Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has given its approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Institute of Space science and Technology (IIST) and The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), for carrying out Research activities and Academic programmes which will involve faculty and students from each institution.

 

Notes:
India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, conducted its maiden sea trials. Trials will be conducted for a long period under all conditions before the carrier is accepted as “proven at sea”. It will be fully operational by the year 2022. Navy will accept this warship and then will conduct aviation trials. Under the aviation trials, landing and take-off of MiG 29K fighter jets would take place. In the maiden trail, Navy conducted the deck landing of Navy’s Sea King helicopters. This 44000-tonne carrier has been designed by Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design at the cost of Rs 23,000 crore. It has been built at state-owned Cochin Shipyard in Kochi, Kerala.

Notes:
Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain won the bronze medal in women’s welterweight (69 kg) category at the Tokyo Olympics on 4th August, 2021. The 23-year-old from Assam lost the semi-final to Turkey’s Busenaz Surmeneli.

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:
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:
The 8th Justice Ministers meet 2021 of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting was hosted by Tajikistan (2021 SCO Presidency). Union Minister for Law & Justice, Kiren Rijiju participated in the 8th Justice Ministers Meeting 2021 of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held at Tajikistan virtually. The meeting was chaired by M.K.Ashuriyon, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan. SCO is celebrating its 20th Anniversary under the slogan ‘20 years of SCO: Cooperation for Stability and Prosperity’. The next meeting will be held in Pakistan in 2022.

Notes:
India’s Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in collaboration with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, United Kingdom (FCDO UK) has launched the Swavalamban Challenge Fund (SCF) with the aim to promote entrepreneurship. SIDBI is India’s principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Applications are invited in two categories, which are pilot and scale-up. In the pilot category, applicants can apply with their proposal to pilot/test/trial their innovative ideas. In the scale-up category, already ongoing/completed projects can be applied for.

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:
China made its newly constructed terminal operational at Lhasa airport in Tibet. This new terminal is the biggest terminal in Tibet opened to further expand the transport infrastructure in strategic Himalayan region. It will help Tibet to emerge as a global logistics hub for South Asia. New terminal would give a significant boost to passenger and cargo transport. Airport expansion project was completed at the cost of USD 603 million. It will help Tibet in becoming a global logistics hub for South Asia.