Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is set to open the country’s first Silk Training cum Production Center in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
A school building in the tribal village of Chullyu in the state has been modified into the training cum production center. KVIC will also conduct training of artisans and support the production of Eri Silk, an indigenous silk variety of the North Eastern states.

Notes:
Walmart-owned Flipkart has announced the launch of a Start-up promotion programme named ‘Flipkart Leap’.
Flipkart’s first start-up accelerator program includes a 16-week virtual program to train the B2C and B2B start-ups across the country. The technical experts in Flipkart in the fields of Business, Operations and Technology, along with industry experts will mentor the start-ups.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Hassan Diab has recently stepped down from his post, after a massive blast occurred in the country.
The catastrophic explosion in the capital city Beirut, has triggered a public outrage in the country. It has caused heavy destruction, by killing more than 160 people and injuring over 6,000 people. There have been mass demonstrations against the Government demanding the steeping down of the leadership.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani has recently launched a State-funded scheme named Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana.
It has been launched to replace the central crop-insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Gujarat has exited from the scheme as it considers that the insurance scheme charges hefty premium cost to the State. The new alternate scheme will cover all farmers for the current kharif season.

Notes:
The United States has entered into an agreement with drugmaker Moderna to acquire 100 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The deal has been signed for a cost of around USD 1.5 billion. The United States, as part of its Operation Warp Speed program, has partnered with several companies to acquire millions of doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines, by the end of the year.

Notes:
According to a recent data from the NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft, the dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is not a barren space rock.
It was earlier believed that the dwarf planet is barren but the data collected reveal that it is a water-rich place and there could be a large and deep reservoir of salt water. In the year 2015, the Dawn spacecraft arrived at Ceres, which us far smaller than the Earth’s moon.

Notes:
World Animal Protection, an international animal welfare organisation has released a new report titled “Elephants. Not commodities”.
The third edition of the report reveals that India has the second-highest number of elephants used in tourism in Asia. It also reveals that as many as 225 of the elephants, which is more than 45%, were kept in severely inadequate conditions.

Notes:
Veteran Bollywood lyricist and Urdu poet Dr. Rahat Indori has recently passed away at the age of 70 after being tested positive for Covid-19.
The poet has recently completed 50 years in the field of poetry. He has written several famous Bollywood songs for many hit movies. He has also penned several Urdu poems and mushairas and his latest poem has been titled ‘Bulati Hai Magar Jaane Ka Nahi.’

Notes:
The construction work of the Katra (Jammu and Kashmir) – Delhi Express Road Corridor is proposed to be completed in 3 years and will be operational by 2023. The express corridor would bring down the travel time from Katra to Delhi to around six and half hours.
One key feature of this road is that it will connect the holy cities of Katra and Amritsar, and other major religious shrines between the two destinations.

Notes:
The state of Assam has proposed to launch a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme named “Arunodoi”.
This scheme will be launched in lines with the flagship DBT scheme Jan Dhan Yojana. This is claimed as the largest DBT scheme of Assam till date. The scheme also called as Orunodoi, seeks to transfer Rs 830 per month to around 19.7 lakh families. The main beneficiaries of the scheme will be women.