Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The first batch of five Rafale fighter jets have landed at the Ambala Air Force Base, located in the state of Haryana.
The Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria received the fighter jets, which will be inducted in the No. 17 Squadron, ‘Golden Arrows’. The jets were flown by Indian Air Force pilots for seven hours with the help of the mid-air refuellers.

Notes:
A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan-Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (UBA-IITD) and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA), New Delhi.
The objective of the MoU is to provide joint action in the area of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) for rural development of India. UBA is a flagship program of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) by connecting academic institutions with local communities.

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:
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:
Veteran Folk musician Sonam Tshering Lepcha has recently passed away at Kalimpong, West Bengal at the age of 92.
He travelled to various parts of Sikkim and compiled several Indian folk and traditional Lepcha songs. He was also known for his efforts to popularise and represent Lepcha culture. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award by the Government.

Notes:
The Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR) located in the state of Karnataka has developed the ‘Cashew India’ application for farmers of cashew in India.
The app gives information on cashew grafts, cultivation, post-harvest processing, and market information to stakeholders such as farmers, researchers and processors. The app is available in 11 languages and funded by the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.

Notes:
The European Union has imposed its first-ever sanctions over cyber attacks, on alleged agents, spies and firms of Russia, China and North Korea.
Six people and three groups which have been hit with sanctions also include the GRU military intelligence agency of Russia. The agency was earlier blamed by the European Union for the 2017 WannaCry ransomware and NotPetya malware attacks and a cyber espionage campaign.

Notes:
Global chemical company SABIC’s polycarbonate plant in Spain is set to become the world’s first that will run entirely on renewable power.
The Riyadh-headquartered company has signed a major agreement with an electricity utility company Iberdrola, in this regard. This plant is expected to be completely operational by the year 2024.

Notes:
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and non-profit Pure Earth jointly released a report titled “The Toxic Truth: Children’s exposure to lead pollution undermines a generation of potential”.
As per the report, one third of the world’s children (800 million) are affected by lead poisoning and 275 million of them are in India. The report also highlights that around half of the affected children were from South Asia. Informal recycling of lead-acid batteries is a major contributor to lead poisoning.

Notes:
The Rajasthan state government is set to launch the ‘Indira Rasoi Yojana’ in urban areas of the state from August 20.
Under the scheme, the poor and needy people will get nutritious food for Rs 8. As many as 358 kitchens in 213 urban bodies will be made functional. The state government is to spend Rs 100 crore per year on this scheme.