Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The strategic tunnel under the Rohtang Pass was named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in December last year.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has recently announced that the ‘Atal Tunnel’ in Rohtang would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by September 2020. The 8.8-km long tunnel will be the longest tunnel among those in the world above an altitude of 3000 metres.

Notes:
Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has directed that 80 per cent of the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) funds have to mandatorily be used for plantation drives and afforestation.
The rest of the funds are to be used capacity building, as per the separate budget of the state. The recent Finance Commission has increased the devolution to 10% for the forest cover.

Notes:
The International Solar Alliance, ISA is set to organise its first World Solar Technology Summit virtually on September 8, 2020. ISA is an alliance of 121 countries, initiated by India headquartered at Gurugram.
The inaugural address of the summit will be delivered by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ISA President and Minister of New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh. The event will focus on using technology to effectively utilise the solar energy.

Notes:
A 10-member Technical Response Team and 30 tons of Technical Equipment are sent by India to assist Mauritius in its effort to contain oil spill. This has been done in response to the request by the Government of Mauritius.
A Japanese ship named MV Wakashio, ran aground at Pointe d’Esny of Mauritius last month and oil began leaking from it. It is estimated that more than 1000 tons of oil leaked from the ship. Government of Mauritius has announced this as a National Emergency.

Notes:
The World’s tallest Pier bridge is being constructed by Indian Railways in Manipur across the river “Ijai”. The height of its tallest pier is 141m. The bridge is a part of Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line project. The existing record for the tallest pier bridge is 139m at Montenegro in Europe.
The bridge is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.280 crore and the construction work is expected to be completed by March 2020. The total length of the bridge is estimated to be 703 meters.

Notes:
A Quality control laboratory for seafood processors and exporters has been opened by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) at Porbandar, Gujarat.
The lab helps the exporters in testing of seafood to ensure safety as per international regulatory standards. The lab is equipped with advanced instruments to test and analyse antibiotic residues and heavy-metals like arsenic, mercury in seafood.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the framework for setting up of a new umbrella entity for retail payments.
It will operate as a ‘for-profit’ company that will have minimum paid-up capital of Rs 500 crore. It will set up and operate the payment systems such as ATMs, white-label PoS and Aadhaar-based payments. The company will also manage clearing and settlement systems of banks/ non-banks.

Notes:
The title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is awarded to Dream11, an Indian fantasy sports platform. The sponsorship rights have been awarded for Rs.222 crore.
Byju’s came second in the bid at Rs 201 crore and Unacademy stood third in the bid at Rs 171 crore. The 2020 IPL is the 13th edition of the cricket event and is scheduled to be held at the United Arab Emirates.

Notes:
The Government launched ‘Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme’(ECLGS), as a part of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package.
The allocation made for the ECLGS scheme was Rs 3 lakh crore for five months till October 31st. As per the recent news, public and private sector banks have sanctioned loans worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore, as of August 18, 2020 and more than Rs 1 lakh crore was already disbursed.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a one-time relaxation to Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) for extending loans to state-owned electricity distribution companies (Discoms).
This measure has been made by the Government to inject liquidity into Discoms, as a part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme. As per the existing guidelines, Discoms can avail working capital loans equal to 25% of last year’s revenues, under UDAY scheme from PFC and REC.