Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
United States President Donald Trump has issued orders that would ban the social media applications TikTok and WeChat from operating in the United States in 45 days, if they are not sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies.
The order bans any transaction by any person, with respect to any property with the Chinese company that owns the social media platform, ByteDance Ltd.

Notes:
Mumbai has become the first Indian city to display women symbols on traffic signals. The project is headed by the Ministry of Tourism of the state.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has installed traffic signals that display female icons with triangular frock. This is considered as a change from the default representation of male symbols that ensures gender equality.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has formally launched the Rs 1 lakh crore worth Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
He also handed over Rs 1000 crore to over 2000 farmer societies through video conferencing. The fund assists farmers, PACS, FPOs and agri-entrepreneurs to build community farming assets and post-harvest infrastructure. The Prime Minister also released Rs 17000 crore as the 6th instalment of PM KISAN.

Notes:
Union Defence minister Rajnath Singh launched the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Saptah’ (Self-reliant India week).
The campaign aims to promote the domestic production of Defence equipment in India. Earlier, the Ministry announced that import of over 100 weapons and military platforms will be restricted in a phased manner till 2024

Notes:
The state government of Andhra Pradesh launched its Industrial Development Policy 2020-23. It seeks to provide best infrastructure, set-up, skilled labour and hand-holding support for units.
The policy aims to give an industry-friendly environment aligned with international standards. Some of the incentives include reimbursement of 100 % stamp duty, power reimbursement of Rs 1 per unit for five years, reimbursement of 100 % net SGST for five years, interest subsidy of 3 % for five years, among others.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a new initiative named ‘COVAX’, which aims to fast-track the development of vaccine against the coronavirus.
The WHO recently announced that it is renewing its invite to countries to join its facility. WHO is also in talks with the manufacturers of the potential vaccines and is gathering funds to promote the mass-production of vaccine.

Notes:
ECHO India, a Non-Profit healthcare organization, in association with Naukri.com has launched an initiative named “COVID Health Care Professionals (CHP)”.
The initiative aims to tackle the shortage of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic by deploying trained healthcare professionals at COVID care centre. It is a platform that connects the professionals who are willing to offer healthcare services with hospitals and other health care facilities.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel has announced the launch of a new scheme called ‘Indira Van Mitan Yojana’.
The scheme was announced on the occasion of World Tribal Day. It aims to make the forest dwellers in the state self-reliant. Under this scheme, groups of youth will be formed in 10,000 villages of the state and all forest-based economic activities will be conducted via these groups.

Notes:
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has launched Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Academy in New Delhi.
This has been inaugurated as part of the ongoing week-long behaviour change campaign Gandagi Mukt Bharat. This is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based free mobile online learning course on ODF Plus. The ODF Plus is an extension of the ODF programme under the Swachch Bharat Mission.

Notes:
Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries has gone 10 places ahead in the Fortune Global 500 list and entered into the world’s top 100 companies.
As per the recent 2020 ranking released by Fortune, Reliance has been ranked at 96th place globally. This is the highest rank ever of any Indian company on the Fortune Global 500 list. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) slipped to 151st rank, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is ranked 190th while State Bank of India (SBI) is at 221st rank.