Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The former Defence Minister of the African country Ivory Coast Hamed Bakayoko, has been recently named as the Prime Minister of the country.
Earlier, the previous Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly passed away suddenly on July 8 and Hamed Bakayoko has been serving as the acting Prime Minister. The 55-year old leader has been serving as the Defence Minister since 2017 after serving as the Interior Minister since 2011.

Notes:
Apple surpassed multinational petroleum company Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.
The market capitalisation of the technology company surged to USD 1.82 trillion, as per the regulatory filing of the company. Whereas, the market capitalisation of Aramco stood at USD 1.760 trillion.

Notes:
Veteran bureaucrat Rajesh Bhushan has recently assumed charge as the Union Health Secretary. He will succeed the previous Health Secretary Preeti Sudan.
Preeti Sudan superannuated and she was given a three-month extension in April. Rajesh Bhushan is a 1987 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer. He has been serving as an Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Health from April.

Notes:
Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has recently approved a programme for artisans who make Agarbatti.
The programme aims to develop village industry under ‘Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’. Under the programme, four pilot projects will be started that includes one in the North Eastern part of the country. Each cluster of artisans will be provided with automatic Agarbatti making machines.

Notes:
Sanskrit Diwas also known as ‘Vishva samskrita dinam’ is celebrated on the full moon of the ‘Shravana’ month of Hindu calendar.
This year, Sanskrit Day that promotes the revival of the language is celebrated on August 3. All India Radio broadcasted the first special program in Sanskrit titled ‘Bahujan Bhasha – Sanskrit Bhasha’ to mark the occasion.

Notes:
Nokia is set to establish a robotics lab at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru to study about 5G technology.
Nokia Center of Excellence (CoE) for networked robotics lab will be deployed to research on socially-relevant use cases based on 5G and emerging technologies. This will promote cooperation between colleges and industries.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat announced that the state will set up the country’s first snow leopard conservation centre.
The centre will be opened in the Uttarkashi forest division in the state. It is to set up jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a part of its six-year long project called ‘SECURE Himalayas’. It was started in 2017 to conserve snow leopards and other endangered species in the Himalayas.

Notes:
The present Chairman of Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Ajay Tyagi has been given an 18-month extension till February 2022.
According to a Personnel Ministry order, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved his extension. The 1984 batch IAS (retired) officer has been serving as the Chairman since March 2017.

Notes:
The Government of India has abolished All India Handicrafts Board, as per the recent notification of the Textiles Ministry.
The Board was constituted on January 23, 1992 under the chairmanship of the Union Textiles Minister. It has Secretaries in Ministries of Rural development and Micro small & medium enterprises and various states as members. It had been advising the Government on creation of development programmes in the handicrafts and handloom sectors.

Notes:
The San Giorgio Bridge, that has been found in news, was inaugurated in Genoa, one of the largest cities in Italy.
Designed by the world-famous architect Renzo Piano, the bridge is the replacement for the Morandi Bridge that collapsed in a storm two years ago in Italy. The 1,100-metre-long motorway bridge was inaugurated by the Italian prime minister.