Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
A beginner level course on French has been started in Lok Sabha of the Parliament for the officials and staff of the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The course has been inaugurated by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This course is an initiative by Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE). In future, courses in German, Spanish, Russian and other important world languages would also be organized.

Notes:
The “Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation”, constituted by the Home Ministry, for the year 2020 has been awarded to 121 Police personnel.
This medal was constituted in the year 2018 by the Union Government with the aim to promote professional standards of investigation of crime. It also stands as a Reward of Excellence in Investigation by investigating officers.

Notes:
The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative was launched by the United States in 2019, aiming to promote women’s economic empowerment.
Recently, India’s Reliance Foundation has partnered with US Agency for International Development (USAID) and W-GDP. The W-GDP Women’s Connect Challenge (WCC) to be launched by the Reliance Foundation to bridge gender digital divide and empower women.

Notes:
The Bombay Stock Exchange has signed a MoU with two Maharashtra Based Bullion trade associations namely Akola Sarafa Association and Akola Sarafa Va Suvarnakar Yuva Sangh.
Through this MoU, the BSE aims to create awareness on price risk management for bullion traders, and move them towards organised trading. The MoU is aimed at enhancing the cooperation between Bombay Stock Exchange and physical markets in areas of knowledge sharing, education and training.

Notes:
With an aim to improve the efficiency and transparency in asset classification process, the Reserve Bank of India issued a direction to implement “system-based asset classification” in Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs).
Those UCBs having total assets of Rs.2000 crore or above as on 31st March 2020, should implement system-based asset classification from 30th June 2021. Those UCBs having total assets equal to or more than Rs.1000 crore but less than Rs.2000 crore shall implement it from 30th September 2021.

Notes:
China has initiated a new campaign to reduce food waste, called the “Clean Plate Campaign 2.0”.
The campaign has been implemented after the Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted that Covid-19 had created an alarming situation on food waste. The first version of Clean Plate Campaign was launched in 2013 which aimed at restricting excessive official feasts and receptions.

Notes:
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is an annual film festival held in Goa, every year in the month of November.
The Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant has confirmed that the Film Festival will be held as per schedule in Goa between November 20 and 28, this year. This festival is organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals in association with the state government- owned Entertainment Society of Goa.

Notes:
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi announced that its arm MI India will distribute over 2,500 smartphones worth Rs 2 crore to Indian children, to support online education.
MI India will partner with Indian non-profit organisation ‘Teach for India’, to carry out the distribution process. The hand sets would be used in shifts to utilise the service effectively, to enable children access quality education.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has partnered with leading online learning platform Coursera, to offer two new certificate programs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) and in Data science. It is proposed to launch these programmes in 2021.
The certificate program in AI& ML would comprise of lectures, on hand learning, team projects and workshops. The certificate program in data science will impart skills in data management, data collection and critical thinking.

Notes:
Soumya Swaminathan, the Chief Scientist of World Health Organisation, was conferred with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s special award, for her advisory role in fighting the COVID-19 in the state.
The Chief Minister’s Best Practices award was given to the Department of treasuries. Greater Chennai Corporation and Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation were also awarded for their significant roles in the fight against the pandemic.