Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for Culture participated in the G20 Culture Ministers’ Meeting hosted by Italy. The meeting was held on 30 July, 2021. The main focus of the meeting was on ideas related to the protection of cultural heritage. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi presented India’s perspective on the topic ” Culture and Creative Sectors as drivers for growth”. She highlighted the significance of culture and creative sectors in providing economic growth and employment. She discussed about One District One Product Scheme of Uttar Pradesh, Tourism circuits, promotion of Yoga and Ayurveda etc.
G20 is an intergovernmental forum which comprises European Union and 19 countries including India.

Notes:
India ranks Fourth among the top 20 countries which is contributing to biological databases.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh released the “Biotech-PRIDE Guidelines. The term PRIDE means “Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange”.
It has been developed by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology. It was released on July 30, 2021. These guidelines will enable exchange of information to promote research and innovation in different research groups across the country. The Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC) will initially implement these guidelines.
Other existing datasets/data centers will connect to this IBDC called BioGrid. BioGrid will become a national respiratory of knowledge, information and biological data and will be responsible for allowing their exchange, establishing security measures, standards and quality of data sets and establishing detailed modes of access to data.

Notes:
Marcell Jacobs won a gold medal in a 100m race at the Tokyo Olympics on August 1, 2021. He completed the race in 9.80 seconds and became the first Italian man to win an Olympic medal in a 100m race. He also set a European record in 100m race by finishing the race in 9.80 seconds. He is an Italian sprinter and long jumper. He won the 60metres title during the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships.

Notes:
Forbes released Fortune 500 global list of companies on August 2, 2021. According to the list,
Walmart is ranked first in terms of total revenues for their respective fiscal years ended on or before March 31, 2021. Walmart had a revenue of USD 524 billion.
Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. The company is based in United States of America. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was founded on 2 July, 1962 by Sam Walton and Walton family is its owner. Doug Mcmillion is the current CEO of this company.
Forbes is an American business magazine. It is owned by Integrated whale media investments and Forbes family. It features articles on finance, industry, investments and marketing topics. It is based in New Jersey, USA.

Notes:
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Indian Bank and IIT Bombay for extending credit facilities to Start-ups and MSMEs. The initiative is implemented by IIT Bombay. The initiative is named as Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE). Under this initiative, Indian Bank will extend loans of up to 50 crore rupees to these start-ups. Loans will be provided for the purchase of machinery and equipment and other working capital requirements.
Indian Bank is an Indian nationalised financial services and banking company. It was established in 1907. Its headquarter is in Chennai. It is under the ownership of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India.
IIT(Indian Institute of Technology) Bombay was founded in 1958. In 1961, Parliament declared all the IITs as an institute of national importance. IIT Bombay is a public technical and research university located in Powai in Maharashtra.

Notes:
‘Mukhyamantri Vatsalya Yojana’  has been recently launched by Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Under this scheme, Rs. 3000 will be directly transferred into accounts of children who lost  their parents or the earning member of their family during the Covid-19 pandemic. Free education, ration and health facilities will be provided to them till the age of 21.
State Minister Rekha Arya was also present when this scheme/programme was launched.

Notes:
Viktor Axelsen won the gold medal in men’s singles badminton at Tokyo Olympics on August 2, 2021. He belongs to Denmark. He defeated Chen long of china who won the gold medal in 2016 Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Viktor Axelsen is the 2017 World Champion and the gold medalist of 2020 Summer Olympics. He became the first European player to won the World Junior Championship. He defeated Kang Ji-wook of Korea in 2010 and won the World Junior Championship.

Notes:
India and China have disengaged their troops in the Gogra region located in the Eastern Ladakh. The move comes following the twelfth round of talks held between the Corps Commanders of India and China and was held at Chushul Moldo Meeting Point in Eastern Ladakh on July 31. Since May 2020, the troops in this area have been in a face-off situation. The two sides had an in-depth and candid exchange of views on resolution of the remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.

Notes:
6th August, 2021 marked the 76th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing. The United States had dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945, destroying the city and killing 1,40,000 people. Three days later USA dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered on 15th August ending World War II and it’s nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.

Notes:
On 7th August, 2021 navies of India and UAE conducted exercise ‘Zayed Talwar 2021’ off the coast of Abu Dhabi. INS Kochi, with two integral Sea King MK 42B helicopters, deployed in the Persian Gulf, participated in the exercise. UAE participated with UAES AL – Dhafra, a Baynunah class guided missile corvette and one AS – 565B Panther helicopter. As part of the exercise, the ships undertook tactical manoeuvres, Over the Horizon Targeting, Search and Rescue and Electronic Warfare exercises to enhance interoperability and synergy between the two navies. Helicopters were extensively used all through the exercise ranging from Search and Rescue serial to passing of targeting data to ships for simulated missile engagement drills.