Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
On 7th August, 2021 Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in men’s javelin throw at the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.58 metres. Czech Republic throwers Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m) and Vitezslav Vesely (85.44m) took the silver and bronze respectively. Chopra becomes the first Indian to win a medal in athletics at the Olympic Games and is only the second Indian to win an individual gold medal after shooter Abhinav Bindra at Beijing in the year 2008.

Notes:
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has inducted its first women officers in combat. On 8th August, 2021 ITBP commissioned its first two women officers in combat after they completed their training at the ITBP officers’ training academy located in Mussoorie. A first-ever ‘History of ITBP’ book containing many unknown facts and photographs of the border guarding force was also released by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami along with ITBP director general S. S. Deswal.

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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.

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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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The Indian Ocean is warming at a higher rate than other oceans, the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated, with scientists warning that India will witness increased heat waves and flooding, which will be the irreversible effects of climate change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis”, said the warming of the ocean will lead to a rise in sea levels, which will contribute to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-level areas. The report also observed that it is indisputable that human activities are causing climate change, making extreme climate events, including heat waves, heavy rainfall and droughts, more frequent and severe.

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UNICEF India and Facebook have launched a one-year joint initiative on ending violence against children, with a special focus on online safety. The partnership seeks to create a safe environment for children both offline as well as online. This initiative aims to improve children’s resilience and capacity to access the digital world safely, increase awareness on violence against children and its impact on children, communities and families, as well as increase skills of communities and frontline workers to better prevent and respond to violence.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 8, 2021 announced a National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) to make India self-sufficient in cooking oils, including palm oil, as he stressed on reducing the dependence on imports. He said over Rs 11,000 crore will be invested in the edible oil ecosystem. India is dependent on imports of edible oil to meet the domestic demand. Of the total imports, palm oil constitutes about 55%.

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Chief Scientist of World Health Organization, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, urged the nations to prioritize reopening of schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Chief scientist highlighted that; Covid-19 has indirectly affected the education greatly by shutting down schools globally. So, she asked to prioritize school opening while maintaining proper health and hygiene. Amid the covid-19 pandemic, 1.5 billion children were suddenly out of school and affected their education. In January 2021, Right to Education Forum published its report highlighting that, ten million girls in India could drop out of secondary school amid COVID-19 pandemic.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the industry on August 11, 2021 on the topic of government and businesses working together for a self-reliant. He spoke on the theme ‘India at 75: government and business working together for Aatmanirbhar Bharat,’ via video conferencing. The two-day annual meeting of the industry body, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has started on August 11, 2021. Theme of the PM’s address is the guiding principle for India to overcome the devastating impact of the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic. Union government, in its FY22 union budget, articulated a policy to calibrate its import policies and tariffs in order to encourage more value addition to local economy and to discourage import of finished products. Apart from that, global manufacturers are being encouraged to set up factories in India by means of production incentives. As per Government expectations, a strong push to manufacturing and infrastructure creation will help in stimulating economy as capital spending will have a multiplier effect.

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The government of Maharashtra has announced about the introduction of Rajiv Gandhi Award for firms that are excelling in the Information Technology (IT) sector in the state. The awards have been named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Rajiv Gandhi Award for excellence in the IT sector will be conferred upon institutions and companies for their outstanding performance in the IT sector on August 20, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the late Rajiv Gandhi. It will be conferred by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Maharashtra IT Corporation Limited (MAHA-IT) has been appointed as the nodal agency to propose the award.