Current Affairs Quiz - August, 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:
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:
Government of India has appointed Deepak Das as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA) of India. CGA comes under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. Deepak Das is the 25th CGA. He is a 1986-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) officer. He earlier served as the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts in the Central Board of Direct Taxes. He has also been the Director of the Institute of Government Accounts and Finance (INGAF), the training academy of the Indian Civil Accounts Service.
He is an alumnus of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi.

 

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:
Paras Khadka, the former captain of Nepal Cricket Team has retired from the International Cricket at the age of 34. He is the first batsman of Nepal to score century in ODIs as well as T20s. He was the longest-serving captain of Nepal Cricket team. He represented Nepal in three Under-19 World cups (2004, 2006, 2008) and led his country in 2014 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
International Cricket Council (ICC) is headquartered in Dubai. Greg Barclay is the chairman of ICC and Anil Kumble is the chairman of the ICC’s Cricket Committee.

Notes:
Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the highest motorable road in the world at a height of 19,300 ft at Umlingla Pass in the Eastern Ladakh region. This construction has created a record in high-altitude road construction. BRO has constructed a 52-km long tarmac road through Umlingla Pass, bettering the record of a road which is in Bolivia at 18,953 ft. This newly constructed road by BRO will now connect the important towns in Chumar sector of Eastern Ladakh.

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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.

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The Union Cabinet on 4th August, 2021 approved the continuation of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme for school education for another five years. Provision of training of master trainers for Anganwadi workers, incinerator and sanitary pad vending machines in all girls’ hostels, addition of new subjects instead of stream in existing senior secondary schools, holistic progress card for each learner, and upgrade of all Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas up to class 12 are among the initiatives in the revised scheme. Samagra Shiksha Scheme covers the school education from preschool to Class 12.

Notes:
On 6th August, 2021, a bill seeking to establish a central university in the Union Territory of Ladakh was passed in the Lok Sabha. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in his brief statement about the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2021, said that every year, around 7,000 students go out of Ladakh for education and with the establishment of the central university around 2,500 students will get the opportunity to study there. The Sindhu central university will be established at a cost of Rs 760 crore.

Notes:
On 7th August, 2021 the Textile Ministry has celebrated the 7th National Handloom Day. On this day the handloom weaving community will be honoured for their contribution in the socio-economic development of India. Three Handloom Craft Villages at Mohpara Village, District Golaghat in Assam, Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and Kanihama, Budgam in Srinagar are being set up by the Ministry in collaboration with the respective State governments.