Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

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:
Indian Bank has partnered with NSRCEL (N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning), the entrepreneurship Centre of Excellence at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) to provide funding for identified start-ups under Indian Bank’s ‘Ind Spring Board’ Scheme. In the year 2020, Indian Bank had launched ‘IND Spring Board’ in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Madras Incubation Cell to provide a credit facility of Rs 50 crore to Start-Ups.

Notes:
Bhavani Devi is the first Indian fencer to ever qualify for the Olympics after qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Bhavani Devi became the first Indian fencer to qualify for Olympics. The eight-time national champion had failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. She started her sports career in 2003. As of April 2021, she ranks 42nd in the world with 37.0 points.

Notes:
Mirabai Chanu and Karnam Malleswari are the only female weightlifting medallists from the country. Karnam Malleswari is a retired Indian weightlifter. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympics. In 1995, she received the Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour, and in 1999, the civilian Padma Shri award. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Malleswari lifted 110 kg in the “snatch” and 130 kg in the “clean and jerk” categories for a total of 240 kg. She won the bronze medal and became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Women’s 49 kg category. Mirabai Chanu has won the World Championships and multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her contributions to the sport. She was awarded Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award by the Government of India in 2018.

Notes:
The International Day of Indigenous Peoples was celebrated on August 9, 2021 with its theme: ‘Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract.’ There are over 476 million indigenous peoples living in 90 countries across the world, accounting for 6.2% of the global population. Indigenous peoples are the holders of a vast diversity of unique cultures, traditions, languages and knowledge systems.

Notes:
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami has appointed Vandana Katariya, Indian Women’s Team Hockey Player, as the Brand Ambassador of the State’s Department of Women Empowerment & Child Development. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the 1st Indian Woman to score an Olympic hat-trick in hockey. The Uttarakhand Government had also announced a cash reward of INR 25 Lakh to Vandana Kataria for her performance at the Tokyo Olympics.

Notes:
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched a loan interest subvention scheme in association with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) to provide financial assistance for innovative waste to energy biomethanation projects. The industrial organic waste-to-energy bio-methanation projects are generally capital intensive and financially sensitive to both operating costs, including waste availability, and revenue, particularly biogas yield and its utilisation scenario. A GIS-based inventory tool of organic waste streams was also unveiled.

Notes:

• Recently, four more wetlands from India have been recognized from the Ramsar Secretariat as Ramsar sites.
• These sites are Wadhwana and Thol from Gujarat and Sultanpur and Bhindawas from Haryana.
• The number of Ramsar sites in India is 46 and the surface area covered by these sites is now 1,083,322 hectares.
• While Haryana gets its first Ramsar sites, Gujarat gets three more after Nalsarovar which was declared in 2012.
• The goal of the Ramsar List is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands vital to the conservation of global biodiversity and sustaining human life through the maintenance of benefits, ecosystem components and processes.

Notes:

• Asia’s first demonstration facility for medical wastewater treatment using electron beam (EB) technology has started operations in China.
• This is the first pilot scale demonstration (400 cubic meters per day) of EB for medical wastewater treatment.
• This facility is located in the Hubei Province and it disinfects medical wastewater and decomposes antibiotics without the need of additional disinfectant or the production of secondary pollution.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency has played a major role in EB application in China.

Notes:

• Rajasthan government has launched the Indira Gandhi Urban Credit Card Scheme 2021 under which small traders, street vendors and those doing small works can get interest free loans up to 50,000.
• Due to the COVID-19 and lock down imposed by government, a large number of vendors and small businessmen faced economic crisis. Keeping the view of problem faced by them, Government has introduced Indira Gandhi Urban Credit Card Scheme- 2021.
• The scheme will create self employment opportunities in the urban areas of the state. Credit Loans under the scheme can be sanctioned till March 31, 2022 and the loan moratorium period will be 3 months and the loan repayment period will be 12 months.