Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
Five sportspersons were named as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees and 27 sportspersons as Arjuna awardees.
Rohit Sharma (Cricket), Rani Rampal (Hockey), para athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling) and Manika Batra (Table Tennis) were selected for the prestigious Khel ratna award. They will be virtually conferred with the award on August 29 on the National Sports Day.

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:
Pakistan has acquired an advanced warship named “054A/P, a guided missile frigate” from China.
This is the largest ship that China has built for any country and it is one among the 4 most sophisticated naval warships that is being built for Pakistan. This acquisition would double the combat power of Pakistan’s Navy.

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.

Notes:
Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has recently distributed over 700 bee boxes, to provide Self-Employment for Migrant Workers.
The boxes have been distributed to the workers of Uttar Pradesh at the KVIC’s training center in Panjokera. The Honey Mission was launched by KVIC before 3 years, to create employment for farmers, tribal people, women and unemployed youth.

Notes:
Walmart-owned Flipkart has recently committed for a complete transition to electric vehicles (EVs), by joining the Climate Group’s global electric mobility initiative, EV100.
Under the EV100 initiative, the companies committed towards fast-tracking the transition to EVs and make the electric transport feasible by the year 2030. Flipkart will place service contracts, install charging infrastructure and conduct awareness programmes.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently released its annual report 2019-20, in which it has estimated that India would have a negative growth of (-) 4.5 % for the year 2020-21.
The central bank has also projected the global growth rate between (-) 6.0 per cent and (-) 7.6 per cent. It also said that the supply of banknotes during 2019-20 was also lower by 23.3 % than that of the previous year.

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 Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has reached close to 20 Lakh (2 million) subscribers during the current financial year from April 2020.
The total subscriber base under the APY scheme has reached 21 million. The APY scheme was launched in 2015, with an aim to create a universal social security system for all, especially the poor and under-privileged. The scheme is administered by PFRDA through the National Pension System (NPS).