro’s missions.”

” Notes:a microcontinent has been discovered in the davis strait, between canada and greenland. formed millions of years ago due to tectonic plate shifts, it features a 19–24 km thick continental crust, now named the davis strait proto-microcontinent. the strait, spanning 650 km north to south and 200-400 miles wide, connects the atlantic and pacific oceans via the northwest passage, but is impassable in winter due to ice.”

” Notes:recently, officials reported a 6% non performing assets (npa) rate under the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (eclgs), launched by india in 2020 to aid businesses hit by covid-19. the scheme, managed by the ministry of finance’s department of financial services and national credit guarantee trustee company ltd (ncgtc), provides 100% guaranteed coverage to lenders. phases eclgs 1.0 to 4.0 expanded its scope across sectors. sanctions are based on borrower assessments, with no collateral or fees.”

” Notes:the rajasthan government is organizing hold special camps to grant indian citizenship to minority refugees from afghanistan, pakistan, and bangladesh. simplified rules authorize district collectors to issue citizenship certificates. from 2016 to 2024, 2,329 refugees gained citizenship, with 1,566 applications pending. the citizenship amendment act, 2019, offers citizenship to non-muslim communities from these countries who entered india by december 31, 2014, exempting them from penalties under immigration laws.”

” On july 16, 2024, roberta metsola (aged 45) of european people’s party (epp), was re-elected as president of the european parliament for another two and a half years, until 2027. with this, she became the first woman to win a second term as the president of the european parliament, the directly elected legislative body of the european union(eu). she was the third woman to take charge as the president of the european parliament, after simone veil (1979-1982) and nicole fontaine (1999-2002).”

” Spain won the 17th edition of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) European Football Championship, commonly referred to as ‘UEFA Euro 2024 or Euro Cup’ by defeating England (2-1) in the finals held at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany. UEFA Euro 2024 hosted by Germany was held from 14th June to 14th July 2024. Spain won the Euro Cup for the record 4th time. Spain previously won the title in 1964, 2008 and 2012. Germany’s Thomas Müller (34-year-old) announced his retirement from international football. During his 14-year career, he has played 131 times for Germany and scored 45 goals. France’s all-time leading goal scorer Olivier Giroud(37 years) announced his retirement from international football after Euro 2024. He scored 57 goals in 137 appearances for France. Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri(32-year-old), a Former Bayern Munich and Liverpool winger, announced his retirement from international football after his 14-year career. He has played 125 matches for Switzerland and scored 32 goals”

” The indian council of agricultural research (icar) launched a target-oriented research plan named ‘one scientist-one product’, aimed at enhancing research in agriculture and animal husbandry. all the 5,521 icar scientists have been registered under this plan. the plan was inaugurated by shivraj singh chouhan, union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare & rural development on the occasion of 96th foundation day and technology day of icar. this plan will run for the next 5 years and each scientist will focus on a unique product to maximise productivity and avoid duplication. icar is also working to develop 100 new seed varieties and 100 farm technologies in 100 days as part of the centre’s 100-day action plan.”

” Argentina won the title of the 48th edition of the copa america (copa america 2024) by defeating colombia in the finals held at the hard rock stadium in florida, the united states of america (usa). copa america 2024 hosted by the usa was held from 20th june to 14th july 2024. this marks argentina’s 16th title of copa america. with this, argentina became the tournament’s most successful team, followed by uruguay (15) and brazil (9). copa america 2024 is the quadrennial international men’s soccer championship organised by the south american football confederation (conmebol: confederación sudamericana de fútbol). argentinean football icon angel di maria(36-year-old), known as “el fideo”, has announced his retirement from the argentina national team.click here to read more”

On 12 july 2024 banco bilbao vizcaya argentaria and ifc launched the world’s first biodiversity bond which will amount to usd70 million aiming to combat biodiversity loss

” The national olympic committee (noc) of saudi arabia and the international olympic committee (ioc) signed a 12-year deal to host the first olympic esports games 2025 in the kingdom of saudi arabia (ksa).i.it follows the ioc’s decision to establish the olympic esports games, a proposal to be presented at the upcoming ioc session on the eve of the olympic games paris 2024.ii.this partnership is in line with saudi arabia’s vision 2030, which aims to transform the nation’s social and economic landscape.iii.saudi arabia has hosted over 100 international sporting events, resulting in a significant rise in sports participation nationwide since 2018.”

” The united nations trade and development (unctad) released the ‘2024 digital economy report: shaping an environmentally sustainable and inclusive digital future’. it highlights india’s 163% growth in electronic waste from screens, computers, and small it and telecommunication equipment (scsit) from 2010 to 2022, doubling its global share from 3.1% to 6.4%. annual smartphone shipments more than doubled since 2010, reaching 1.2 billion in 2023. iot (internet of things) devices are expected to increase 2.5 times from 2023 to 39 billion by 2029. business e-commerce sales in 43 countries grew nearly 60% from 2016 to 2022, totaling usd 27 trillion.”

” The department of defence production (ddp), ministry of defence (mod), has notified the 5th positive indigenisation list (pil) comprising 346 items, to boost aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in defence manufacturing and reducing imports by the defence public sector undertakings (dpsus). these items, including line replacement units (lrus), systems, sub-systems, assemblies, spares, components and raw material related to the defence platforms, have an import substitution value of rs 1,048 crore. these items will only be procured from the indian industry post-indigenisation, promoting domestic manufacturing as listed on the srijan portal. previously, 4 pils comprising 4,666 items were notified by the ddp for dpsus, of these, 2,972 items, valued at rs 3,400 crore, have been indigenised. 9 dpsus are involved in this initiative, including hindustan aeronautics limited (hal), bharat electronics limited (bel), bharat dynamics limited (bdl), beml limited, india optel limited (iol), mazagon dock shipbuilders limited (mdl), goa shipyard limited (gsl), garden reach shipbuilders & engineers ltd (grse) and hindustan shipyard limited (hsl).”

” On 16th july 2024, the international monetary fund (imf) released ‘world economic outlook (weo) update, july 2024: the global economy in a sticky spot’. the report has increased india’s gdp(gross domestic product) growth by 20 basis points(bps), from 6.8% (in april 2024 ) to 7% for fy25(2024-25). imf retained its india’s gdp projection for fy26 (2025-26) at 6.5%. india’s gdp expanded at 8.2 percent in 2023-24. as per the report, the global growth is projected to be in line with april 2024 weo forecast at 3.2% in 2024 but it has marginally increased the global growth rate by 10 bps to 3.3% in 2025. the report cited that growth in india and china will account for almost 50% of global growth in 2024. also, growth in major advanced economies is becoming more aligned as output gaps are closing.click here to read more”

” Committee on space research (cospar) announced the winners of 2024 cospar awards during the 45th cospar scientific assembly which is being held in busan, south korea from 13th to 21st july 2024. two indian scientists prahlad chandra agrawal and anil bhardwaj were among the winners of the 2024 cospar awards. prahlad chandra agrawal was honoured with the cospar harrie massey award and anil bhardwaj was honoured with the vikram sarabhai medal, a joint award of cospar and the indian space research organization(isro). cospar annually presents a number of medals and awards, some jointly with other institutions or space agencies. the award recognise outstanding contribution to space research and scientists working in any of the fields covered by cospar.click here for the complete list of 2024 winners”