Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), an US based India-centric business advocacy group has announced to honour Anand Mahindra and Shantanu Narayen with 2020 Leadership Awards.
The Mahindra group Chairman and Adobe Chairman and CEO are awarded for promoting US-India bilateral ties. It will be presented at 3rd Annual Leadership Summit of USISPF titled “US-India Week: Navigating New Challenges”, that will be virtually convened from August 31.

Notes:
The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance has notified the ‘Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020’.
The norms for enforcing the ‘rules of origin’ provisions has been released by the Government recently. These rules will come into effect from September 21, 2020 and will apply where preferential rate of duty is claimed by importer. The ”Rules of origin” provision mandates minimal processing in the FTA country.

Notes:
Researchers at IIT – Bombay and Shiv Nadar University have claimed that they have developed a technology to produce environment friendly Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) batteries.
The Li-S batteries would be three times more energy efficient and cost effective than conventional Lithium-ion batteries. The production of Li-S batteries uses products from the petroleum industry and agro-waste along with co polymers, and thus has a positive impact on environment.

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:
The water technology company “Va Tech Wabag” has been conferred with the Global Water Award. This award has been given to the company for setting up a tertiary treatment reverse osmosis plant (TTRO) with a capacity of 45 million litres a day, at Chennai.
The award has been given under ‘wastewater project of the year’ category. With this project, Chennai is the first Indian city to reuse more than 20 % of its treated wastewater.

Notes:
As per the recent date given by the Ministry of Finance to the Rajya Sabha, over 15 crore loans worth Rs 4.78-lakh crore have been disbursed to women borrowers since the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) was launched.
Among the states, Tamil Nadu topped the list of women beneficiaries with loans amounting Rs 58227 crores. It is followed by the women in West Bengal (Rs 55,232 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 47,714 crore).

Notes:
The Republican Party of the United States has formally re-nominated President Donald Trump as the party’s Presidential candidate and Vice President Mike Pence as the running mate of the President.
The Presidential Election is to be held on November 3 in the United States. Elected Republican Party delegates from all 50 States of the country polled votes to re-nominate Trump. Democratic party had earlier nominated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as their nominees of President and VP respectively.

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:
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has introduced a product Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee Programme to NBFC-MFIs.
This is intended to promote unhindered flow of credit in rural areas, which has been affected by COVID 19 pandemic. The product provides partial credit guarantee on pooled loans extended to small and mid-sized micro finance institutions (MFIs).

Notes:
Renowned scientist and the present head of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr.G.Satheesh Reddy has been given a 2 year extension as the Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman DRDO.
This extension in his service was approved by the Appointments committee of the Union Cabinet. Earlier, he was appointed for the post in August 2018.