Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
Avinash Sable finished seventh in 3000m steeplechase event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He took 8 minutes 18.12 seconds (8:18.12s) to finish the race and set a national record by breaking his own record of 8:20.20s  that he set during the Federation Cup in March. He became the first Indian after 1952 to qualify for the Olympics in 3000m steeplechase event.
Avinash Sable belongs to Beed district of Maharashtra.

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:
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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi  launched some initiatives as a part of the extension to the  National Education Policy 2020 on July 29th, 2021. Vidya Pravesh initiative has been launched for Pre School Kids, basically for Grade 1 students. Under this initiative, three-month play module will be set for the children to prepare them for school. It will also include a subject of Indian Sign language at the Secondary Level.

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:
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:
On August 1, “Muslim Women Rights Day” was observed across the country for the first time. This day was observed to celebrate the enactment of the law against ‘Triple Talaq’ for completing its two years.  According to Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of Minority Affairs, the Government enacted the law against Triple Talaq on 1st August, 2019 and this law made the social malpractice of Triple Talaq as a criminal offense. The law was enacted with an aim of liberating Muslim women from the shackles of social evil which they faced in the form of divorce terms.

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:
Lyu Xiaojun is the oldest man to win an Olympic gold medal at the age of 37. He won Gold medal at Tokyo Olympics recently. He participated in 81 kilogram category. He belongs to China. Till 2018, he participated in 77 Kg category and was two time Olympic champion and five time world champion in this category. After 2018, he started participating in 81 Kg category as the International Weightlifting Federation recognized this category after 2018.

Notes:
Emma Mckeon became the first female swimmer to win seven medals in a single Olympic event. She won seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics. She belongs to Australia. She had broken the Olympic record twice in the Tokyo Olympic. She completed the 50m freestyle event in 24.02 seconds and set a world record and then again  broken this record by completing the 50m freestyle in 24 seconds.
She now matched the record for the most decorated female athlete at a single Games/event along with the Russian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya who won seven medals in 1952 Olympics held in Helsinki.
Emma Mckeon joins Michael Phelps, Matt Biondi and Otto, as the only swimmers to win five or more golds at one Games/event.