Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
Interceptor Boat ‘ICGS C-454’, that has been built by Larsen and Toubro, was recently launched into the service of the Coast Guard.
The newly-built boat of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was launched in Surat, as per the recent notification from the Defence Ministry. It has a length of 27 meters and a maximum speed of 45 nautical miles or 83 kilometers per hour.

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.

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:
The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is to launch a new toll-free helpline for Mental health rehabilitation.
The new helpline will provide support to the callers regarding first-aid, psychological support, distress management among others in as many as 13 major languages. Several issues regarding the mental health of people are noted during the Covid-19 crisis.

Notes:
As per a CRISIL report, the average income earned by MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers has doubled during the COVID lockdown.
As per the report, the income for unskilled labourers has doubled to around Rs.1000 per month during April to July 2020 from Rs.509 in the previous year. Also, this period witnessed growth in work execution by 46% in person-days.

Notes:
The Union Culture Ministry has announced the formation of seven new circles of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
This has been announced following the Prime Minister’s call to preserve and register archaeological monuments. The new circles are – Trichy (Tamil Nadu), Raiganj (West Bengal), Rajkot (Gujarat), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) and Hampi (Karnataka). Earlier there were 29 circles of ASI in India.

Notes:
Apex body on data protection in India, set up by NASSCOM, the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), along with PayPal India released a report titled ‘Fraud & Risk Management in Digital Payments’.
The report suggests to safeguard payments for consumers, MSMEs, businesses, as the e-commerce market in India and UPI transactions are growing manifold during the recent times. It also discussed about the threats in the payment ecosystem and its prevention.

Notes:
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has constituted a 5-member panel headed by V Ramagopal Rao (Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi) to review the charter of its laboratories.
The panel has been set up by the DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy. The panel is required to submit its report within 45 days. The panel is mandated to suggest measures to implement ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ in Defence sector and to reduce the dependence on imported weapons.

Notes:
The apex judicial body, Supreme Court of India has held that state Governments may make legislations for providing reservation to sub-castes within Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories.
The judgment was pronounced by the Constitution bench of Justices – Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose. But the bench has referred the matter to Chief Justice of India to send it for consideration by a larger bench.

Notes:
Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the enhancement in Prize money of four of the seven National Sports and Adventure Awards.
The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is increased to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 7.5 lakh; that of Arjuna Award is enhanced to 15 lakh rupees from 5 lakh. The Dhronacharya (Lifetime) awardees will now be given 15 lakh rupees while Dhronacharya (Regular) will be given 10 lakhs. Dhyanchand Awardees will be given 10 lakh rupees.