Daily Current Affairs Quiz – 8th August 2020

Odisha became the first state in India and India became the first country in the Indian Ocean Region to achieve this status of “Tsunami ready” from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

The water level has risen in the Krishna river and other rivers in Raichur district after increased outflow from Narayanpur Dam on August 8, 2020, leading to flood-like situation in the adjoining areas. The Reservoir Authority informed that the water inflow to Narayanpur Dam was around 2.20 lakh cusec at around 10 am on August 8.

Sandip Pradhan is the Director-General of Sports Authority of India.

The HQ of Life Insurance Corporation of India(LIC) located at Mumbai, Maharashtra.

The capital and currency of Mozambique are Maputo &MozambicanMetical respectively.

The decisions of the newly set-up Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the single-window nodal agency, on the launch dates of satellites and rockets and use of facilities of the Department of Space’s assets also by private players will be binding on all stakeholders including the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). The Department of Space published the roles and responsibilities of IN-SPACe, formed after the department decided to open up the assets for all with an aim to boost the private sector’s participation in the space activities in the country, on the Isro’s website. According to it, IN-SPACe will have a chairman, technical, strategic and legal experts in space activities, safety and from other departments, academia and industries, and members of the PMO and Ministry of External Affairs.

Every year the Government of India (GoI) celebrates the National Handloom day on August 7, to create awareness about the Handloom Industry amongst the public at large and its contribution to socio-economic development. The 6th edition of the Nation Handloom Day is celebrated on August 7, 2020.The Union Government had declared 7th August as the first National Handloom Day in July 2015. The day chosen in order to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement, launched on August 7, 1905.

A prominent culture historian and exponent of MewatiGharana, Mukund Lath passed away at the age of 82 on 6th August, 2020 in Jaipur. He was born on 9th October 1937 in Kolkata. He was awarded India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, in 2010 for his contributions to the field of arts and cultural history. Some of his works on performing arts are: ‘A Study of Dattilam: A Treatise on the Sacred Music of Ancient India’ (1978), ‘SangitaevamChintan’ (1992), and ‘Transformation as Creation’ (1998).

The former Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) and former West Bengal Transport Minister Shyamal Chakraborty passed away at the age 76 in Calcutta. He served as the three-time transport minister of West Bengal from 1982 to 1996.

“Amazing Ayodhya” A book by Neena Rai promises to shed light on the history of Ayodhya. The book is set to give “authentic information” about the city of Ayodhya and will help in understanding the life and times of ancient Hindus. The book aims to gain knowledge of the architecture in Ayodhya, houses in Ayodhya, the establishment of the city, and animals that lived in Ayodhya. According to the publishing house Bloomsbury, the book is well-researched and is replete with descriptions and draws out comparisons of earlier eras with our current life and culture. The book will hit the stands in November.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti(MoJS) has launched a new version of the India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) with new functions and features. It is open to the public, and accessible through the web portal http://www.indiawris.gov.in. The MoJS has established a dedicated organization, National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) to maintain and update India-WRIS.

Life Insurance Corporation of India(LIC) has acquired a 4.23% Stake(105.98 crore shares) of YES Bank by purchasing from the open market. With this acquisition, the hold of LIC in YES Bank has increased from 0.75%(19 crore shares) to 4.98%(125 crore shares). The period of acquisition is between September 21, 2017, and July 31, 2020.

PNB Housing Finance, promoted by Punjab National Bank(PNB)announced the appointment of Former State Bank of India(SBI) Card Head, Hardayal Prasad as its new Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO). Prasad will take over from Neeraj Vyas, the current interim CEO of PNB housing finance on 10th August 2020.

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) appointed Professor Pradeep Kumar Joshi as its new Chairman. His tenure as the chairman of the UPSC will be till April 4, 2022. He succeeds Arvind Saxena who retires as the UPSC chairman on 6th August 2020.

Ram NathKovind, President of India as per the powers conferred on him by Section 1 of Article 148 of the Constitution of India has appointed Girish Chandra(GC) Murmu as 14th Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) of India, with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office. He succeeds in Rajiv Mehrishi who completes his term on August 8, 2020, as he attains the age of 65.GC Murmu will take oath on August 8, 2020, at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He is the first tribal person to become the CAG of India. He will have a tenure up to November 20, 2024.

National Highways Authority of India signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in data-driven decision making and Advance Data Management System for Highways (ADMS Highways). The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in the presence of Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Chairman NHAI, and Dr. V Ram Gopal Rao Director, IIT Delhi.

