Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

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).

Notes:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has estimated that around 24 million children may drop out of their schools next year.
UNESCO released a policy brief on the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on education. It also estimated that the educational financing gap is also likely to increase by one third. Girls and young women are likely more vulnerable to child marriage, early pregnancy and gender-based violence.

Notes:
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative of the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the country.
AIM conducts the ATL Tinkering Marathon, a national annual innovation challenge in partnership with MyGOV. AIM has released the results of the 2019 edition of the challenge. As many as 150 winners of the Marathon was announced by the AIM.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enhanced the amount of loan that banks can provide against the pledge of gold ornaments and jewellery.
As per the guidelines, banks can give 90 per cent of the pledged gold as loan for non-agricultural purposes. Earlier, the loan to value (LTV) limit was 75 per cent. This will only be applicable to banks and not to gold loan companies and will be valid till March 2021.

Notes:
The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) releases the Business Confidence Index (BCI) and Business Expectation Survey (BES).
As per the recent survey conducted by NCAER, the Business Confidence Index fell to 62% from the last year’s level. The index recorded in the first quarter of this fiscal is the lowest index since 1991. During the period, the BCI for North India increased by 25.1% and decreased by 89.3% and 68.1% for East and West India.

Notes:
The state of Tamil Nadu is to set up a park exclusively for the electric vehicle manufacturing eco-system. This will be the country’s first such park.
The state is also targeting investments for around Rs 50000 crore and employment for over 1.5 lakh people in the EV sector. Tamil Nadu had announced a detailed EV policy last year with incentives and subsidies for manufacture and purchase. The state has signed MoUs with several companies in this regard.

Notes:
Indian Journalist Nitin Sethi has won the prestigious investigative journalism award, given by the Asian College of Journalism.
He has been awarded for his coverage and investigative articles on Electoral Bonds, published on Huffington Post India. K. P. Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism was awarded to the Hindu’s Shiv Sahay Singh.

Notes:
Bangladesh has decided to construct a monument for the Indian soldiers who died in 1971, during the country’s efforts for independence from Pakistan.
Bangladesh announced that the war memorial would be constructed to align with the 50th anniversary of the country’s Independence Day celebrations. Bangladesh already has a National Memorial at Dhaka for all 1971 martyrs, but the proposed one is to honour only Indian soldiers.

Notes:
The Public Enterprises Selection Board has selected Soma Mondal as the next Chairperson of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
She will become the first woman chairperson of the public sector steel giant, if the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approves her appointment. She will also become the first woman to lead a steel company, in the world. The present Chairman Anil Chaudhary is to superannuate this year.

Notes:
India and Maldives recently signed a contract for development of five eco-tourism zones in Addu city of Maldives.
The development of the eco-tourism zones is a part of the projects being implemented under the High-Impact Community Development project (HICDP) scheme. It involves a total assistance of USD 5.5 million to the Maldives for high-impact assets development.