Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs has formed a five-member central team under Smart Cities Director Rahul Kapoor.
The panel will formulate project reports for both the cities, to improve infrastructure and employment opportunities in Ladakh. These cities have been selected in addition to the 100 smart cities in different states. This idea was initially proposed by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Notes:
Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), along with a Haryana-based manufacturer named Amesys India has developed a microorganism decontamination device.
Named as ‘Suraksha’, the device uses UVC light and heat to sanitize an object in 10-15 minutes. This device can be used in public places like barber shops, restaurants and hospital units where people can decontaminate their belongings.

Notes:
Major technology company Microsoft has unveiled the latest edition of its Security Endpoint Threat Report 2019.
As per the report, India has been placed among the countries with the highest cryptocurrency mining encounters in the last year. India registered the seventh highest malware encounter rate in the past year and the third highest ransomware encounter rate across the Asia-Pacific region.

Notes:
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) organised the “National Digital conference on Ease of Doing Business for Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the conference and said that the country is heading towards a complete digital eco-system. He also said that the government is aiming to cover the entire nation through optic fibres in the next two years.

Notes:
Technology giant Amazon recently announced that it will invest more than USD 10 billion to build a network of over 3000 satellites.
The network is expected to provide high-speed broadband internet services to people around the world. Named as ‘Project Kuiper’, the plan aims to build a network of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. This will compete with the SpaceX’s Starlink network.

Notes:
India has recently imposed restrictions on the import of Colour Television sets, in an effort to promote its domestic production.
The import of the TV sets was freed from previous restrictions two decades ago and since then there has been no amendments in the import policy. Now the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notified to change the policy from free to ‘restricted’. However, there is no restriction on importing monochrome TVs.

Notes:
The 15th Finance Commission had set up an eight-member High-Level Group on Agricultural Exports headed by the Chairman of ITC, Sanjiv Puri.
It was set up to recommend performance incentives for States to encourage agricultural exports. The group has recently submitted the report that recommended a State-led Export Plan for a crop Value chain cluster (VCC). It also suggested to focus on 22 crop value chains.

Notes:
India’s largest private shipping company, Great Eastern Shipping Company has named former Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel as an additional and Independent director.
The Mumbai headquartered company has named him for a term of five years with effect from August 1, 2020. Urjit Patel served as the 24th governor of the RBI from September 2016 to December 2018.

Notes:
Veteran England all-rounder Ian Botham has been made a member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament.
The 64-year-old former England captain is the first cricketer to be awarded this honour since 2011. He is among the 36 new members announced by the Government. He was knighted in the year 2007 for his services in cricket and in the field of charity.

Notes:
State-owned oil and gas company and the largest commercial oil company in the country, Indian Oil has partnered with France’s Total.
The Joint Venture has been formed to make Superior Quality Bitumen derivatives and specialty products for India’s road construction industry. The JB would initially take over the existing plant of Total at Jodhpur, Rajasthan and then invest Rs 226 crore to set up six new plants across India.