Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

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 79th anniversary of Quit India movement was observed on August 8, 2021. On this day in 1942, father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi gave the clarion call of Do or Die to all Indians to drive away Britishers from the country. The movement had begun from Gowalia Tank in Mumbai. The day is observed as August Kranti Day every year.

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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.

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The Parliament has passed the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to encourage the start-up ecosystem and further boost the ease of doing business. The bill seeks to decriminalise 12 offences under the law and help improve the ease of doing business by amending the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act, 2008. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 9, 2021 and Rajya Sabha on August 4. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that with the passage of the bill, criminal offences will be brought down while ease of doing business will go up and partners will have more flexibility.

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Commonwealth Secretariat has released the Global Youth Development Index measuring the condition of young people across 181 countries. The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM); assisting and advising on policy development; and providing assistance to countries in implementing the decisions and policies of the Commonwealth.

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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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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.

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Automation Anywhere Inc. announced the IMEA edition of Imagine Digital – the region’s largest Cloud Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence event, has begun on 11th August, 2021. The event features ground-breaking discussions around AI-powered, cloud-native automation fuelling digital transformation innovations. Automation Anywhere is a global leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

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National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned loan worth Rs 188.81 crore to Goa Government towards construction of super specialty block and enhancement of solid waste management and treatment plan at Saligao for the current financial year 2021-22. For the ongoing financial year, a cumulative loan of Rs 217.72 crore has been sanctioned to the State government for various social infrastructure projects under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). RIDF was introduced with the sole objective of giving low cost funding support to State Governments and State owned Corporations for quick completion of projects related to Medium and Minor Irrigation, Soil Conservation and others forms of rural/social infrastructure.

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IIFL Finance has partnered with Bangalore and Gurgaon-based FinBox to offer innovative digital credit products to its merchants. The investment services company will offer digital credit avenues to its merchants, B2B e-commerce traders; using FinBox’s embedded buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and working capital credit products. Through this partnership, IIFL and FinBox will disburse ₹1,000 crore in loans over the next 2 quarters, through a completely digital model. Rajat Deshpande, co-founder and chief executive officer FinBox said that the FinBox Embedded Finance Platform powers credit on multiple B2B, e-commerce and retailer aggregator platforms. FinBox’s artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered underwriting capability will enable to extend credit even to MSMEs with thin-to-no credit history.