Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2019. CDRI has 25 countries and seven international organisations as members now with Bangladesh being the latest entrant, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said. MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the objective of the CDRI is to promote the resilience of existing and new infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.

Notes:
Bihar’s capital city Patna is all set to get its own version of Mumbai’s famous Marine Drive. The 5.50km-long Digha-AN Sinha Institute stretch of the ambitious Ganga Pathway is all set to be opened next year. The ‘Ganga pathway’ is part of Rs 3,390 crore project which is coming up on the southern bank of river Ganga to minimise traffic on the congested Ashok Rajpath. The total length of project is 20.50km

Notes:
Recently, Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant successfully accomplished its maiden sea voyage. It is under a series of trial currently. INS Vikrant, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC-1) is an aircraft carrier constructed by the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for the Indian Navy. It is the first aircraft carrier to be built in India. The name Vikrant means “courageous” and the motto of the ship is “Jayema Sam Yudhi Sprdhah”, which is taken from Rigveda and can be translated as “I defeat those who fight against me”.

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:
PM Narendra Modi has chaired UNSC High-Level Open Debate on “Enhancing Maritime Security” Stressing on enhancing maritime security. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8th August, 2021 called for peaceful settlement of disputes as per international law and for jointly combating maritime threats posed by non-state actors as he chaired a high-level UN Security Council open debate on “Enhancing Maritime Security – A Case for International Cooperation” via video conferencing. PM Narendra Modi is the first Indian PM to chair UNSC meet.

Notes:
The Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 22 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) catalyzing investment in research, development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all. Mission Innovation was launched during 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in November 2015. India, During Phase I played crucial role in MI Activities at global level by participating through DBT, DST and CSIR in eight Innovation Challenges and co-leading three challenges (Smart Grids, Off-Grid access to Electricity and Sustainable Bio fuels). The Ministry of Science and Technology, through Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) have played a key role in developing global Science & Technology partnerships in critical areas including energy, water, health and astronomy.

Notes:
The Finance Ministry has released its fifth monthly installment of Post Devolution Revenue Deficit (PDRD) Grant of Rs 9,871 crore to the states on August 9. With the release of this installment, a total amount of Rs 49,355 crore has been released to eligible states as PDRD in the current financial year. The Commission has recommended PDRD grants to 17 States during 2021-22.

Notes:
Multi-skill Development Centre (MSDC) for Aviation Skilling has been set up at Chandigarh under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme which has been funded by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Aviation Skill Development Center has been set up at Mumbai by LearnNet Skills as training implementation partner for CSR project of AAI.

Notes:
Equitas Small Finance Bank has launched ‘Equitech’ – a fintech accelerator programme aimed at the start-up ecosystem. The programme, designed to scale-up, will help fintechs to curate their products and define a go-to-market strategy. The primary aim of Equitas is to provide start-ups legal and regulatory support through the venture capitalists and the experts of the bank. To enrol in Equitech the fintech start-ups should have at least 2 full time members along with team members and it must present an innovative idea. Also, this start-up should be incorporated at least 6 years before the date of applying.

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.