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:
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:
China is celebrating the completion of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), which is seen as a competitor to the U.S. Global Positioning System.
After the 55th and final satellite that was launched last month started operating, the Chinese President Xi Jinping formally commissioned the system. The satellite is a part of the third sequence of the BeiDou system.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a USD 200 million deal with the Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power Limited (RBLPL).
Under the deal, Reliance power would build and operate a 718-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in Bangladesh. USD 100 million would be provided by the ADB while the other 100 million would be sourced from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP) of Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Notes:
The Union Government has expanded the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by doubling the upper ceiling of loans to Rs 50 crore.
The scheme also includes individual loans given for business purposes to professionals like doctors, lawyers and chartered accountants under its scope. The maximum amount of guaranteed emergency credit line funding under the ECLGS scheme is also increased from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore.

Notes:
PTC India Limited, previously called as Power Trading Corporation of India has been approved to set up the third Power exchange of India.
At present, India has two power exchanges namely Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India (PXIL), to enable over-the-counter sale and purchase of power. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved the proposal of PTC India made along with BSE Investments and ICICI Bank.

Notes:
The Thenzawl Golf Resort project has been virtually inaugurated in the state of Mizoram, by the Union Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (IC) Prahlad Singh Patel.
The project has been launched under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme’s Integrated Development of New Eco Tourism. With a toral site area of 105 acres and a play area of 75 acres, it has been designed by the top-ranked Canada based architectural firm, the Graham Cooke and Associates.

Notes:
India’s leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd and the cloud services subsidiary of Amazon, Amazon Web Services (AWS), entered into a strategic partnership to provide a range of cloud solutions to large, small and medium businesses.
The partnership aims to develop products that provides security to remote working. Under the partnership, Airtel Cloud will build an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Practise and develop Airtel Cloud products.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, has developed the country’s first ICMR-approved mobile RT-PCR lab.
Called the MITR (Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting) lab, it is capable of conducting 9000 tests per month. The lab than can produce 100% accurate results within four hours, has been handed over to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

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.