Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
Recently, Karnataka Bank has been empanelled by RBI to act as an ‘Agency Bank’ to facilitate transactions related to government businesses. As an empanelled Agency Bank, it is authorised to undertake government businesses such as revenue receipts and payments on behalf of the Centre and States, pension payments in respect of the same, collection of stamp duty charges and also any other item of work specifically advised by the RBI.

Notes:
Nethra Kumanan is an Indian sailor. She won Bronze medal in World Cup sailing in Miami in 2020. She is the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for Olympics. In January, 2020, Nethra Kumanan became the first Indian woman to win a bronze medal at the Sailing World Cup. Kumanan competed in this year’s Tokyo Olympics in the laser radial class of sailing. The laser radial is a small boat, just big enough to carry one person, who has to navigate the boat.

Notes:
Nagaland has bagged seven prestigious national awards in the Van Dhan Vikas Yojana (VDVY) and Minimum Support Price (MSP) schemes for exemplary performance in various categories. The VDVY and MSP for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) scheme focus on farmers’ entrepreneurship programmes through processing, packaging, branding and marketing of locally available products, according to an official statement issued on Monday. Nagaland topped in three categories – Best Survey, Best Training and the most number of Van Dhan Vikas Clusters (VDVKCs) established. The North-eastern state also secured third positions in Best Sales Generated at Rs 1,15,86,000 and Innovation and Creativity. It got the two other awards for a couple of ideas: supply of gooseberry wine by a multipurpose society and mushroom.

Notes:
Chief Election Commissioner of India and current Chairman, FEMBoSA Sushil Chandra accompanied by Election Commissioners Rajeev Kumar and A.C. Pandey, on 11th August, 2021 inaugurated the 11th Annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2021. The meeting in Virtual mode was hosted by the Election Commission of Bhutan.

Notes:
NITI Aayog today released a handbook to guide state governments and local bodies to frame policies and norms towards setting up charging networks for electric vehicles (EV). The objective is to enhance charging infrastructure and facilitate a rapid transition to electric mobility in the country. The Handbook for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Implementation has been jointly developed by NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power (MoP), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), and World Resources Institute (WRI) India.

Notes:
Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra has finished at number 2nd rank in the World Athletics ranking after securing Gold Medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Neeraj Chopra has been ranked second with his score of 1315. He is only behind German athlete Johannes Vetter who is having the score of 1396. Neeraj Chopra created history on August 7, 2021 by winning Gold Medal. He has become India’s first athlete to win gold in track and field at Olympics. He threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m. World Athletics has listed his throw at the Olympics has now been listed as one among 10 magical moments of athletics (track and field) in the Tokyo Olympics.

Notes:

• Indian Bank has launched its flagship Business Mentoring Programme MSME Prerana in West Bengal.
• MSME Prerana is an innovative and unique business mentoring program in collaboration with Poornatha and Co. to enable MSME entrepreneurs to run their businesses more efficiently by maximizing value and capability.
• The programme will be in the local language of the state which is Bengali.
• MSME Prerana was launched with the aim of developing the financial and managerial capacities of MSME entrepreneurs, in addition to sensitizing them to the various initiatives of the Union and State Governments as well as other governing bodies.

Notes:

• SoftWorthy has been conferred the prestigious National Science Foundation Innovation-Corps (NSF I-Corps) Teams Award in the United States.
• Founded in 2020, SoftWorthy’s award-winning project focuses on developing state-of-the-art computational methods for ‘stochastic modelling, design simulation and sensitivity analysis of electronic devices like printed-circuit-boards (PCBs), which are critical for the growth of novel technological applications like driverless vehicles and energy-efficient smart buildings.
• The company is led by a team of Indian engineers trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, and has been working to develop innovative software technology for performing engineering analysis.

Notes:

• Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched the e-crop survey initiative which will become effective in Maharashtra from August 15.
• The project, was initially introduced as a pilot in two districts, is jointly implemented by the departments of revenue and agriculture along with the Tata Trust.
• The concept will be a role model for the country, and the e-crop survey app is yet another initiative to reduce the hardships of the farmers as it would provide them crop-related information without hassles.
• Maharashtra had already introduced a digitized 7/12 document, which is an extract from the ‘Land Register’ that the farmers can now access on their mobile phones

Notes:

• The Indian Navy has partnered with the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) FIRST Bank to initiate ‘Honour FIRST’, a premium banking solution for serving personnel and veterans of the Indian Navy.
• With zero – balance salary account feature, Honour FIRST account holders will receive up to 5% interest per annum and a net banking and customised mobile app that offers a superior user interface and experience
• Honour FIRST Defence account comes with a free enhanced Personal Accident Insurance Cover of Rs. 46 lakhs for both on-duty and off-duty incidents. Additionally, the insurance not only covers accidental death but also total and partial permanent disability. The Personal Accident Insurance Cover also includes a child education grant of Rs. 4 lakhs and a marriage cover of Rs 2 lakh.