Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently released ‘National Cancer Registry Programme Report 2020’.
As per the report, the number of people affected by cancer could increase by 12% in the next five years. By 2025, around 1.5 million people are estimated to suffer from the disease, increased from 1.39 million in 2020. Tobacco-related cancers find the major portion in the list.

Notes:
Indian railways has announced that it has procured ‘Ninja Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ (UAV) for surveillance operations.
The Railway Protection Force is deploying the Ninja UAVs to improve monitoring and provide safety to railway assets and passengers. RPF has recently procured nine drones worth over Rs 30 lakh. It is to procure more drones shortly, which are capable of for real-time tracking and video streaming.

Notes:
USD 1 billion (equivalent to Rs 7,485 crore) financial support by way of loan has been approved by the Manila based-Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Delhi-Meerut regional rapid transit system.
The project is first of the three priority rail corridors in country. The financial assistance from ADB will be used for construction of railway tracks, station buildings, maintenance facilities and power supply.

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:
Social networking major Twitter released its latest transparency report, which has the data between July -December 2019 on its rule enforcement, legal demands on content removal among others.
As per the report, India stands at fifth position in requesting Twitter and Periscope to remove content, based on local laws. Japan, Russia and Turkey ranked in the top 3 positions in the list. Twitter recorded a 21% rise in global account information requests and 789 requests from India.

Notes:
IIT Kharagpur has recently inaugurated the Academy of Classical and Folk Arts on its campus, to offer training on music, fine arts and other performing arts.
This is in lines with the New Education Policy, 2020 to spark innovation and multidisciplinary teaching. The academy hosts a ‘100 ragas’ initiative, which will be headed by the Hindustani classical vocalist Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty.

Notes:
Yes Bank has executed an agreement with GPL Finance and Investments Limited for the complete sale of equity shareholding of YES Asset Management Limited “YESAMC” and YES Trustee Limited “YTL”.
Both these firms are wholly owned subsidiaries of YES Bank Limited. It is expected that the sale would be completed in the next 8 to 12 months. After completion of the sale, the two firms Yes Bank will completely exit from its mutual fund business.

Notes:
Karnataka has announced that it would be the first state to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka participated in the ‘Highlights of the National Education policy and its implementation’ workshop. He announced that the state has started to launch administrative reforms and amendments to implement the policy.

Notes:
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is to finance the USD 500 million Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III.
The Government of India, state Government of Maharashtra and Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation signed a loan agreement with AIIB for this project. It will improve the network capacity and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai.

Notes:
‘Nuakhai Juhar’ is the agricultural festival and one of the most ancient festivals celebrated in Odisha, Chhattisgarh. It is also celebrated in regions of neighbouring states. This festival is celebrated to welcome the new crop of the season.
‘Nua’ means new and ‘Khai’ means eat. During the festival, people worship food and farmers offer their first agriculture produce from their lands to Goddess Samaleswari.