Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
The cabinet of Assam has decided that no new cases will be registered against the Gorkha community in the state at the Foreigners’ Tribunals and already registered cases will be withdrawn. Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that no Gorkha citizen will be prosecuted under the Citizenship Amendment Act 1955. According to the organisation representing Gorkhas there are around 25 lakh Gorkhas in Assam.

Notes:
Indian Visual Artist & Illustrator Anand Radhakrishnan has won the 2021 Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art). He shared the award with UK based colourist John Pearson for “Blue in Green,” a graphic novel authored by Ram V. Eisner Award is named after graphic novel legend Will Eisner and this award is known as the “Oscar of the comic field” and is presented in 32 categories.

Notes:
SBI General Insurance partnered with Manipal Business Solutions, the initiator of SahiPay, to expand its penetration of non-life insurance in rural areas of the country. As SahiPay provides digital and financial services in semi-urban and rural areas, SBI General will leverage this customer base to maximize its non-life penetration rate in rural areas by providing a variety of non-life insurance solutions. . Over 65% of the Indian population lives in rural areas and hence this partnership will let them understand the benefits of the insurance, affordable and technology-based products that this association provides.

Notes:
The 79th anniversary of Quit India movement was observed on August 8, 2021. On this day in 1942, father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi gave the clarion call of Do or Die to all Indians to drive away Britishers from the country. The movement had begun from Gowalia Tank in Mumbai. The day is observed as August Kranti Day every year.

Notes:
According to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India’s first Internet Governance Forum (IIGF) will be held for three days starting from October 20, 2021. Launch of the Internet Governance forum was announced by Anil Kumar Jain, CEO of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and Chairman of Coordination Committee. Pre-IIGF engagement events will also start from August 2021 across colleges and universities. Pre-events will be organised with the aim of engaging students and youth to participate in main event in October. IIGF 2021 will be held under the theme- “Inclusive Internet for Digital India”.

Notes:
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has built one of the world’s highest mobile air traffic control towers at the Advanced Landing Ground in Nyoma, Ladakh. The ATC controls operations of the fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters operating in the eastern Ladakh region.

Notes:
IIFL Home Finance (IIFL HFL), one of India’s leading housing finance company, has partnered with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Technical Assistance to support and foster the green building ecosystem in the affordable housing sector in India. This is ADBs first such private sector agreement in the country. The cost of the activities to be exercised under this Technical Assistance agreement is approximately 1 million, enabling activities addressing some of the key identified obstacles for building the ecosystem for green certified and affordable housing in India. IIFL HFL will also contribute an additional amount of up to 150,000, for supporting the above mentioned activities and objectives.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the industry on August 11, 2021 on the topic of government and businesses working together for a self-reliant. He spoke on the theme ‘India at 75: government and business working together for Aatmanirbhar Bharat,’ via video conferencing. The two-day annual meeting of the industry body, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has started on August 11, 2021. Theme of the PM’s address is the guiding principle for India to overcome the devastating impact of the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic. Union government, in its FY22 union budget, articulated a policy to calibrate its import policies and tariffs in order to encourage more value addition to local economy and to discourage import of finished products. Apart from that, global manufacturers are being encouraged to set up factories in India by means of production incentives. As per Government expectations, a strong push to manufacturing and infrastructure creation will help in stimulating economy as capital spending will have a multiplier effect.

Notes:
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), engaged in promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has unveiled ‘Digital Prayaas’ an app-based digital-lending platform to facilitate loans to entrepreneurs from low-income groups. The objective is to sanction a loan by the end of the day. To cater to those from the urban area, SIDBI has tied up with BigBasket to provide loans to its delivery partners for purchase of e-bikes and e-vans.

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.