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:
NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) which is a joint mission of ISRO and NASA is proposed to be launched in 2023. It is focusing on making global measurement of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging. The information was given by Jitendra Singh, Earth Sciences Minister.
NISAR Satellite will be the first satellite to use dual frequencies. It will be used for remote sensing. It will be also used for global observations over all land masses including the Polar cryosphere and the Indian Ocean region i.e. it will help in understanding the natural processes of the Earth.

 

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:
A core committee meeting was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to review the progress of the vaccination programme across the state. As per the meeting reports, Gujarat is on the top position in terms of vaccinations per million people.
Officials said that about 5 lakh 17 thousand people have been vaccinated in the state against the population of ten lakhs. More than 3.32 crore doses of vaccines have been administered under state wide vaccination drive. In the month of July, more than 75 lakh vaccinations have been done.

Notes:
Isuru Udana, Sri Lankan Cricketer announced his retirement from International cricket at the age of 33. He will continue playing domestic cricket and will be available for franchise tournaments. He is a left hand bowler. He made his debut in the 2009 T20 World Cup which was held in 2009. He has played 21 One Day Internationals, 35 Twenty 20 Internationals.
International Cricket Council was founded on 15 June 1909. ICC is headquartered in Dubai. Greg Barclay is the current chairman of ICC.

Notes:
In the month of July, 2021, India has recorded the highest ever monthly merchandise export. The merchandise exports rose to 35.17 billion dollars. According to the provisional data of the commerce industry, there was a healthy growth in the shipment of petroleum, engineering goods and gems and jewellery.
Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS) is notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Notes:
Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system. The United States of America has approved the sale of one Harpoon Joint Common Test Set (JCTS) along with the related equipment to India for an estimated cost of USD 82 million. This will help in improving India’s capability to meet current and future threats.
The principal contractor of the deal will be Boeing Company which is headquartered in Chicago, USA. The present CEO & President of Boeing Company is David L. Calhoun.

Notes:
The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha on 6th August, 2021. The bill seeks to do away with the contentious retrospective tax provision. The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes to amend the Income Tax Act, 1961 to provide that no tax demand shall be raised in the future on the basis of the retrospective amendment for any indirect transfer of Indian assets if the transaction was undertaken before May 28, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister when retrospective tax provision was included in 2012.

Notes:
6th August, 2021 marked the 76th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing. The United States had dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945, destroying the city and killing 1,40,000 people. Three days later USA dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered on 15th August ending World War II and it’s nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.

Notes:
Veteran England pacer James Anderson has surpassed Indian spin legend Anil Kumble’s tally of 619 Test wickets during the third day of the first Test against India at Nottingham. Only Sri Lankan spin great Muttiah Muralitharan (800 Test wickets), and Australian wizard Shane Warne (708 wickets) are now ahead of Anderson, who is playing in his 163rd Test match.