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:
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 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:
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

Notes:
World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated during the first week of August (August 1-7) across the world in many countries.
The campaign was initially organised by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in association with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF in 1992. The week also marks the signing of the Innocenti Declaration. The theme of this year is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.

Notes:
The Government of India has announced a Logo design contest for the flagship initiative ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
The ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat Logo Design Contest’ is to be conducted through MyGov platform. As per the notification, the last date of submission of entries is 5th August 2020. The winning logo with the most distinct and creative design will win a cash award of Rs 25000.

Notes:
Veteran theatre mentor and the longest serving director of the National School of Drama, Ebrahim Alkazi has passed away recently at the age of 94.
He won several prestigious awards including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award & Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship. He had trained several artists and his significant plays include Tughlaq and Andha Yug.

Notes:
The present Chairman of Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Ajay Tyagi has been given an 18-month extension till February 2022.
According to a Personnel Ministry order, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved his extension. The 1984 batch IAS (retired) officer has been serving as the Chairman since March 2017.

Notes:
Pune-based Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), a deemed university under the Defence Ministry’s Department of Defence Research and Development, has won the first prize in the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2020.
SIH is a national-level digital product building competition, jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and AICTE. The DIAT team developed a technology called ‘DRISHTI’ to recognise face, expression and gesture using artificial intelligence (AI).