Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2021

• The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation -GHMC has taken up a novel initiative to get rid of diseases like Malaria and Dengue, implementing ‘Every Sunday at 10 AM for 10 mnts campaign.’
• Hyderabad Mayor G Vijayalakshmi formally launched the campaign by destroying all mosquito breeding sources at her camp office.
• She has urged people to spend 10 minutes every Sunday to destroy mosquito breeding sources and eradicate these diseases.
• The campaign will continue for ten weeks.

• India and Russia has agreed to form a permanent bilateral channel for consultations on Afghanistan.
• India, Russia and Iran were previously the main backers of an anti-Taliban alliance when the Islamist group was last in power in Kabul between 1996-2001.

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have developed a modified cotton fabric capable of adsorbing harmful air pollutants.
• ZIF-8@CM Cotton and ZIF-67@CM Cotton, as they are called, are Zeolite Imidazolate Framework (ZIF)-modified functionalised fabrics which adsorb high levels of organic air pollutants like benzene, aniline, and styrene from the ambient air.
• The ZIF functionalised textiles possess a huge potential for applications as protective garments and in controlling indoor air pollution.

• Former Indian Footballer O. Chandrasekharan passed away in Kochi on August 24, 2021 at the age of 86.
• Chandrasekharan was part of the Indian team that participated in the 1960 Rome and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
• He was also a member of the Indian team that won the gold in 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and the silver medal in Asian Cup in Tel Aviv the same year.
• He captained the Maharashtra team that won the 1963 Santosh Trophy.

• The Assam government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 37 microfinance lenders for implementation of the Assam Microfinance Incentive and Relief Scheme (AMFIRS), 2021.
• The scheme is aimed at providing financial relief to the microfinance borrowers in Assam to help them continue maintaining good credit discipline in covid-19 times.

The scheme will provide incentive to clients who are regular in repayments and help overdue clients become regular.

• Operation Devi Shakti name has been given by India to its operation of evacuating its citizens from war-torn Afghanistan.
• External affairs minister S Jaishankar called the evacuation process as ‘Operation Devi Shakti’ while saluting the efforts of Indian Air Force and Air India.
• India has been carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and other countries.

• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch an explorer 2024 which will land on ‘Phobos’ the Martian Moon in order to collect 10 grams of soil and bring it back to Earth in 2029.
• The scientists from JAXA believe that 0.1% of the surface soil on Phobos came from Mars.
• Collecting the samples from multiple locations on the Martian moon can provide a greater chance of obtaining the possible traces of life from Mars than obtaining the soil from a single location on Mars.

• Maharashtra government launched a special mission called “Mission Vatsalya” in order to help women who lost their husbands to COVID-19.
• Mission Vatsalya will provide several services and some 18 benefits under one roof to those women.
• It been designed for widows, with special focus on widows coming from rural areas, poor backgrounds and deprived sections.
• Under this mission, schemes like Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana and Gharkul Yojana will benefit those for women.
• This mission is being implemented by women and child development (WCD) Department.
• Officers from WCD department, child development project officers, Anganwadi workers and local unit officers are visiting homes these women to provide them services.

• In a massive boost for the Indian wrestling, the Uttar Pradesh government has adopted the sport and is expected to pump in an investment of Rs 170 crore in infrastructure and support to the wrestlers till the 2032 Olympics.
• Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brijbhushan Sharan Singh said that they took inspiration from the Odisha government’s support to the sport of hockey and they approached the UP government for a similar assistance to their game.
• The WFI President said this deal with the UP government will allow them to plan exposure trips to foreign countries even for India’s Cadet level wrestlers.

• Indian paralympic shooter Avani Lekhara won country’s first gold medal in shooting at the Tokyo Paralympics in the women’s 10m air rifle.
• The 19-year-old became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic or an Olympic gold medal in the country’s history.
• India’s discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya clinched silver medal.
• Devendra Jhajharia and Sundar Singh won the silver and bronze medals in javelin throw event