Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
The Assembly of Tamil Nadu will witness its first ever paperless budget session, with P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, State Finance Minister set to present the revised budget for 2020-21 on 13th August. This will be Tamil Nadu’s first e-budget.

Notes:
India’s Consumption Expenditure Survey (CES) is conducted by National Sample Survey Office every five years. But, CES data has not been released since 2011-2012. Under this survey there are clear indications that Poverty in India is on rise again. CES was conducted in the year 2017-18 but its data was not made public by the Government. A new CES is likely to be conducted in 2021-22 for which data will be available by end of 2022.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet on 4th August, 2021 approved the continuation of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme for school education for another five years. Provision of training of master trainers for Anganwadi workers, incinerator and sanitary pad vending machines in all girls’ hostels, addition of new subjects instead of stream in existing senior secondary schools, holistic progress card for each learner, and upgrade of all Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas up to class 12 are among the initiatives in the revised scheme. Samagra Shiksha Scheme covers the school education from preschool to Class 12.

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:
The United Nations has declared 2021 as the International Year of Peace and Trust, the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, and the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. Also, the Catholic Church has proclaimed 2021 as the Year of Saint Joseph.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh government has renamed a landmark freedom movement called “Kakori Train Conspiracy” as “Kakori Train Action” and paid tributes to the revolutionaries who were hanged for robbing a train at Kakori in Uttar Pradesh. Revolutionaries had robbed the train in order to buy weapons in 1925. Freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Roshan Singh were hanged to death on December 19, 1927 for their involvement in Kakori robbery.

Notes:
Central Bank of India has entered into a strategic co-lending partnership with Dhanvarsha Finvest Ltd (DFL) to offer loans against gold ornaments under priority sector to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) borrowers at competitive rates. Under this partnership, DFL will originate and process loans against gold ornaments as per jointly formulated credit parameters and eligibility criteria and Central Bank of India will take into its book 80% of the gold loans under mutually agreed terms, as per the public sector bank’s stock exchange filing.

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:
Indian and American bodies have signed an agreement on monsoon data analysis and cooperation to improve weather forecasts in the region. The agreement was signed by India’s National Institute of Ocean Technology Director, G.A. Ramadass and the U.S. Assistant Administrator for Research and Acting Chief Scientist, Craig McLean of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As a result of this, the two bodies would enhance technical cooperation in the development of the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) and the Ocean Moored buoy Network in the northern Indian ocean (OMNI) for improving weather and monsoon forecasts between NOAA of US and India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with Facebook and Praekelt.org to provide covid-19 information to the world’s most vulnerable people through Discover and Free Basics in a mobile-friendly format. Though over 85% of the world’s population lives in areas with existing cellular coverage, many people can’t afford to purchase mobile data consistently and others have not yet adopted the internet. During the covid-19 public health crisis, it is important now more than ever to help people stay connected and to increase access to health information and other resources on the internet. This initiative enables underserved communities to access life-saving covid-19 health information through participating operators in more than 55 countries. The WHO covid-19 information has reached more than two million people so far in nine languages, with other languages to follow in the coming weeks and months.