Current Affairs Quiz Questions and Answers 2020 || 13 Aug 2020 ||

Current Affairs Quiz Questions and Answers 2020

13 AUG 2020

(Q.01) Who heads the committee formed by Government of India for determination of ceiling rates under Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products scheme?
1) G.K. Pillai
2) Anurag Singh Thakur
3) Gautam Ray
4) None of the Above

Ans. :-(1) G.K. Pillai

The Government of India under the Ministry of finance, Department of Revenue has set up a three-member committee headed by Secretary (retired) G.K. Pillai for determination of ceiling rates under Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme. The two other members are Y G Parande, retired Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs member and Gautam Ray, retired chief commissioner of customs and central excise.

About Ministry of Finance:
Union Minister – Nirmala Sitharaman
Minister of State –  Anurag Singh Thakur

(Q.02) Find the IIT which in collaboration with Imperial College London, develops nanoparticle ‘meta-grid’.
1) IIT Ropar
2) IIT Bombay
3) IIT Guwahati
4) IIT Kanpur

Ans. :-(3) IIT Guwahati

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, India, and Imperial College London, United Kingdom, have developed nanoparticles called the ‘meta-grid’ or ‘metamaterial grid’ that makes the light-emitting diodes (LED) brighter, energy-efficient and durable. It was jointly developed by Dr. Debabrata Sikdar, assistant professor at IIT Guwahati along with Prof. Sir John B. Pendry and Prof. Alexei A. Kornyshev from Imperial College London. The findings have been recently published in Light: Science and Application journal of the Nature Publishing Group.

About Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati
Headquarters – Guwahati, Assam, India
Director – T.G Sitharam
About Imperial College London
President – Alice P.Gast
Headquarters – London, United Kingdom

(Q.03) Name the company which has partnered with Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up the manufacture & delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for India.
1) Panacea Biotec Limited
2) GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited
3) Serum Institute of India
4) Indian Immunologicals Limited

Ans. :-(3) Serum Institute of India

Serum Institute of India(SII) Private Limited has entered into a new partnership with Gavi, the International Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the process of manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low and middle income countries(LMICs) by 2021 as part of the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX Facility. The vaccines will be made available to the 92 countries included in Gavi’s COVAX AMC. SII has set a ceiling price of USD 3 per dose.

About SII:
Headquarters– Pune, Maharashtra
Chairman and Managing Director–  Cyrus S. Poonawalla
CEO– Adar C. Poonawalla

(Q.04) Name the union textile minister of India who launched the Mobile App & Backend Website for Handloom Mark Scheme on occasion of National Handloom day August 7, 2020.
1) Pralhad Joshi
2) Prakash Javadekar
3) Nitin Gadkari
4) Smriti Irani

Ans. :-(4) Smriti Irani

The Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, launched the Mobile App & Backend Website for Handloom Mark Scheme (HLM) for the weavers on the occasion of 6th National Handloom Day held virtually on 7th August, 2020, organized by the Ministry of Textiles, GoI (Government of India). Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Jai Ram Thakur joined the virtual board from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. The mobile app was developed by the Textile Committee of Mumbai to digitalize the process of Registration.

About the Ministry of Textiles: 
Headquarters – Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi
Union Minister – Smriti Zubin Irani

(Q.05) Which organisation developed “Air Suvidha” portal for all international arriving passengers across India?
1) Mumbai International Airport Limited
2) Delhi International Airport Limited
3) Hyderabad International Airport Limited
4) Bengaluru International Airport Limited

Ans. :-(2) Delhi International Airport Limited

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) a GMR Group-led consortium, has developed AIR SUVIDHA, a first-of-its-kind portal allowing international arriving passengers to fill a mandatory self-declaration form and eligible passengers to apply for exemption from compulsory institutional quarantine for coronavirus. It will make passengers’ journey more convenient and comfortable in a contactless way as they won’t have to fill the physical copies of the forms on arrival. The online forms have been developed in collaboration with various state governments, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Indira Gandhi International Airport was operated by DIAL.

About Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW):
Cabinet Minister– Dr Harsh Vardhan
Minister of State (MoS)– Ashwini Kumar Choubey
About Ministry of External Affairs (MEA):
Union Minister– Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Minister of State (MoS)– Vellamvelly Muraleedharan

(Q.06) When was world biofuel day observed annually?
1) August 13
2) August 11
3) August 12
4) August 10

Ans. :-(4) August 10

World Biofuel Day is observed annually on August 10 to raise awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels. The day honours the research experiments by Sir Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel(inventor of the diesel engine) who ran an engine with peanut oil in 1893. In India, the day has been celebrated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas since 2015.On the occasion of the day, a webinar was organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with the theme “Biofuels towards Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

(Q.07) International Day of the World’s Indigenous People or world tribal day was observed annually on August 9. What is the 2020’s theme for the day?
1) “COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience”
2) “COVID-19 and rights of Indigenous people”
3) “COVID-19 and save Indigenous Languages”
4) “COVID-19 and save Indigenous people”

Ans. :-(1) “COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience”

The United Nations(UN’s) International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is annually observed on 9th August by the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues with the UN and its member states to promote the rights of the indigenous population around the world. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People also known as World Tribal Day. The First International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was celebrated on 9th August 1995. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2020 is celebrated under the theme – “COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience”.

