Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 20,2021

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come up with a draft rule with modifications in the existing regulation related to foreign investment to discourage round-tripping. The central bank is looking to tweak the existing regulations and has come up with draft rules around round-tripping.
• Some of the largest Indian companies, startups and multinationals with an India presence have put their outbound investment, fundraising and restructuring plans on hold as the RBI looks to introduce fresh regulations around “round-tripping.”
• According to the draft rule, any investment made outside India is an entity, in turn, invests in India will be treated as round-tripping if the purpose is to escape tax. This is as the same definition and rationale used by the tax department under General Anti Avoidance Rule (GAAR) which companies have been complaining is quite broad in its scope.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS?

• In Jammu and Kashmir, the Army organised a 400 Km “JAZBAA-E- TIRANGA” Relay Marathon.
• The event was flagged off by Major General Rajeev Puri, General Officer Commanding, Ace of Spades Division, who led the relay, closely followed by other military personnel. More than 300 troops took part, carrying the Indian Tricolour all along the Line of Control (LoC).
• The run inculcated the spirit of brotherhood, as each soldier carried the symbolic National Flag of comradeship across the Area of Responsibility (AOR), handing it over to other units which stand shoulder to shoulder in war.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

• World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is observed every year on 19 August to pay tribute to humanitarian personnel and those workers who lost or risked their lives while doing humanitarian service. In 2021 we are celebrating the 12th WHD.
• The theme for 2021 WHD is #TheHumanRace: a global challenge for climate action in solidarity with people who need it the most

ANSWER: D

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Reserve Bank of India has introduced the Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index), which is a measure of the extent of financial inclusion in India.
• FI-Index incorporates the inclusion details of banking, investments, insurance, postal and pension sector in India. This was among the announcements made in the first bimonthly monetary policy in April this year.
• The value of FI-Index will range between 0 to 100. Where 0 denotes complete financial exclusion while 100 denotes full financial inclusion.
• Parameters of FI-Index: The FI-Index comprises of three parameters, namely- Access (35%), Usage (45%), and Quality (20%) with each of these consisting of various dimensions, which are computed based on a number of indicators. In total there are 97 indicators.
• The annual FI-Index for the period ending March 2021 is 53.9 while for the period ending March 2017 it is 43.4. RBI will release the FI-Index in the month of July every year. There is no base year for this Index

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS?

• Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad was adjudged the second most polluted city out of the 50 ‘most polluted cities’ in the world in 2020 by a report prepared by British company HouseFresh. Ghaziabad reported an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 2.5 particulate matter (PM) in 106.6µg/m3.
• Preceding Ghaziabad, the Chinese city of Hotan in Xinjiang province has been named the most polluted city with a PM2.5 of 110.2µg/m3. The report attributed the air pollution in Hotan to sandstorms resulting from its closeness to the Taklimakan Desert, which is the largest shifting sand desert in the world.
• According to the report, Bangladesh was the most polluted country across the world in 2020, followed by Pakistan, India and Mongolia.
• Meanwhile, Judbury in Australia bagged the top position in the list of cities with the cleanest air with a PM2.5 level of 2.4µg/m3.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

• Mohammad Azam from Karimnagar district in Telangana has been awarded the National Youth Award recently by the Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur in Delhi for displaying exemplary leadership qualities.
• He has conducted several awareness programmes related to blood donation, organ donation and plantation programmes under the Haritha Haram project. The award carries an appreciation certificate and Rs 50,000 cash.
• Apart from these, he has also worked on water conservation, construction of soaking pits, works related to the Swachh Bharat mission and government welfare schemes, for the benefit of the people in various villages.
• He received the ‘Indira Gandhi NSS Award’ from then President of India Pranab Mukherjee. He was also awarded the Pratibha Puraskar award by the State government in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and the Rashtriya Gaurav Samman Award.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS?

Chairman of 15th Finance Commission, NK Singh, has been elected as the new president of Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) Society.

About:

• He succeeded former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who was the President of IEG since 1992.
• His name was recommended by Dr Manmohan Singh for the consideration of the IEG’s general assembly.
• Dr Manmohan Singh stepped down from this position for health concerns.

About Institute of Economic Growth

It is an autonomous, multidisciplinary centre that is used for advanced research and training. It was founded by VKRV Rao in 1952, but became operational in 1958. It is located at University Enclave of University of Delhi, New Delhi.

IEG’s research

Research in the Institute of Economic Growth are categorized in nine broad themes—

• Agriculture and rural development,
• Environment and resource economics
• Globalisation and trade
• Industry, labour and welfare
• Macro-economic policy and modelling
• Population and development
• Health policy
• Social change and
• Social structure.

Training Programme by IEG

IEG organises regular training programmes for the trainee officers from Indian Economic Service as well as some occasional courses for officers from Indian Statistical Service, NABARD, and university teachers.

Nand Kishore Singh (N.K. Singh)

He is an economist, Indian politician, and former Indian Administrative Service officer. Since 2014, He is a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He also served as Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha during 2008-2014 from Bihar for Janata Dal (United).  He has been a member of Planning Commission. He was appointed as chairman of the 15^th Finance Commission in 2017.

ANSWER: D

WHY IN NEWS?

Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh, launched the 5th edition of the Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC) on August 19, 2021.

About
DISC was launched under Innovations for Defence Excellence – Defence Innovation Organisation (iDEX-DIO).

• This challenge is meant to achieve self-reliance and foster innovation and technology development across the defence and aerospace sectors.
• This challenge was launched by Ministry in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission.
• It was launched with the aim of providing support to Startups, MSMEs and Innovators to create prototypes or commercialize products and solutions in the fields of National Defence and Security.
• Thirty-five problem statements

Under the DISC, 35 problem statements were launched comprising of 13 from Services and 22 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). 35 statements were launched from Armed Forces and OFB or DPSUs for the resolution by startups & innovators. These statements are areas like situational awareness, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, non-lethal devices, aircraft-trainer, 5G network, Drone SWARMS, underwater domain awareness, and data capturing.

iDEX4fauji

iDEX4fauji initiative is a similar initiative like DISC. It provided opportunity to Service personnel to showcase their talents in technological areas. iDEX initiative was launched in 2018, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Background

In the earlier editions of DISC, more than 80 start-ups, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and individual innovators joined as winners across 40 technological areas.  DISC 5.0 was launched three years after the launch of DISC 1.0.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

AIM is a flagship initiative that seeks to create and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India. It was launched with the objective of developing new programmes and policies in order to foster innovation in different sectors of the economy.