Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has acquired a small equity stake in the leading Indian private sector bank, ICICI Bank.
It is one among the 357 institutional investors which had subscribed to the issue of the Qualified institutional investors (QIP) placement, of Rs 15,000 crore. PBOC has invested Rs 15 crore in the issue. It had earlier bought a stake in leading institution, HDFC.

Notes:
The High Court of Madras has rejected reopening of “Sterlite Copper” smelting plant in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. Sterlite Copper, a unit of Vedanta Ltd had been catering to nearly 40 % of India’s copper demand from its smelting plant at Tuticorin.
The High Court’s order dismissed all 10 petitions filed by Vedanta to reopen the plant. The Court upheld the orders issued to close the plant by the Tamil Nadu Government and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

Notes:
India’s top order batsman Rohit Sharma has been recommended for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour. If awarded, Rohit Sharma will be the 4th cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to be conferred with the award.
Vinesh Phogat (wrestling), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), Rani Rampal (Hockey) and M Thangavelu (Paralympics) have also been recommended for the award.

Notes:
The Southern Railways zone has recently conducted the trial of Roll on– Roll (RO-RO) off service, in the Tokur – Shoranur section of the Palakkad division.
According to the information from the Indian Railways, Trucks loaded with vegetables, coconuts and rubber from Kozhikode and Ernakulam regions in Kerala can be transported to Gujarat and Maharashtra. In the return direction, polymers, textiles and plastics can be transported.

Notes:
Joe Biden has accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party for Presidential Candidature. Joe Biden is the former Vice President of USA and is 77 years old.
Joe Biden served as the 47th Vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and as the United States Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009. The Presidential elections in the USA are scheduled to be held on November 3, 2020.

Notes:
The Government of India has appointed former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar as the new Election Commissioner. He is set to succeed Ashok Lavasa, who has resigned from the post, to join the Asian Development Bank.
Rajiv Kumar is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Jharkhand cadre. He has been instrumental in merger of 10 public sector banks into four.

Notes:
South Africa’s cricket all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been recently inducted into the ICC hall fame.
In addition, Australian women all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar and former Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas were also inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. Jacques Kallis is the 4th South African player to be inducted.

Notes:
Union Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated and laid foundation stones of as many as 45 Highway Projects in Madhya Pradesh.
The project outlay is Rs 11427 crore and it includes projects include road length of 1361 kilometres. The Minister also announced Rs 700 crore from Central Road Fund (CRF) for Madhya Pradesh to be utilised in the road sector.

Notes:
The administration of New Delhi has launched a new campaign named ‘Nirmaan Mazdoor Registration campaign’ from August 24 to September 11.
Through the campaign, the Government fast-tracks the process of analysing the applications received under the initiative for online registration of construction workers. Delhi has received over 70,000 applications for the registration.

Notes:
German golf player ‘Sophia Popov’ became the first German women to win a major tournament victory by clinching AIG British Women’s Open at Royal Troon.
The 27-year-old player holds a world ranking of 304. She finished two strokes clear of her opponent Jasmine Suwannapura of Thailand. Popov had won the International European Ladies Amateur Championship in 2010.