Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs has formed a five-member central team under Smart Cities Director Rahul Kapoor.
The panel will formulate project reports for both the cities, to improve infrastructure and employment opportunities in Ladakh. These cities have been selected in addition to the 100 smart cities in different states. This idea was initially proposed by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Notes:
The Union Government has extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for 2018-19 fiscal by two months till September 30.
The reason for the extension is constraints due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown. The Central Board of Direct Taxes has extended the deadline for the third time to September 30. Earlier it was postponed from March 31 to June 30 and then to July 31.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation recently announced that IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) will be the single nodal agency to regulate space activities and the use of ISRO facilities by private sector.
The Union Cabinet cleared the setting up of IN-SPACe as a separate body. Announcing the detailed structure of IN-SPACe, ISRO said that the body will have its own Chairman, technical experts from academia and industries and members of Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of External Affairs.

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates has successfully commenced operation of the Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power plant.
The Barakah reactor is located in the oil-rich city of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. With the commission, the UAE joins the group of 30 countries that can generate nuclear energy. It is built and run by a joint venture with Korea Electric Power Corporation.

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:
Veteran England all-rounder Ian Botham has been made a member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament.
The 64-year-old former England captain is the first cricketer to be awarded this honour since 2011. He is among the 36 new members announced by the Government. He was knighted in the year 2007 for his services in cricket and in the field of charity.

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:
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:
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has unveiled the draft ‘Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020’ for public feedback.
As per the policy, the aim is to achieve Defence and Aerospace exports of USD 5 billion by the year 2025. It also seeks to increase the manufacturing turnover in Defence sector to $25 bn or ₹1,75,000 crore.

Notes:
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank laid the foundation stone of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur.
The Minister inaugurated it virtually along with the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur, in Dhaulakuan, Himachal Pradesh. The institute has been operationalised by IIM Lucknow from August 2015 as the mentor Institution. The Union Government has sanctioned Rs 531.75 Crore for the construction and functioning of the institute.