To promote innovation across the financial sector by leveraging on technology into areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics, delivery platforms, and payment services, Reserve Bank will set up an Innovation Hub in India. The Innovation Hub will act as a centre for ideation and incubation of new capabilities which would facilitate and foster innovation. This move is on the lines of the RBI regulatory sandbox framework under which 6 proposals were received, the pilot studies or trials of which have been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

RBI announces additional special liquidity facility of Rs 5000 cr each for NHB & NABARD. NHB: RBI has decided to provide an additional standing liquidity facility (ASLF) of Rs 5,000 crore to National Housing Bank (NHB), over and above Rs10,000 crores already provided, for supporting housing finance companies (HFCs). The facility will be for a period of 1 year and will be charged at the RBI’s repo rate. NABARD: An ASLF of Rs 5,000 crore provided to NABARD for a period of 1 year at the RBI’s policy repo rate for refinancing Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)- Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) and other smaller NBFCs of asset size of Rs 500 crore and less to support agriculture and allied activities and the rural non-farm sector. A Liquidity support of Rs 25,000 crore was extended to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in April 2020.

RBI has decided to set up a new mechanism for stressed assets that need rescuing. In this regard, RBI will set up a committee under KundapurVaman Kamath, the former chairman of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Bank and ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) Bank to set the parameters and benchmarks for this programme aimed at the resolution of stressed loans. This committee will also evaluate resolution plans where debt is more than Rs 1,500 crore.

To state “2020-21 Resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)” a three-day meeting of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) six-member MPC, headed by Shaktikanta Das was held from August 4-6, 2020 where it was forecasted that India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) will contract in the first half (H1) of FY21 as well as full FY 2020-21 in view of rising inflation and declining of economic growth amid the gradual lifting of COVID-19) countrywide lockdown. The central bank kept the repo rate unchanged at 4%, reverse repo rate at 3.35%, and marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 4.25%.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a USD 200 million financing deal with the Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power Limited (RBLPL) to build and operate a 718-megawatt combined-cycle gas-fired power plant in Bangladesh. The project will reduce the current energy deficit and lead to more private sector investment in the country’s electricity sector. The financing deal has two components of dollar 100 million each.

Export-Import Bank on behalf of the Indian Government, extended a Line of Credit of USD 250 million (about Rs. 1,870 Crores) to Mozambique to improve the power supply quality of the country.

The Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) unveiled a new Platform, to support the global reduction of food loss and waste. The official launch of the platform will be on the first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste(IDAFLW) which will be observed on 29th September 2020.

Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka were held on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka’s 16th Parliament. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa has won 145 (plus five more seats from allies) in the elections, securing two-thirds majority in the parliament. The two-thirds supermajority will give them powers to change the constitution. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the current President of Sri Lanka.

The National Education Policy (NEP) has dropped Mandarin or ‘Chinese’ from its list of examples of foreign languages that can be taught in schools. The language was included in the draft version of the Policy released in May 2019, but was missing from the final Policy document approved by the Union Cabinet.

Sports Authority of India(SAI) in association with Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations(CISCE) and Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) will host an online training programme through the Khelo India Mobile App (KIMA) to train the Physical Education (PE) teachers and head of the institutions from CISCE schools on “Khelo India Fitness Assessment of School Going Children”.

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (t) of sub-section (1) of section 196 read with section 240 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (31 of 2016), the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) amended the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2016 by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2020.MS Sahoo is the chairperson of IBBI.

Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray announced the partnership with Google which will blend google’s learning programmes that integrate the classroom approach with online learning, over a virtual launch event. Maharashtra became the first state in India to collaborate with Google India for state-wide distribution of G suite for Education and Google Classroom.

In order to support the continuity of digital skilling of the Indian workforce, Simplilearn, a global provider of digital skills training joined hands with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Under this collaboration, Simplilearn will host more than 1,000 hours of free learning in digital skills and technologies for learners across India under the categories of AI and Machine Learning, Big Data, Data Science & Business Intelligence, Cyber Security, Software Development, Project management, and Digital marketing. This partnership is aligned with the Skill India Mission.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognises Venkatraipur and Noliasahi, villages of Odisha as ‘Tsunami Ready’ for their overall preparedness to face the tsunami. With this recognition, Odisha became the first state in India and India became the 1st Country in the Indian Ocean region to achieve the honour from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. Note – Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village is in the Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district & Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address at the Conclave on Transformational Reforms in Higher Education under National Education Policy(NEP) organized by the Ministry of Education in association with University Grants Commission(UGC) over a virtual platform and discussed various aspects of NEP 2020, which replaces the National Policy on Education framed in 1986 with academicians and scientists.

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Railways and Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare flagged off India’s 1st Kisan Rail, a Special Parcel Train from Maharashtra’s Devlali to Bihar’s Danapur Railway station through video link. This is the 1st ever multi-commodity train of Indian Railways(IR) that carries fruits like Pomegranate, Banana, Grapes etc and vegetables like Capsicum, Cauliflower, etc. The train will run on a weekly basis.