Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

• The government of Uttar Pradesh has launched the third phase of the “Mission Shakti” with the aim of promoting women’s safety and self-reliance.
• The main schemes to be implemented in this phase are the launch of ‘Mission Shakti Kaksha’ at all the 59,000-gram panchayat bhawans, the formation of one lakh women self-help groups, and the construction of pink toilets in 1,286 police stations.
• Punjab National Bank MD & CEO S S Mallikarjuna Rao handed over a loan sanction letter of Rs 5,100 crore for implementation of the Ganga Expressway project to the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).

• Sweden has become the first country in the world to manufacture fossil-free steel which is also known as green steel.
• Green steel has been developed by HYBRIT Technology and the first delivery was done to Volvo AB as a trial run.
• This initiative was in process since the year 2016 and the full scale production will begin from 2026.
• According to reports, replacing coking coal with hydrogen is expected to reduce emissions from steelmaking by at least 90%.

• The Arunachal Pradesh cabinet has approved two credit-linked schemes, which will facilitate Rs 300 crore investments in the agro-based sectors.
• The state government has earmarked Rs 60 crore of subsidies each for Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana for agriculture and Atma Nirbhar Bagwani Yojana for horticulture during the fiscal year 2021-22.
• The credit-linked programmes will have three components – bank loans, subsidy and beneficiaries’ contribution.
• The schemes will be available for cultivators, self-help groups and farmer producer organisations (FPOs).

• As part of mega infantry modernisation programme, India is procuring a sizable number of AK-103 series of assault rifles for the Indian Army from Russia.
• A deal has been finalised under the provisions of emergency procurement.
• The rifles are being procured under the emergency financial powers granted to the three services to make urgent purchases

• Olympic footballer and former National coach Syed Shahid Hakim passed away on August 22, 2021 in Kalaburagi, Karnataka at the age of 82.
• Hakim, son of the legendary football coach S.A. Rahim, was part of the Indian squad for the 1960 Rome Olympics where it finished sixth.
• This was also India’ last appearance in football at the Olympics.
• Hakim was also a qualified FIFA referee, officiating in 33 international games, including the 1988 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.

Hakim became the second footballer, after Shabbir Ali, to win the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement (2017) and also served as the chief project director at Sports Authority of India (SAI).

• Shaili Singh won the women’s long jump silver with a 6.59m leap (wind advantage +2.2) at the World Athletics under-20 championships in Nairobi on August 22, 2021.
• She missed the gold by just one centimetre to Sweden’s Maja Askag (6.60m).
• Askag also won gold in triple jump.
• India finished with three medals (two silver and a bronze) in the five-day meet for its best-ever tally at a World championship.
• Host Kenya topped the table with 16 medals, including eight gold.

• According to a new report by UNICEF, Children in India are at extreme high risk of impacts of climate crisis.
• As per report, India is among four South Asian countries where children are most at risk.
• Climate change threatens their health, education, and protection.
• Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India are the four South Asian countries where children are at extremely high risk.
• Pakistan was ranked at 14th position, Bangladesh at 15th, Afghanistan at 25th while India at 26th.
• Nepal is ranked at 51st, Sri Lanka 61st, while Bhutan is ranked 111th.
• About 1 billion children live in 33 countries that are classified as ‘extremely high-risk’.
• More than 600 million Indians will face ‘acute water shortages’ in upcoming years.
• At the same time, flash flooding will increase significantly in India’s urban areas once the global temperature increases to 2° Celsius. Further, twenty-one of world’s 30 cities with the most polluted air were in India in 2020.
• These findings were published in UNICEF’s report titled: “’The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index” (CCRI). CCRI is the first focussed report on children by UNICEF.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) worth Rs 6 lakh crore.
• The NMP comprises a four-year pipeline of the Centre’s brownfield infrastructure assets from FY22-FY25.
• Apart from providing visibility to investors, NMP will also serve as a medium-term roadmap for the asset monetisation initiative of the government.
• Under NMP, the Centre has finalised Rs 6 lakh crore worth of infrastructure assets, including national highways, mobile towers, stadia, railway stations as well as power grid pipelines among other key assets, which it plans to monetise.
• NMP will look into all those brownfield assets where investment is already being made and where the assets are either languishing or not being fully monetized or under-utilized.

• In a bid to encourage youngsters to set up start-ups in the Union Territory, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has joined hands with Atal Incubation Centre – Pondicherry Engineering College (AICPEC), the Department of Industries and Commerce and the Department of Higher Education to launch an innovation contest targeting students from all streams.
• The innovation contest is open to students in Engineering, Medical and Arts and Science Colleges.
• Students who have passed out from the colleges in the UT and are between the age group of 18 and 30 could participate.
• The winners would get a prototyping grant of up to ₹1.5 lakh and will be incubated by AICPEC to convert their ideas into business models.

• A ‘Durga Fighter’ force comprising 32 female staff has been constituted to combat Naxalism in the Naxal-affected Sukma district.
• The idea behind an all-women force is to promote gender equality.
• They will be trained for commando duty for a month.
• Asha Sen will be the captain of Durga Fighter.