Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
The India-Russia joint military training Exercise INDRA 2021 commenced at Prudboy Ranges, Volgograd on 4th August, 2021 with an opening ceremony that saw the unfurling of the national flags of both the countries. An official release stated that exercise INDRA 2021 will enhance interoperability between the Indian and Russian Armies.

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Ravi Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler to win a silver medal at the Olympic Games after he lost the men’s freestyle 57kg title clash to reigning world champion Zavur Uguev. There were expectations that the 23-year-old Dahiya would become India’s youngest Olympic champion but the Russian defended well to win comfortably. Ravi Dahiya belongs from Haryana.

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India and China have disengaged their troops in the Gogra region located in the Eastern Ladakh. The move comes following the twelfth round of talks held between the Corps Commanders of India and China and was held at Chushul Moldo Meeting Point in Eastern Ladakh on July 31. Since May 2020, the troops in this area have been in a face-off situation. The two sides had an in-depth and candid exchange of views on resolution of the remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.

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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.

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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.

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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.’

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Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) comes under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. To increase the sale of tribal crafts and products and visibility and export the Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides funds to Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) for marketing of tribal products by empanelling tribal suppliers comprising of individual tribal artisans, tribal Self Help Groups (SHGs), Organisations / Agencies / NGOs working with tribals etc under the scheme ‘Institutional Support for Marketing and Development of Tribal Products / Produce’. TRIFED is also engaged in direct sale of tribal products, including art & craft items through its network of Tribes India Showrooms, exhibitions, Aadi Mahotsav. Further, marketing is done through online e-commerce portal developed by TRIFED and also online retailers like Amazon, Flipkart etc.

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On 11th August, 2021 Delhi government has launched faceless transport services. It will bring all the driving licences, registration and services related to permit online. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also launched 33 faceless services, in a function at I.P. Estate office on August 10. Four zonal offices namely, IP Estate, Sarai Kale Khan, Janakpuri and Vasant Vihar will be closed. Motor licensing offices (MLOs) of South zone, Raja Garden and Dwarka, respectively, will look after their Vahan and Sarathi related work. Four MLO offices will serve as facilitation centres for public who are not having access to computers to file their online applications. Services in faceless manner, through online applications, will do away with the need of visiting MLOs. List and faceless services comprise of renewal of driving license, learning licences, transfer of ownership, duplicate registration certificate, fresh permit from goods and passenger vehicles, international driving permit, change of address, hypothecation termination etc.

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NABARD, State Bank of India (SBI) and Jammu & Kashmir Gramin Bank (JKGB) has signed a MoU for Joint Liability Groups financing. Main objective of the signing of MoU is to enhance the flow of credit to tenant farmers/oral lessees/sharecroppers, SF/MF etc, who at times may not have proper title to their land holding. The JLG formation will meet the credit requirements of people suffering reverse migration in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The issue of formation of JLGs is also being discussed in every meeting of UTLBC. The formation and credit linkage of 1000 JLGs will benefit almost 5000 households in J&K.

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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.