Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
India and China have disengaged their troops in the Gogra region located in the Eastern Ladakh. The move comes following the twelfth round of talks held between the Corps Commanders of India and China and was held at Chushul Moldo Meeting Point in Eastern Ladakh on July 31. Since May 2020, the troops in this area have been in a face-off situation. The two sides had an in-depth and candid exchange of views on resolution of the remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.

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India’s Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in collaboration with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, United Kingdom (FCDO UK) has launched the Swavalamban Challenge Fund (SCF) with the aim to promote entrepreneurship. SIDBI is India’s principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Applications are invited in two categories, which are pilot and scale-up. In the pilot category, applicants can apply with their proposal to pilot/test/trial their innovative ideas. In the scale-up category, already ongoing/completed projects can be applied for.

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Nethra Kumanan is an Indian sailor. She won Bronze medal in World Cup sailing in Miami in 2020. She is the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for Olympics. In January, 2020, Nethra Kumanan became the first Indian woman to win a bronze medal at the Sailing World Cup. Kumanan competed in this year’s Tokyo Olympics in the laser radial class of sailing. The laser radial is a small boat, just big enough to carry one person, who has to navigate the boat.

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The Indian Air Force (IAF) has built one of the world’s highest mobile air traffic control towers at the Advanced Landing Ground in Nyoma, Ladakh. The ATC controls operations of the fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters operating in the eastern Ladakh region.

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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.

Notes:
National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) is to be developed as an international tourist destination. It will be dedicated to the legacy of maritime heritage of India, at Lothal in Gujarat. It will showcase maritime heritage of India from ancient to modern times. It seeks to create an edutainment approach (meaning education with entertainment) for the interest of visitors. It will cover an area of 400 acres comprising of structures like Heritage Theme Park, National Maritime Heritage Museum, Maritime Institute, Lighthouse Museum, eco-resorts etc. It will also comprise of pavilions where all coastal states of India and union territories can showcase artifacts and maritime heritage. NMHC will recreate the ancient Lothal city, a prominent city and port of ancient Indus valley civilization.

Notes:
Kamlesh Kumar Pant, a 1993-batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the new chairman of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) by the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet. The pharmaceutical pricing agency was currently headed by IAS officer Shubhra Singh, who was appointed to the post in 2018. Singh has been repatriated to her cadre state Rajasthan, according to an order of the personnel ministry. Pant, formerly the Principal Secretary (Revenue) in the government of Himachal Pradesh and also the Financial Commisioner (Appeals) at Himachal Pradesh and the head of the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board, has taken charge of NPPA with immediate effect.

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Coal India arm Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) has collaborated with Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board to promote and boost Singrauli eco-tourism circuit, giving thrust to mine tourism under sustainable development initiatives. The collaboration will facilitate the development of eco-mine tourism and eco-parks which will also generate employment and business opportunities for the locals. This initiative will explore a new tourism circuit in Madhya Pradesh having beauty mining, wildlife, cultural heritage and adventure. This will also foster mine tourism entailing the importance of Singrauli as Energy Capital of India. NCL-IIT (BHU) Incubation Centre will facilitate research, gather information, design and operate the tour plans for incoming tourists.

Notes:

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) secretary, Durga Shanker Mishra, on 13th August, 2021 launched ‘SonChiraiya’ (A brand and logo).
• SonChiraiya was launched with the aim of marketing of urban Self-Help Group (SHG) products.
• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), which comes under MoHUA, has been focusing on equipping the urban poor women with adequate opportunities and skills to enable them to promote sustainable micro-enterprises.
• SHGs are engaged in producing goods such as handicrafts, textiles, toys, eatables, etc and they were being sold in local markets and often faced barriers in finding wide market access. To overcome these challenges, Ministry has tied up with Amazon and Flipkart.