Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
“World Day against Trafficking 2021” was observed on July 30 by the ‘United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’. The theme of 2021 was “Victims’ voices lead the way”. This theme was set to raise awareness about the importance of interacting with the survivors of human trafficking. Their surviving stories will help in taking effective measures to prevent trafficking, identifying and rescuing victims and helping them in rehabilitation.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is an international organisation or agency that was founded in 1997. It is headquartered in Vienna (Austria). Its parent organisation is United Nations Secretariat.

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:
Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for Culture participated in the G20 Culture Ministers’ Meeting hosted by Italy. The meeting was held on 30 July, 2021. The main focus of the meeting was on ideas related to the protection of cultural heritage. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi presented India’s perspective on the topic ” Culture and Creative Sectors as drivers for growth”. She highlighted the significance of culture and creative sectors in providing economic growth and employment. She discussed about One District One Product Scheme of Uttar Pradesh, Tourism circuits, promotion of Yoga and Ayurveda etc.
G20 is an intergovernmental forum which comprises European Union and 19 countries including India.

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:
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.

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:
India’s largest and most complex warship “INS Vikrant” began its sea trials on August 4, 2021. It is the first indigenous aircraft carrier of India. Its weight is about 40,000 tonne and this is the maiden sea trials of INS Vikrant. It is constructed by the  Cochin Shipyard Limited for the Indian Navy. It was launched in 2013. The meaning of Vikrant is “Courageous”.
The motto of the ship is “Jayema Sam Yudhi Sprdhah”. The meaning of the phrase is “I defeat those who fight against me”. The phrase is taken from the Rigveda.

Notes:
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave nod to proposal of 66% salary hike for MLAs of the Delhi government. This hike has come after a decade to raise existing monthly salary and allowances of MLAs from Rs 54,000 to Rs 90,000.

Notes:
With the passage in Rajya Sabha, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021 got approval of both houses of Parliament on August 4, 2021. Earlier, on July 29, the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha. The Bill paves the way for privatisation of a small loss-making airport by clubbing it with a larger airport. The amendment bill proposes to modify the definition of a major airport under the AERA Act 2008. The objective is to pair the smaller non-profitable airports with profitable airports as a combination/package to bidders to make it a viable combination for investment under PPP (public-private partnership) mode.

Notes:
Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has secured Patent registration for its innovative Plastic-mixed Handmade Paper developed to reduce plastic menace from nature. The patent certificate was issued to KVIC’s Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute (KNHPI), Jaipur, by the Controller of Patent, Intellectual Property of India. The idea of developing plastic-mixed handmade paper was invented in September in the year 2018, and in just two months, i.e. in November 2018, the project was executed by the team of scientists at KNHPI.