(Q.08) The books authored by PS Sreedharan Pillai named ‘Corona Kavithakal’, ‘Republic Day 2020’ and ‘Thus Speaks the Governor’ were released recently. The PS Sreedharan Pillai is the Governor of which state?
1) Meghalaya
2) Assam
3) Mizoram
4) Tripura

Ans. :- (3) Mizoram

Books authored by Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai titled ‘Corona Kavithakal’ was released by Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga. Meanwhile ‘Republic Day 2020’ and ‘Thus Speaks the Governor’ were released by Gauhati High Court Chief Justice AjaiLamba through a video message. These books are part of his recently penned books(at least 13), which include collections of poems in English and Malayalam in English and Malayalam since March i.e., during the lockdown.

(Q.09) Find the person who has won Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020.
1) Lewis Hamilton
2) Max Verstappen
3) Sebastian Vettel
4) Valtteri Bottas

Ans. :-(2) Max Verstappen

Red Bull’s 22 years old driver Max Emilian Verstappen from Netherland had won F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, United Kingdom and became the first non-Mercedes driver to win a race in the 2020.This race was officially called as Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020. The race was the fifth round of the rescheduled 2020 Formula One World Championship. Lewis Hamilton finished second and Valtteri Bottas finished third.

(Q.10) How many defence weapons and military platforms were restricted from import by Department of Military Affairs of Ministry of Defence?
1) 101
2) 78
3) 58
4) 111

Ans. :-(1) 101

Department of Military Affairs (DMA), Ministry of Defence (MoD) decided to restrict import of 101 weapons and military platforms, the embargo on which is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 and 2024, in order to boost indigenous defence manufacturing on the lines of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. The announcement for the same was made by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. In this regard, the Defence Industry will receive contracts worth almost Rs 4 lakh crore within the next five to seven years. Of these, items worth almost Rs 1,30,000 crore each are anticipated for the Army and the Air Force, while items worth almost Rs 1,40,000 crore are anticipated by the Navy over the same period. The focus behind this decision is to adopt the technologies designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces in the coming years.

About Ministry of Defence (MoD):
Rajnath Singh constituency– Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP)
Minister of State (MoS)– Shripad Yesso Naik

(Q.11) The capital India finance has appointed Harsh Kumar Bhanwala as executive chairman recently. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala is the former Chairman of which organisation?
1) National Housing Bank (NHB)
2) India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL)
3) Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
4) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Ans. :-(4) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Financial Services Platform, Capital India Finance Limited (CIFL) has appointed Ex-NABARD Chief Harsh Kumar Bhanwala as its Executive Chairman. Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala took charge as Executive Chairman from August 06, 2020

About Capital India Finance Limited:
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer – Vineet Saxena.
Managing Director – Keshav Porwal
HeadOffice – Mumbai, Maharashtra  

(Q.12) Name the company which signed MoU with Andhra Pradesh government to set up its centre in Vishakhapatnam.
1) McKinsey
2) Boston
3) Deloitte
4) SpaceX

Ans. :-(2) Boston

Andhra Pradesh(AP) Government signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US based, The Boston Group(TBG) to set up a facility at Visakhapatnam dedicated to Research and Development (R&D) in the Information Technology sector with focus on learning platforms and also leveraging advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and cybersecurity.

MoU Signing
The MoU was signed in the presence of Rathnakar Pandugayala, Special Representative to the AP Government for North America and Subu Kota, TBG’s chairman and People Prime Worldwide.
About AP:
Capital- Amaravati
Chief Minister(CM)– Yeduguri Sandinti(YS) Jagan Mohan Reddy
Governor– Biswa Bhusan Harichandan
About TBG:
Headquarters– Massachusetts, United States
Chief executive Officer(CEO)- Subu M. Kota

(Q.13) PM Modi recently inaugurated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and which city?
1) Kolkata
2) Mumbai
3) Vishakhapatnam
4) Port Blair

Ans. :-(4) Port Blair

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and dedicate to the Nation, submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&NI) through video conferencing. This connectivity will enable delivery of faster mobile and landline telecom services to A&NI, at par with other parts of India. The Submarine OFC cable has been laid at a cost of about Rs 1224 Crore. The foundation stone for 2,312-kilometer Chennai – Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI) was laid by PM Narendra Modi on 30th December 2018 at Port Blair.

(Q.14) PM Modi launched the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) of financing facility under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund worth _______ recently.
1) 5 Lakh Crore
2) 2 Lakh Crore
3) 1 Lakh Crore
4) 50,000 Crore

Ans. :-(3) 1 Lakh Crore

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) of financing facility under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore via video conferencing. In this regard, the first sanction of over Rs. 1000 Crore was made to over 2,280 farmer societies. The duration of the scheme is 10 years i.e. from FY2020 to FY2029. Notably, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be sanctioned in partnership with multiple lending institutions; 11 of the 12 Public Sector Banks have already signed MOUs with the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW).

(Q.15) The Punjab Cricket Association decided to name its new stadium in the memory of whom?
1) Maharaja Yadavindra Singh
2) Maharaja Ranjit Singh
3) Yuvraj Singh
4) Harbhajan Singh

Ans. :-(1) Maharaja Yadavindra Singh

Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) is set to name its new stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, Punjab after the late Maharaja Yadavindra Singh. PCA President Rajinder Gupta proposed the idea to name the stadium and it had been approved.

About Maharaja Yadavindra Singh:
i.Maharaja Yadavindra Singh played a test match for India against England in 1934.
ii.Maharaja Yadavindra Singh was the father of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He was the 9th and the last Maharaja of Patiala.

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