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:
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:
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:
The Sports Ministry has constituted a 12-member committee to select this year’s National Sports Awards winners.
The committee is to be headed by retired Supreme Court Justice, Mukundakam Sharma. It will select the award winners among both athletes and coaches. The members include Former India Cricketer Virender Sehwag, Hockey star Sardar Singh and Paralympic silver-medallist Deepa Malik.

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:
Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh has recently passed away at the age of 64. He was undergoing treatment in hospital for the past few months.
Several political leaders condoled the death of Amar Singh. He was a businessman turned Politician who had acquaintances in all major parties. He was active in his social media account even during last week.

Notes:
As per the National Hurricane Center of the United States, North Carolina has recently witnessed a Hurricane Isaias.
The hurricane has made a landfall near Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina. More than a dozen tornadoes have been reported in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. At least 2 people is said to have been killed in the hurricane.

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:
Former Maharashtra Chief minister Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar passed away at the age of 89, due to prolonged illness.
He had earlier been tested positive for coronavirus disease. Nilangekar was a Congress leader, who was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from June 1985 and March 1986. However, he resigned from the post after an allegation and order of the Bombay High Court.

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).