Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

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:
The Union Government has announced the results of annual survey of cleanliness, the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2020’.
Indore of Madhya Pradesh bagged the top spot in the list, for four years consecutively. Gujarat’s Surat was ranked at the second place while Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai on third place. This is the fifth edition of the survey, that ranks states based on their performance in Swachh Bharat Mission.

Notes:
Veteran Indian author Sudha Murty’s latest collection of short stories, ‘Grandparents’ Bag of Stories’ is to be released in the month of November.
The Penguin Random House India announced the collection which is a sequel of her recent release ‘Grandma’s Bag of Stories’ and will have 20 stories. Sudha Murty has authored several books in English and Kannada especially for children.

Notes:
Madhya Pradesh has sanctioned 58,476 loans to street vendors under Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atma-Nirbhar Scheme (PM SVA Nidhi). This makes Madhya Pradesh the top performing state under the scheme.
More than 47% of the total sanctions in the country is made by Madhya Pradesh. Under the scheme, working capital loan of Rs.10000/- for a term of one year is given to street vendors, to resume their livelihoods.

Notes:
As per a recent release by the Government, India ranks first in terms of number of organic farmers and 9th in terms of area under organic farming.
In order to boost organic farming, the Union Government had launched “Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region” (MOVCD) and “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana” (PKVY) in 2015. Sikkim became the first state in the world to become fully organic in farming.

Notes:
Government owned power major NTPC Limited has recently announced that it is to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary for its renewable energy business.
The company has recently obtained the approval from the Niti Aayog and Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance for formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Notes:
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched its wholly-owned subsidiary, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL).
The company aims to popularise NPCI’s domestic payments technologies such as UPI and RuPay in other countries and co-create payment technologies with them. NPCI has appointed Ritesh Shukla as the Chief Executive Officer of NIPL.

Notes:
The state of California in USA is struggling with more than 500 lightning sparked fires, burning more than 9 lakh acres. More than 1.19 lakh people have been evacuated.
LNU Lightning Complex, SCU Lightning Complex and CZO August Complex had some of the largest fires. It has adversely affected the northern part of California. Several people are involved in containing the fire.

Notes:
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is set to have the largest ecosystem of incubation ecosystem in the country, in a year by setting up 21 centres of excellence.
The proposed 21 centres of excellence (CoEs) will incubate new technologies in various sectors. Out of the 21 CoEs, 12 of them are already operational. Three centres are related to Agriculture and one more is proposed to be launched.

Notes:
The Union External Affairs Ministry has recently organised the first India-Uzbekistan National Coordination Committee.
The virtual meeting was held to monitor the implementation of mutually agreed projects between India and Uzbekistan. They also reviewed implementation of identified projects under India’s LoC, cooperation between the Gujarat state and Andijan region among others.