Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
On 7th August, 2021 Brazil won the gold medal in men’s football at the Tokyo Olympics by beating Spain 2-1 in the final played. Malcolm and Matheus Cunha scored for Brazil while Mikel Oyarzabal scored for Spain. Mexico won the bronze medal by beating Japan with a score of 3-1. Canada defeated Sweden 3-2 on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 to win the gold medal in women’s football. Bronze medal was won by United States which beat Australia 4-3.

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:
Uttar Pradesh government has renamed a landmark freedom movement called “Kakori Train Conspiracy” as “Kakori Train Action” and paid tributes to the revolutionaries who were hanged for robbing a train at Kakori in Uttar Pradesh. Revolutionaries had robbed the train in order to buy weapons in 1925. Freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Roshan Singh were hanged to death on December 19, 1927 for their involvement in Kakori robbery.

Notes:
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.

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.

Notes:

• The Indian Navy participated in the U.S. Navy-led Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) military exercise in Singapore.
• The main purpose of SEACAT2021 was to enhance interoperability, share maritime security concerns, and maintain a rule-based international order.
• Other countries participating in the exercise include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
• SEACAT was held for the first time in the year 2002.

Notes:

• Legendary German striker Gerd Müller died aged 75 on August 15, 2021.
• The forward scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany, including the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final against Holland.
• During 15 years at Bayern Munich, Müller netted a record 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and 66 goals in 74 European matches.
• He was nicknamed “Bomber der Nation” (“the nation’s Bomber”) or simply “Der Bomber” and was named European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or) in 1970.

Notes:

• Union Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal recently announced that World’s first bio-bank in Ayurveda is going to be set up in the All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi.
• AIIA is a public Ayurveda medicine and research institute in New Delhi that was founded in 2015.
• It is an autonomous institute under the AYUSH Ministry. The institute offers postgraduate and doctoral studies in a variety of Ayurvedic disciplines.

Notes:

• The Reserve Bank of India introduced the financial inclusion index on August 17, 2021.
• The Financial Inclusion Index will be used to capture the extent of financial inclusion in India. This index was part of the announcements made in first bi-monthly monetary policy of April 2021.
• Financial Inclusion Index has been conceptualised as a comprehensive index comprising the details of banking, insurance, investments, postal and pension sector in consultation with government and sectoral regulators.
• It captures information on different aspects of financial inclusion in a single value in the range of 0 and 100.
• 0 indicates complete financial exclusion while 100 indicates full financial inclusion.
• It comprises of three broad parameters such as Access, Usage, and Quality. Each of these parameters comprises of various dimensions, which are computed on the basis of different indicators. It is responsive to ease of access, availability & usage of services along with quality of services, comprising of all 97 indicators.

Notes:

• East African Community (EAC) traders stand to benefit from faster clearance of their goods and lower costs of running their business following the signing of a Joint Action Plan between the EAC and the Government of India.
• The Joint Action Plan will pave the way for a full Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between the two parties.
• The MRA once realised, will benefit companies under the Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) Programme run by the EAC Partner States under the coordination of the EAC Secretariat since 2008.
• The selection of India as an MRA partner was based on the principle of mutual recognition and the fairly steady trade between the EAC and India over the past five years (2014 – 2018), which cumulatively amounted to over $30 billion.