Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
In 2011, the UN General assembly proclaimed July 30 as the International day of Friendship. The decision was taken with an idea that this day will create a friendship bond between peoples of different cultures, countries and religions and will help in achieving world peace by building bridges between different communities.
The United Nations is an international organisation which was founded in 1945. It is headquartered in New York. The main aim of this organisation is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation and act as a center for harmonising the actions of different nations. At present, 193 countries are the members of the United Nations (UN).

Notes:
As per the, “Information Technology Rules, 2021” , the social media platforms with more than 50 lakh users in India need to publish compliance report every month by mentioning the details of complaints received and actions taken. Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 came into force on May 26, 2021 and was released by the  Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in 2021.
According to the transparency report released by Google recently in the end of July, Google India removed over 1,50,000 pieces of content from its social media platforms in the month of May and June and it also took removal actions on 11,61,223 pieces of content as a result of automated detection process during May-June.
Information Technology Rules, 2021 were released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in February, 2021.

Notes:
Rashad Hussain is an American attorney, diplomat and professor. He has been nominated as the Ambassador-at Large for International Religious Freedom by Joe Biden, the President of USA. Rashad Hussain is Director for Partnerships and Global Engagement at the National Security Council.
He previously served as Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. He served as U.S. Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), U.S Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications and Deputy Associate White House Counsel.

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:
The tenure of India as a non-permanent of the UN Security Council began on January 1,2021. On August 1, 2021 India took over the UN Security Council Presidency for the month of August. The August presidency will be India’s first presidency as a non-permanent member. India will again preside over the council in December 2022 which is the last month of its two-year tenure. France was the immediate predecessor of India in the UN Security Council Presidency. This is India’s tenth tenure as a president.
United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation and help in harmonizing the actions of nations.
UN was founded on 24th October, 1945. Antonio Guterres is the current security general of UN.

 

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:
In the month of July, 2021, India has recorded the highest ever monthly merchandise export. The merchandise exports rose to 35.17 billion dollars. According to the provisional data of the commerce industry, there was a healthy growth in the shipment of petroleum, engineering goods and gems and jewellery.
Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS) is notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Notes:
“Har Hith Store” scheme has been launched recently by Manohar Lal Khattar, the Chief Minister of Haryana. The scheme has been launched to encourage students towards self-employment. Under this scheme, a chain of grocery shops will be opened in rural and urban areas to sell the best quality daily-needs products at reasonable prices.
For the implementation of the scheme, Haryana Agro Industries Corporation Limited (HAICL) signed Trade of Terms (TOT) with 51 corporate companies which will provide quality products to these stores. They will also provide Information Technology Support System.

Notes:
Madras High Court has revoked a law that was passed by the state government of Tamil Nadu which banned online games like poker, rummy and other skill-based games that involve stakes. Quashing an amendment on the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act that banned online games, the court stated that complete ban on online games is disproportionate and irrational.

Notes:
The Indian men’s hockey team has claimed an Olympic medal after 41 years, beating Germany 5-4 to claim the bronze in the ongoing Olympic Games on 5th August, 2021. The eight-time former gold-winners, who suffered a slump in performance in the last four decades, made the resurgence in the best way possible by bagging an Olympic medal. Determined to clinch a medal, the Indian hockey team made one of the most memorable comebacks in the history of the game, fighting back from a two-goal deficit to turn the match in their favour. It is India’s third hockey bronze medal in the history of the Olympics. The other two came in 1968 Mexico City and the 1972 Munich Games.