Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India inked a deal for a $295 million loan for the implementation of the Enhancing Connectivity and Sustainability in Bihar Roads Project.
The loan aims to enhance approximately 265 kilometers of state highways in Bihar with climate and disaster resilient features, alongside incorporating road safety elements.

Notes:
The capital markets regulator – SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has released the guidelines for the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF).
The fund’s purpose is to serve as a backstop facility, facilitating the purchase of investment-grade corporate debt securities during times of market stress, thereby boosting confidence among participants in the corporate debt market.

Notes:
Digital payments across the country registered a growth of 13.24 per cent in a year through March 2023, as per RBI’s index that measures the adoption of online transactions.
RBI’s Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) stood at 395.57 at end-March 2023 compared to 377.46 in September 2022 and 349.30 in March 2022. The index is a base to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.

Notes:
China has granted Pakistan a two-year rollover on a USD 2.4-billion loan for a period of two years.
This move is expected to provide relief to Pakistan, which is facing a severe Balance of Payments crisis. Its current reserves barely cover two months’ worth of import bills.

Notes:
The second Russia–Africa Summit was held at St. Petersburg, Russia on 27 and 28 July 2023. It was originally scheduled to be held at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
At the commencement of the Summit, President Putin promised to provide free grain shipments to six African countries. Under this commitment, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea will receive 25,000-50,000 tons of grain in the upcoming months.

Notes:
Formula One racing driver Max Verstappen secured his eighth win in a row, one short of the all-time record, at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Verstappen won the race with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez clinching second position and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at third place.

Notes:
To counter AePS fraud involving spoofed fingerprints in Aadhaar authentication, the UIDAI has introduced an in-house AI/ML-based Finger Minutiae Record – Finger Image Record (FMR-FIR) system.
This technology verifies the authenticity of a fingerprint by detecting cloned fingerprints during the authentication process.

Notes:
India’s gross revenues from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hit a three-month high to cross ₹1.65 lakh crore in July 2023. July’s collections were 2.2% higher than the previous month’s GST collection.
However, at 10.8%, it was the slowest uptick in collections since July 2021 compared to revenues from the same month last year.

Notes:
Brazil’s Operation Shield is a police operation that targeted criminal gangs in slums areas in Rio de Janeiro.
At least 45 people have lost their lives in a recent series of lethal security force operations conducted in Brazil.

Notes:
The UK has formally acknowledged that acts of genocide were committed against the Yazidi people by Daesh in 2014.
The Yazidis were subjected to massacres, forced marriages and sex slavery during the jihadists’ 2014-15 rule in the Iraq province of Sinjar.  It was announced ahead of events to mark “the 9 year anniversary of atrocities” committed by Islamic State against Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority in Iraq.