Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
NASA has successfully launched its Mars rover named ‘Perseverance’ from Cape Canaveral Florida on a United Launch Alliances Atlas V rocket.
The vehicle with the size of a large car is also accompanied by a helicopter called Ingenuity which will study Mars’s atmosphere. It will drill into Mars and collect geological specimens. The rover is expected to land at the base of a crater called Jezero on February 18, 2021.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs presents the ‘Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar’ award.
The award recognises individuals as well as institutions for their contributions in the field of disaster management. The Government of India has recently invited the nominations for the award, which is presented on the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, on January 23.

Notes:
Muslim Women’s Rights Day is being observed on July 31, to commemorate the first anniversary of the passage of law against instant Triple Talaq.
On the same day in 2019, the Union Government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act that prohibits the practice of instant divorce. As per the law, any violation of the law is punishable by jail term of up to three years. The Supreme Court of India declared this practice as unconstitutional.

Notes:
Global chemical company SABIC’s polycarbonate plant in Spain is set to become the world’s first that will run entirely on renewable power.
The Riyadh-headquartered company has signed a major agreement with an electricity utility company Iberdrola, in this regard. This plant is expected to be completely operational by the year 2024.

Notes:
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India head-quartered in New Delhi.
It promotes India’s external cultural relations by cultural exchange. The council was founded by the first Education Minister of independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the year 1950. ICCR recently organised a two-day international webinar on the theme of ‘Lokmanya Tilak – Swaraj to Self-reliant India’.

Notes:
The Union Government has provisionally granted permission for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2020 edition to be scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the IPL governing council had earlier postponed the tournament. It is to be held from September 19 to November 10 across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, after the final clearances from the Indian government.

Notes:
Hyderabad has been ranked 16th among the ‘Top 20 Most Surveilled Cities globally’, according to a report published by Comparitech.
In the survey conducted by the UK-based firm, Hyderabad topped the country with its 3 lakh CCTV cameras to organise surveillance operations in a city of over 1 crore. The Taiyum city of China was ranked at the top spot with 4.65 lakh CCTV cameras.

Notes:
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has touched a record high transaction of 1.49 billion in the month of July.
This is its highest count of transactions since its inception and a 11% growth over that of the previous month. The monthly transactions were worth Rs 2.9 trillion. IMPS recorded 222.1 million transactions in July while Bharat Bill Payment Services hit 20.16 million transactions.

Notes:
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has unveiled the draft ‘Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020’ for public feedback.
As per the policy, the aim is to achieve Defence and Aerospace exports of USD 5 billion by the year 2025. It also seeks to increase the manufacturing turnover in Defence sector to $25 bn or ₹1,75,000 crore.

Notes:
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank laid the foundation stone of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur.
The Minister inaugurated it virtually along with the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur, in Dhaulakuan, Himachal Pradesh. The institute has been operationalised by IIM Lucknow from August 2015 as the mentor Institution. The Union Government has sanctioned Rs 531.75 Crore for the construction and functioning of the institute.