Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
Ashok Lavasa has recently steeped down from his Election Commissioner position as he is to join the Asian Development Bank.
ADB has appointed Ashok Lavasa as Vice-President for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships. His resignation has been accepted by the Indian President Ram Nath Kovind. He was next in the row to become the Chief Election Commissioner.

Notes:
A joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated that, 41 lakh youth in the country lost jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ‘Tackling the Covid-19 youth employment crisis in Asia and the Pacific’ report stated that construction and farm sector workers account for the majority of job losses. Youth (15-24 years) will be hit harder than adults (25 and older) in the immediate crisis.

Notes:
“Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge” has been launched by the Government of India to promote indigenous microprocessor manufacturing and designing.
100 shortlisted companies will be given grant to build their prototype. 25 finalists will win Rs.1 crore each. The top ten teams will get a fund of total Rs.2.30 crore with 12-month incubation support, from the Ministry of Information Technology.

Notes:
A massive fire outbreak has recently occurred in the Srisailam hydroelectric power plant located in the state of Telangana.
Nine people including five engineers of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation were killed in the massive fire. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed to launch an investigation into the incident. He also announced compensation to the families of the deceased and the injured.

Notes:
Under the Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, Employees and State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has relaxed its norms, wherein it would pay 50% (up from earlier 25%) of average wages of three months as unemployment benefit.
The scheme would be available to people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic between March 24 and December 31 this year. This is expected to benefit nearly 40 lakh industrial workers.

Notes:
With more than 15 crore users and more than 6.6 million Bluetooth traced contacts, the official contact tracing application of India, Aarogya Setu is the most downloaded contact tracing app in the world, as on date.
The application team has recently introduced ‘Open API Service’, which is used to obtain answers for real-time queries about the health status of their employees or any other Aarogya Setu User who has consented to share their health status.

Notes:
Pakistan has acquired an advanced warship named “054A/P, a guided missile frigate” from China.
This is the largest ship that China has built for any country and it is one among the 4 most sophisticated naval warships that is being built for Pakistan. This acquisition would double the combat power of Pakistan’s Navy.

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:
A team of scientists of Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune has discovered Ultra Violet light originating from a galaxy named AUDFs01 which is 9.3 billion light years away from Earth.
The UV light was detected by India’s first multi wavelength satellite “Astrosat”. This discovery was made by the team of scientists, led by Dr Kanak Saha.

Notes:
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), has signed a MoU with AFC India Limited, to mutually work together in the field of agriculture and allied sectors.
AFC India Ltd, formerly known as Agricultural Finance Corporation Ltd., is wholly owned by Commercial Banks, NABARD and EXIM Bank. APEDA has also signed a MoU with National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), Delhi.