Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
A virtual meeting “BRICS Counter Terrorism Working Group” was oraganised recently on July 28-29 under the chairmanship of India. It was the 6th meeting of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Working Group.
The main outcome of the meeting was the finalisation of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan containing specific measures for the implementation of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Strategy adopted by BRICS leaders in 2020.
BRICS includes five major emerging economies : Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs. It was founded in 2006.

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:
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) and State-run Convergence Energy Services Ltd. (CESL) collaborated for setting up EV Charging stations in metro cities across India including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru. CESL and HPCL will identify major highway across India where adequate charging infrastructure could be installed and established.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Its headquarter is in Mumbai. It has approximately 25% market-share in India among public sector understandings and has a strong marketing infrastructure.
State-run Convergence Energy Services Ltd is a subsidiary of state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited. It is a joint venture of public sector companies under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

Notes:
Hungarian Grand Prix, 2021 was held at the Hungaroring in Mogyorod, Hungary on August 1, 2021. Esteban Ocon won his maiden F1 race. Hungarian Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. Esteban Ocon has now taken the Formula One Championship lead from Max Verstappen.
Esteban Ocon belongs to France and he competes for Alpine-Renault.
Formula One World Championship 2021 is a motor racing championship for Formula One cars. It is recognised by the International Automobile Federation which is the governing body of International motorsport. According to FIA, Formula One World Championship  is the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship is being conducted over 23 Grands Prix  across the world.
Lewis Hamilton is the defending World driver and Mercedes is the defending World constructor. They won the titles in 2020.

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:
Tony Abbott has been appointed as the special trade envoy of Australian Prime Minister for his visit to India. He has been appointed with a purpose to deepen trade and investment links that will help drive post-covid recovery. The main focus of the proposed meeting will be on the building of ‘secure and resilient supply chains’.
Tony Abbott was the former Prime Minister of Australia. He was appointed as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia from 2013-2015.

Notes:
A cashless and contactless instrument named ‘e-Rupi’ was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 2, 2021. It has been launched for providing the facilities of digital payments. It will be helpful in strengthening Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by assisting in targeted, transparent and leakage free delivery. e-RUPI is a QR code or SMS string based e-Voucher which is delivered to the mobile of the beneficiaries. These vouchers will be mostly used for health-related payments. Corporates can also use these vouchers for their employees.
It has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India in collaboration with the department of financial services, health ministry and the National Health Authority.

Notes:
Sydney McLaughlin created a world record after winning the women’s 400-metre hurdles in 51.46 seconds at Tokyo Olympics 2020 recently. Her previous record was of 51.90 seconds. She became the first woman to finish the race before 52 seconds in an event, when she set the record of 51.90 seconds at the USA Olympic trials of 2020. She belongs to the United States of America.
At the Tokyo Olympics 2020 event of the women’s 400-metre hurdles , Dalilah Muhammad won the Silver medal and Femke Bol won the Bronze medal.

Notes:
The Government of India has approved development of 11 Industrial Corridors with 32 Projects which will be developed in four phases around the country as part of the National Industrial Corridor Programme (NICP). These include:

1. DMIC: Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor
2. CBIC: Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor
3. Extension of CBIC to Kochi via Coimbatore
4. AKIC: Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor
5. HNIC: Hyderabad Nagpur Industrial Corridor
6. HWIC: Hyderabad Warangal Industrial Corridor
7. HBIC: Hyderabad Bengaluru Industrial Corridor
8. BMIC: Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor
9. VCIC: Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor
10. OEC: Odisha Economic Corridor
11. DNIC: Delhi Nagpur Industrial Corridor

Notes:
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore with the aim to boost export of agricultural and processed food products, especially from the state of Karnataka.  The key areas of cooperation will be developing technologies jointly with APEDA for efficient & precision farming, advance alertness, enhancing quality exports, diversifying the export basket, boosting high-value agri exports, etc.