Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
A 13-day mega military exercise between Indian and Russian army is scheduled to be organised from August 1 at Volgograd city located in Russia. The name of the Joint military exercise between Indian and Russian army is INDRA. The scheduled exercise is the 12th edition of INDRA and it is named “INDRA-21”.
Accroding to the Indian army, 250 personnel from each side will participate in this 12th edition of the joint military exercise. The military exercise will help in strengthening the bilateral security cooperation and will serve to reinforce the longstanding bond of friendship between India and Russia. It will also conduct counter-terror operations as mandated under the UN’s framework of joint forces against international terror groups.

Notes:
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has set up a committee after receiving the proposals from the government of Puducherry and Sri Lanka to start the passenger shipping between Karaikal Port (Puducherry) and Kankesanthurai Port (Sri Lanka).
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between India and Sri Lanka in 2011 and under the provisions of this amendment, the Puducherry govt. and the govt. of Sri Lanka has sent proposals to the Union government of India.
The proposals to start the ferry service for passenger shipping between these two ports has been sent by King lear limited.

Notes:
Britain won a gold medal recently at the Tokyo Olympics in a mixed 4x100m medley relay event which is a Swimming event. Four British swimmers including male and female both participated in the mixed 4x100m medley relay and they finished first by taking total time duration of  3:37.58s. They set a world record by finishing the event in this time duration. The four swimmers who set this world record are Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin.

Notes:
Sanjeev Kishore was an alumnus of Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE), Jamalpur. He has been appointed as the new General Manager of South Western Railway (SWR). Earlier, he served as Additional Member (Production Units) of Railway Board.
He is a recipient of the National Award (Minister of Railways Award) for Meritorious Service in 2003 and a Fellow of Institutions of Engineer India and Institution of Mechanical Engineers, United Kingdom.
South Western Railway is one of the 18 Railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hubballi in Karnataka state. It was carved out from Southern Railways and South Central Railways in 2003.

Notes:
All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conduct study on ‘Ashwagandha’ for promoting recovery from Covid-19. Clinical trials will be conducted on 2000 participants in three U.K. Cities : Birmingham, Leicester and London.
All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury and a constituent college of the University of London that specifies in public health and tropical medicine. It was founded in 1899 by Patrick Manson.

Notes:
India & Israel collaborated recently to develop rapid testing for COVID-19  in under 30 seconds with the involvement of advanced technological expertise of Israel and Indian development and production capabilities.
Trials are being conducted at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya (RML) hospital at a special site. Four different technologies are  taken under consideration for clinical trials : Voice test, Breath analyser test, Isothermal testing and Polyamino acid testing.

Notes:
Shri Bhupendra Singh, Madhya Pradesh Urban Development and Housing Minister launched “Ek Mask-Anek Zindagi” public awareness campaign on August 1, 2021. The campaign will end on August 15, 2021.
The main idea behind the initiation of this campaign is to spread awareness about wearing masks as an preventive step towards controlling the spread of Covid-19. Mask Banks will be established under this scheme where people can donate new masks for poor and needy people. Citizens can donate mask or funds with the help of NGOs also.

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:
‘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:
Nikol Pashinyan, the chairman of the Civil Contract Party has been re-appointed as the Prime Minister of Armenia. He was first appointed as the Prime Minister in 2018.
President Armen Srkissian approved Pashinyan’s candidacy for the post of Prime Minister of Armenia.
Armenia is a country in Asia. It lies in the mountainous Caucasus region between Asia and Europe. Yerevan is the capital of Armenia and  Armenian dram is its currency.