Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

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.

Notes:
India ended its campaign at the Tokyo Olympics with it’s best-ever tally of seven medals (1 gold, 2 silvers and four bronzes), beating the tally of six at London Olympic Games 2012. Medal winners for India were — Neeraj Chopra: gold in men’s javelin throw, Mirabai Chanu: Silver in women’s weightlifting, PV Sindhu: Bronze in women’s singles badminton, Lovlina Borgohain: Bronze in women’s boxing, men’s hockey team: bronze, Ravi Kumar Dahiya: Silver in men’s wrestling, Bajrang Punia: Bronze in men’s wresting.

Notes:
On 7th August, 2021 navies of India and UAE conducted exercise ‘Zayed Talwar 2021’ off the coast of Abu Dhabi. INS Kochi, with two integral Sea King MK 42B helicopters, deployed in the Persian Gulf, participated in the exercise. UAE participated with UAES AL – Dhafra, a Baynunah class guided missile corvette and one AS – 565B Panther helicopter. As part of the exercise, the ships undertook tactical manoeuvres, Over the Horizon Targeting, Search and Rescue and Electronic Warfare exercises to enhance interoperability and synergy between the two navies. Helicopters were extensively used all through the exercise ranging from Search and Rescue serial to passing of targeting data to ships for simulated missile engagement drills.

Notes:
The government of India has decided to set up the Indian Institute of Heritage at Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar. This will impact higher education and research in the fields related to rich Indian heritage and its conservation. Indian Institute of Heritage would offer Masters and Ph.D courses in History of Arts, Conservation, Museology, Archival Studies, Archaeology, Preventives Conservation, Epigraphy and Numismatics, Manuscriptology etc. as well as conservation training facilities to in-service employees and the students of the Indian Institute of Heritage.

Notes:
A study by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) involving 98 people, 18 of whom had inadvertently received Covishield as first dose and Covaxin as the second in Uttar Pradesh, showed that combining these two Covid-19 vaccines elicited better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine. The study is titled ‘Serendipitous COVID-19 Vaccine-Mix in Uttar Pradesh, India: Safety and Immunogenicity Assessment of a Heterologous Regime.’

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:
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has launched eNagar mobile application and portal. The eNagar covers 10 modules with 52 services including property tax, professional tax, water & drainage, Complaints and grievance redressal, building permission, fire and emergency services. Gujarat Urban Development Mission has been appointed as a nodal agency for eNagar project. Total 170 locations including 162 municipalities and 8 Municipal Corporations are covered under the eNagar project.

Notes:
Commonwealth Secretariat has released the Global Youth Development Index measuring the condition of young people across 181 countries. The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM); assisting and advising on policy development; and providing assistance to countries in implementing the decisions and policies of the Commonwealth.

Notes:
The Skytrax World Airport Award ranking 2021 was recently published in which Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi has emerged among world’s top-50 best airports in the 2021. Delhi Airport emerged as best airport in India for the third consecutive year. Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru have also found a rank among world’s 100 best airports. According to Skytrax 2021 world airport’s awards list, Delhi has been ranked at 45th position. Ranking has improved by five places as compared to number 50 in 2020. Delhi airport is first Indian airport to achieve this mark. Hyderabad has been ranked at 64th Its raking has been improved by seven places against 71st in 2020. Mumbai is at 65th number, 13 places down from 52nd position in 2020. Bengaluru is at 71st number, 3 places down from 68th rank in 2020.

Notes:
Deutsche Bank will set up its IFSC banking unit at India’s first global financial centre in Gujarat. The bank has received approval from the GIFT SEZ Authority to set up an IFSC banking unit at India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City, Gujarat, a release said on Thursday. The leading German bank with strong European roots has a global network across 59 countries. This will serve as a primer for renowned banks from other geographies to consider GIFT City a viable destination for international financial services. Deutsche Bank is among the largest international banks in India. It had set up its first branch in the country in Mumbai more than 40 years ago. Deutsche Bank has deployed capital over Rs 19,000 crore in its India branch operations. The foreign lender currently employs more than 18,000 people across its various entities in the country.