Test: August 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

Rajnath Singh, Union Defence Minister launched the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) through an online webinar. NIIO establishes dedicated structures to enable end users to interact with academia and industry towards fostering innovation and indigenisation for self-reliance in defence in Accordance with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. ‘SWAVLAMBAN’, a compendium of Indian Navy’s Indigenisation perspective plans was also released during the occasion.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Jairam Gadkari while addressing the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Womennovator on Trade Investment and collaborations in Road infrastructure, has underlined India’s initiatives to achieve Zero Road Fatalities by 2030. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have committed Rs. 7,000 crores each on initiatives to reduce road accidents.

As per the latest report, ‘Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools Special focus on COVID-19’ released by World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme(JMP), around 818 million children across the world lacked basic hand-washing facilities in their schools which makes them prone to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and other transmittable diseases. The programme produces internationally comparable estimates of progress on drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the guidelines applicable for Core Investment Companies (CICs) on the basis of the recommendations of the Working Group (WG) to Review the Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Core Investment Companies (CICs), constituted under the Chairmanship of Tapan Ray, former Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). The report by the WG was published by RBI on November 6, 2019. CIC in the group, or the CIC with the largest asset size, will have to form a group risk management committee (GRMC), comprising of at least five members, with two independent directors.

Aditya Puri, Managing Director of HDFC Bank, launched digitally the 1st of its kind card, ‘Shaurya KGC (Kisan Gold Credit) Card’, a tri color themed card for Indian armed forces personnel, i.e, Army, Navy, Air force and Para military forces and their families. The product is based on the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) guidelines by the government.

Government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on space cooperation with the Federal government of Republic of Nigeria at the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. On the occasion, both sides also agreed to sign a subsidiary MOU between New Space India Limited (NSIL), under ISRO, and Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), under the Federal Ministry of Environment of Nigeria, on cooperation in use of Geospatial Technologies.

Odisha has retained top position in the implementation of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. According to rankings released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Odisha regained its top position by securing a score of 85.67 percent, followed by Union Territory of Chandigarh (75.08) and Telangana (74.04).

Top 3 States in Implementation of AMRUT Scheme:

In order to enhance maritime security, on August 13, 2020, an Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) for the Indian Coast Guard was launched and re-christened as Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) “Sarthak” during a ceremony held at Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) which was conducted through video conferencing from Coast Guard headquarters at New Delhi. It was launched by Ms. Veena Ajay Kumar, wife of Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar. Sarthak, the 4th in the series of five OPVs deployed by the ICG has been designed and built indigenously by GSL on the lines of “Make in India” which has about 70% indigenous content. The ship will be deployed for exclusive economic zone (EEZ) surveillance, Coastal Security and other duties to safeguard India’s maritime interests.

The Rajasthan government is going to start with the ‘Indira Rasoi Yojana’ in urban areas of the state from August 20, in which poor and needy people will get nutritious food for just Rs. 8, said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

The United Nations (UN’s) International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is annually observed on 9th August by the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues with the UN and its member states to promote the rights of the indigenous population around the world. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People also known as World Tribal Day. The First International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was celebrated on 9th August 1995. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2020 is celebrated under the theme – “COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience”.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was selected as one of the ten global organizations for the Food system vision prize by Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with SecondMuse, and OpenIDEO for the ‘Eat Right India’ movement. Also, the Naandi Foundation, a Hyderabad based non-profit organisation, as one of the top 10 ‘Visionaries’ in the world for the Food Vision 2050 Prize.

The Government of India under the Ministry of finance, Department of Revenue has set up a three-member committee headed by Secretary (retired) G.K. Pillai for determination of ceiling rates under Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme. The two other members are Y G Parande, retired Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs member and Gautam Ray, retired chief commissioner of custom and central excise.

Serum Institute of India(SII) Private Limited has entered into a new partnership with Gavi, the International Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the process of manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low and middle income countries(LMICs) by 2021 as part of the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX Facility. The vaccines will be made available to the 92 countries included in Gavi’s COVAX AMC. SII has set a ceiling price of USD 3 per dose.

International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that India will host the Men’s Twenty-20 (T20) Cricket World Cup 2021 (7th edition) between October – November 2021 as the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) retained the hosting rights and Australia will host the 2020 Men’s World Cup (8th edition), which was postponed due to the global pandemic in 2022.

Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Environment Forest &Climate Change(MoEFCC) along with MoS Environment ministry Supriyo & officials of the Ministry launched a beta version of a portal on Human-Elephants Conflict called “Surakhsya”, a collection of real time information and supports managing conflicts on a real time basis.

South Indian Bank(SIB) has obtained in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to set up a wholly owned non- financial subsidiary for undertaking activities permitted by RBI. After SIB completes the relevant formalities and receives final approval from the regulators the subsidiary will commence its operations.

S N Rajeswari has been appointed the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL), according to a Personnel Ministry. She is currently General Manager of New India Assurance Company Limited.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given Amazon approval for its Project Kuiper low orbit satellite constellation, to provide Internet access. The planned constellation of 3,236 satellites is intended to address “unserved and underserved communities” around the world. SpaceX is a rival in this area, with its planned Starlink eventually consisting of 4,425 satellites.

Hassan Diab, Lebanon (Republic of Lebanon) Prime Minister(PM) and his government resigned due to public outrage and the pressure from within his own Cabinet as his government was blamed for the August 4 explosion in Beirut’s port which killed at least 160 people and injured about 6,000 others.

Asian College of Journalism(ACJ) award 2019 was conferred upon Journalist Nitin Sethi for investigative journalism and K P Narayana Kumar Memorial Award 2019 for Social Impact Journalism is bestowed upon Journalist Shiv Sahay Singh. The awards were presented in a virtual ceremony by Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist of the World Health Organisation(WHO), at the inauguration of the Class of 2021.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) and Road Transport & Highways addressed the “India@75 Summit – Mission 2022” organised by the confederation of Indian Industries(CII) which was focused on ‘reinventing technology in India’. He stated that to achieve self-reliant India, the MSME Ministry and Industries should be made import substitutes, cost-effective, pollution-free and indigenous.

BEML (previously Bharat Earth Movers Limited) has set up Industrial Design Centre at Bengaluru as part of its new infrastructure creation. The Centre is first of its kind in India, focusing on implementing factors of Industrial Design & Human Factors as a part of developmental strategies for setting the global benchmarking in Industrial Design and Ergonomics in Products. It is proposed to develop this facility further as a national facility and would be offered to the industry in the next stage.

The 8 year long (2011 – 2019) field work research conducted in the Matheran an eco-sensitive zone near Mumbai, Maharashtra an area of 214.73 Square Kilometer, identified around 140 rare species of butterflies including 77 new species. Scientists Mandar Sawant, Dr. Nikhil Modak and Sagar Sarang from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Somaiya Vidya Vihar University published their research paper ‘Finding the forgotten gems: Revisiting the butterflies of Matheran after 125 years’ in the community peer-reviewed Biodiversity Data Journal.

The data recovery centre-Krishi Megh has been set up at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), in Hyderabad.

Russia becomes the world’s 1st country to officially register a coronavirus(COVID-19) vaccine and declare it ready for use. The vaccine will be marketed in foreign markets under the name ‘Sputnik V’, after the world’s first satellite Sputnik. The vaccine has been developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Defence Ministry.