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 UK India Business Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Industries and Mines Department of the state government of Gujarat.
This partnership between the UKIBC and Gujarat will help to boost business and industrial development in the state. UKIBC will also help to increase investment opportunities and provide market access to the businesses.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation recently announced that IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) will be the single nodal agency to regulate space activities and the use of ISRO facilities by private sector.
The Union Cabinet cleared the setting up of IN-SPACe as a separate body. Announcing the detailed structure of IN-SPACe, ISRO said that the body will have its own Chairman, technical experts from academia and industries and members of Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of External Affairs.

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 100th death anniversary of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak is being observed on 1st August, across the country.
Tilak was a prominent extremist leader in the Indian National Congress. Being an integral part of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio, he proclaimed “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it”. Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 in Maharashtra and passed away on August 1 in the year 1920.

Notes:
Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development Smriti Irani officially launched the book with essays on the journey of Swachh Bharat Mission.
Named the ‘Swachh Bharat Kranti’ (Swachh Bharat Revolution), it has been edited by the Secretary of the Department of Water and Sanitation and has been translated to Hindi. The book has as many as 35 essays by several stake holders involved in the mission.

Notes:
Technology major Google launched a new file-sharing feature named ‘Nearby Share’ for its Android users.
Using the feature, users can share content seamlessly with others in close range. The sender’s phone emits a low energy Bluetooth signal, which will be picked by the receiver’s phone. It can also use wi-fi to transfer files. It creates a reliable and fast connection in both online and offline modes.

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 state government of Chhattisgarh has implemented a scheme called ‘Godhan Nyay Yojana’, under which cow dung is being procured from cattle farmers at Rs 2 per kg.
It is a first of its kind scheme, which produces vermicompost from the dung so procured. It is then sold with the help of cooperative societies. The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel will inaugurate the process of payment to the bank accounts of beneficiaries under the scheme.