Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

Notes:
Chief Election Commissioner of India and current Chairman, FEMBoSA Sushil Chandra accompanied by Election Commissioners Rajeev Kumar and A.C. Pandey, on 11th August, 2021 inaugurated the 11th Annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2021. The meeting in Virtual mode was hosted by the Election Commission of Bhutan.

Notes:
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has become the first bank in the country to achieve the milestone of issuing 1 crore FASTags. This is almost 30% of the total FASTags issued by 32 banks in the country. In the last 6 months alone, PPBL has equipped over 40 lakh commercial & private vehicles with FASTags. Besides this, Paytm Payments Bank is also India’s largest acquirer of Toll Plazas for the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program offering an interoperable nationwide toll payment solution. The bank has enabled 280 toll plazas across the National & State highways to collect toll charges digitally. Paytm Payments Bank is also working closely with NHAI for testing and implementing multi-lane free-flow movement using automatic number plate recognition technology. This will further improve the overall customer experience while travelling on the national highways. Paytm FASTag is linked to the Paytm Wallet ensuring users don’t have to opt for multiple recharges.

Notes:
GIFT City, the country’s first international financial services centre (IFSC), has collaborated with the India InsurTech Association (IIA) to promote financial technology in the insurance sector. IIA is a not-for-profit organisation working towards growing a technology-driven insurance ecosystem in India. The two entities will collaborate on building thought leadership in the field of insurance and creating awareness about GIFT City among Indian and foreign insurance companies, the country’s first operational smart city said in a statement. To raise awareness about GIFT-IFSC, the collaboration will organise events, information series, seminars, and conferences.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has successfully tested the ‘Nirbhay’ Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile, powered by the Made-in-India ‘Manik’ Turbofan Engine. The missile was designed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment, a DRDO laboratory in Bengaluru. The engine was designed and developed by another DRDO laboratory, Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), which is also based in Bengaluru. The ‘Nirbhay’ subsonic missile, which has a range of 1000 kilometers, was fired from a military testing facility off the coast of Odisha on Wednesday and it flew for nearly 150 kilometers in 15 minutes.

Notes:

• Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched the e-crop survey initiative which will become effective in Maharashtra from August 15.
• The project, was initially introduced as a pilot in two districts, is jointly implemented by the departments of revenue and agriculture along with the Tata Trust.
• The concept will be a role model for the country, and the e-crop survey app is yet another initiative to reduce the hardships of the farmers as it would provide them crop-related information without hassles.
• Maharashtra had already introduced a digitized 7/12 document, which is an extract from the ‘Land Register’ that the farmers can now access on their mobile phones

Notes:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 100 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Gatishakti initiative on August 15, 2021.
• This initiative will create employment opportunities for youth in India.
• It will also lead to growth and development of infrastructure.
• In his address, Prime Minister highlighted that Gatishakti-National Master Plan will be announced soon.
• Prime Minister also noted that, India needs to increase both manufacturing and exports.
• Gati Shakti plan will help in raising global profile of local manufacturers. It will also help manufacturers to compete with their counterparts cross the world. It also increases the possibilities of new future economic zones.

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 country’s largest public lender State Bank of India (SBI) has introduced a new deposit scheme, under which it will offer additional interest to individuals and senior citizens.
• The new deposit scheme, called the SBI Platinum Deposits has been launched as a special deposit scheme to mark the celebratory occasion of 75 years of Independence.
• As part of the special deposit scheme, individuals can get additional interest up to 0.15% on term deposits for 75 days, 75 weeks and 75-month tenors.
• An individual can select 75-day, 525-day and 2,250-day tenures under the special scheme, under which additional interest can be gained on investments.

Notes:

• The World Bank has launched a new Cybersecurity Multi-Donor Trust Fund aimed at better defining and systematically rolling out the cybersecurity development agenda to help ensure a more substantial reflection of cybersecurity considerations across its programs and financing.
• Developed as an associated trust fund under the World Bank’s broader Digital Development Partnership Umbrella (DDP), the Cybersecurity Multi-Donor Trust Fund’s launch was made possible with donor contributions from Estonia, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.
• The new Cybersecurity Multi-Donor Trust Fund will help ensure that countries and their citizens can safely and securely take full advantage of the ongoing digital transformation and development.

Notes:

• Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), in association with the Karnataka government, has launched ‘Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System’ (FRUITS) portal.
• FRUITS portal is the first of its kind in the country where in the land and other details of all the farmers in the State are being captured.
• All the farmers will be registered and given a FRUITS ID (FID) number. Using this number, the financial and lending institutions can access the land details of farmers as well as their borrowings and take a quick decision on lending to them depending on their requirements.