Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is set to roll out a new National Clinical Registry of COVID-19 patients admitted across the county.
To launch this comprehensive database, the ICMR has collaborated with the Health Ministry and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). This database will help to improve treatment in hospitals and will let officials conduct clinical trials and study the effectiveness of new therapies.

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:
India’s leading credit rating agency ICRA Ltd has appointed N Sivaraman as the Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer.
The appointment has been made for three years with effect from August 10. His tenure may also be extended for two more years. He had held senior positions in L&T Finance Holdings and he has served as the Chief Operating Officer at IL&FS till July 31, 2020.

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:
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:
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:
Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui has recently passed away at the age of 97, after having suffered from Pneumonia.
After a landslide victory, Lee Teng-hui served as the first democratically elected president of Taiwan in the year 1996. He resisted China’s activities to absorb the country and wanted Taiwan to be a ‘country of democracy, freedom, human rights and dignity’.

Notes:
India’s largest private shipping company, Great Eastern Shipping Company has named former Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel as an additional and Independent director.
The Mumbai headquartered company has named him for a term of five years with effect from August 1, 2020. Urjit Patel served as the 24th governor of the RBI from September 2016 to December 2018.

Notes:
Apple surpassed multinational petroleum company Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.
The market capitalisation of the technology company surged to USD 1.82 trillion, as per the regulatory filing of the company. Whereas, the market capitalisation of Aramco stood at USD 1.760 trillion.

Notes:
Facebook has recently launched the second phase of its consumer marketing campaign ‘More Together’ in India.
The first phase was rolled out in the month of March 2020. Through the campaign, Facebook will spotlight people who connected with one another through Facebook for the first time and jointly addressed many challenges