Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Indian Government has imposed safeguard duty on solar cells for one more year till July 2021 to protect domestic manufacturers.
This move will also discourage cheap imports from countries like China. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), the investigative arm of the Commerce Ministry had recommended to the Department of Revenue for this imposition of duty.

Notes:
In the month of May, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had reduced EPF contribution by 4% for three months of May, June and July.
2% of employer’s contribution and 2% of employee’s contribution were reduced. This step was taken as a part of relief measures announced by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic. From the month of August, the effective contribution will come back to the old deduction rate of 24%.

Notes:
India’s leading NBFC and a Public sector Unit (PSU) under Ministry of Power, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has partnered with Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur (IIT-K) for Training and Research in Smart Grid Technology
Under the agreement, PFC will provide financial assistance of over Rs 2 Crore to the institution under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. This is expected to promote research and Entrepreneurship Development in the field.

Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a knowledge portal named ‘MSME Saksham’, in association with TransUnion CIBIL.
The comprehensive financial education and knowledge platform will provide financial awareness to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and assist them in getting quick access to formal and affordable credit facilities.

Notes:
Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has received SKOCH Gold Award for its “Empowerment of Tribals through IT enabled Scholarship Schemes”.
The 66th SKOCH award ceremony was organised on the title “India responds to Covid through Digital Governance”. The Tribal affairs won the award in ‘Digital India & E-Governance’ competition. The Ministry had integrated its 5 Scholarship Schemes with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Portal.

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:
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has integrated four additional states Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarakhand to the One Nation One Ration Card scheme.
With this, the scheme has been enabled in a total of 24 States/UTs across the country. Around 80 percent of the beneficiaries of National Food Security Act (NFSA) have been covered. The Ministry aims to integrate all states/UTs to the scheme by March 2021.

Notes:
The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) is an apex Ayurveda medicine and research institution located in New Delhi.
It was seen in news as the institute has started providing free testing and treatment to patients in its COVID 19 Health Centre (CHC). AYUSH Minister Shri Naik inaugurated the ventilator-equipped Intensive Care Unit of the centre as well as a COVID Call Centre at AIIA.

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:
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar has virtually launched ‘DD Assam’ channel, jointly with the Chief Minister of Assam.
The 24×7 channel will showcase the rich history of the state with programs like music programmes, travelogues, reality shows and feature films focussing on folk culture and tribal life. Door Darshan has already been running channels in several north eastern states.