Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has offered a credit facility of Rs 10000 crore to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the National Housing Bank (NHB).
The fund of Rs 5,000 crore each is provided at policy lending rate to the banks, its will be deployed to boost rural lending and affordable housing across the country. Under this facility, small NBFCs and micro-lenders will extend small loans to the poor. Earlier, NABARD got a refinance support of Rs 35,000 crore and NHB got Rs 10,000 crore.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs implements the PM SVANidhi Scheme. It was launched in June 2020, to provide affordable Working Capital loan to Street vendors to resume their livelihoods.
Recently, the Ministry has launched Letter of Recommendation (LoR) module for the scheme. It enables the vendors who do not possess Identity Card (ID) and Certificate of Vending (CoV), to avail benefits under the scheme.

Notes:
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People or the World Tribal Day is celebrated on August 9 every year.
It marks the date of the inaugural session of the Working Group on the Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in 1982. This year the theme of the day is ‘COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience’. It aims to preserve and sensitise about the traditional knowledge and practices of the indigenous population.

Notes:
India’s leading trade association, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has partnered with GeM to organise the ‘National Public Procurement Conclave’.
The fourth edition of the conclave has been inaugurated by the Union Commerce& Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. He also asked more buyers and sellers to join the Government-e-Marketplace (GeM). He also warned sellers from selling poor quality goods or charging hefty prices.

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.

Notes:
Former India footballer who played for Kolkata-based Mohun Bagan football club, Manitombi Singh passed away at the age of 39, at his native village in Manipur.
Manitombi Singh was a part of the Indian Under-23 team that lifted the 2003 LG Cup by beating Vietnam 3-2. It was India’s first international victory at an 8-nation tournament since 1971. He also played for India in the 2002 Asian Games. He also served as the Coach for Manipur State League’s Anouba Imagi Mangal.

Notes:
Every year, 10th of August is observed as World Biofuel Day to create awareness on importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. It is also aimed at highlighting the various initiatives made by the Government in the Biofuel sector.
Since 2015, the World Biofuel Day is being observed by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. A webinar on this occasion was organized by the Petroleum Ministry, with the theme “Biofuels towards Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

Notes:
IC-IMPACTS is an Annual Research Conference between India and Canada. ‘IMPACTS’ stands for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnership to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability.
The conference for the current year was held on 6th August, in a virtual mode. The conference discussed ways of boosting the cooperation between the two countries higher levels by strengthening existing international links, sharing best practices of two countries, and initiating new collaborations.

Notes:
A book titled ‘Connecting, Communicating, Changing’ will be released by the Defence Minister at Delhi. It narrates the third year in Office of Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu. The e-version of the book would be released by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.
The book highlights the Vice President’s travel in India & abroad, his interaction with foreign nationals, world leaders and various sections of the Indian society including farmers, scientists, administrators, industry leaders and artists, among others.

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.