Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha on 6th August, 2021. The bill seeks to do away with the contentious retrospective tax provision. The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes to amend the Income Tax Act, 1961 to provide that no tax demand shall be raised in the future on the basis of the retrospective amendment for any indirect transfer of Indian assets if the transaction was undertaken before May 28, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister when retrospective tax provision was included in 2012.

Notes:
On 7th August, 2021 Rekha Sharma was reappointed as the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women for another 3-year term w.e.f. 07.08.2021, or till the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.

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:
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.

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:
IIFL Home Finance (IIFL HFL), one of India’s leading housing finance company, has partnered with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Technical Assistance to support and foster the green building ecosystem in the affordable housing sector in India. This is ADBs first such private sector agreement in the country. The cost of the activities to be exercised under this Technical Assistance agreement is approximately 1 million, enabling activities addressing some of the key identified obstacles for building the ecosystem for green certified and affordable housing in India. IIFL HFL will also contribute an additional amount of up to 150,000, for supporting the above mentioned activities and objectives.

Notes:
The 5th edition of the National Public Procurement Conclave (NPPC) was organized by Government e-Marketplace (GeM) in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry [CII] on the theme “Technology enabled Government Procurement – Towards Efficiency, Transparency, and Inclusiveness”. The conclave was inaugurated virtually by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel.

Notes:
RBL Bank has been empanelled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an ‘Agency Bank’ to conduct banking business for the central and state governments, the bank informed in a regulatory filing. The announcement comes close on the heels of a recent RBI guideline that authorises scheduled private sector banks as Agency Banks of the regulator for the conduct of government business. The authorisation will enable RBL Bank, to handle a broad range of transactions related to government business, such as distributing Subsidies, Pension payments, collecting Central and State taxes including Income Tax, Excise Duties, Customs, GST, Stamp Duty, Registration, State Excise (VAT) and professional tax, in both online and offline modes.

Notes:
Minister of State for External Affairs Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh on 12th August, 2021 has inaugurated the two day long 7th IBSA Academic Forum which is being held virtually. The two-day event is being hosted by the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, RIS an autonomous think-tank of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India wand its headquarters is located in New Delhi. It features a conversation with IBSA Sherpas on economic partnerships that will, among other things, help economic integration and cooperation in creating resilient value chains post-Pandemic, accelerate the digital and green transition processes. The event has three topical plenary sessions, on Post-Pandemic imperatives for access to finance and economic recovery, IBSA cooperation on trade and resilient value chains and on creating post-pandemic resilience through technology and inclusive social sector development. India is the incumbent Chair of IBSA. IBSA is a unique Forum which brings together India, Brazil and South Africa, three large democracies and major economies from three different continents facing similar challenges.