Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2022

Notes:
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has identified 75 Municipal Corporations to implement comprehensive rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of begging, under the spirit of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
The initiative is called ‘SMILE: Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise’ or SMILE-75 Initiative. The initiative will focus on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, awareness, education, skill development and convergence with other Government welfare programmes etc.

Notes:
Singapore declared its 200-year-old green and open space Padang, as its 75th national monument, as the city-state celebrates its 57th National Day.
Padang is the site from where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose gave his ‘Delhi Chalo’ slogan in 1943. Padang is also the first green and open space on Singapore’s list of national monuments, the highest form of recognition for a site’s significance.

Notes:
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma announced that the North East India Festival will celebrate 75 years of India-Thailand relations.
The North East Festival ‘Connecting People celebrating Culture’ is the largest initiative of North East India. It will be held in Bangkok, to showcase the uniqueness of North East and promote unexplored avenues in terms of tourism and investment.

Notes:
Over 5000 soldiers from the US, Indonesia, Australia, Japan and Singapore participated in the joint combat exercises on Sumatra island in Indonesia.
The exercise was conducted amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region. This is the largest edition of the exercise since it was launched in 2009. Many other countries also sent observers to the exercises.

Notes:
India’s leading Payments and Banking Platform for Businesses, Razorpay has become the first Indian company to be named in the 2022 Forbes Cloud 100 List.
The Cloud 100 list recognizes the outstanding companies in the technology category from small startups to private-equity-backed major companies.

Notes:
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has submitted data from Phase 3 clinical trials of BBV154, its intranasal Covid vaccine candidate, to the drug regulator.
It has sought approval both as a primary two-dose vaccine, and a heterologous booster shot. A heterologous booster means the third or subsequent dose of the vaccine is different from its primary dose.

Notes:
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) in partnership with the Cuban government has floated a tender for setting up a 1150 MW solar project in Cuba.
State-owned NTPC is the project management consultant for ISA for setting up the project. The project is part of Cuba’s plan to implement 2100 MW of solar projects. It is also the first in ISA’s broader solar park programme.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh government approved the Uttar Pradesh Defence and Aerospace Unit and Employment Promotion Policy-2022.
The new policy will aim at providing higher incentives to investors setting up their units in the defence and aerospace manufacturing sector in UP’s Defence Industrial Corridor. The new policy provides for a capital subsidy of 7 per cent/ 10 percent or a maximum of Rs 500 crore.

Notes:
Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh approved a Start-up loan of Rs 1.15 crores to a Bio-plastics firm for commercialising ‘compostable’ plastic.
This project has received seed funding under NIDHI Prayas (DST), Niti Aayog and UNIDO for prototype development. The composite is a blend of Thermoplastic-Starch (TPS)-glycerin with modifications that provide higher strength at a lower cost.

Notes:
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched Vidya Rath-School on Wheels project. It aims to provide access to underprivileged children to elementary education for 10 months.
After 10 months, the children will be integrated into the usual system of education. Students will be offered free mid-day meals, uniforms, and textbooks under the project.