Weekly CA Quiz: August 2020 2nd week

In a resumption of bilateral and multilateral military exercises which were deferred due to coronavirus (COVID-19), India will take part in the Russian Kavkaz 2020 strategic command-post exercise next month. The invitees for the exercise also include China and Pakistan apart from other member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The railways began its Kisan Rail services to transport perishable goods from August 7, 2020. The train was flagged off via video conferencing by Union Minister of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. This is the first such train, carrying vegetables and fruits, that would run from Maharashtra’s Devlali to Bihar’s Danapur.

Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways has rolled out an application called “OHE Inspection”. With the help of this app, the national transporter will quickly find out the problem and it will get it fixed as soon as possible.

Under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Doodh Uphar Yojana’, fortified flavoured skimmed milk powder will be provided to children between 1 and 6 years of age in anganwadi centres aong with pregnant and lactating mothers.

The Delhi international airport has developed an online portal ‘Air Suvidha’ that will allow international arriving passengers to fill a mandatory self-declaration form and eligible passengers to apply for exemption from compulsory institutional quarantine for coronavirus.

Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to collaborate with Google India in the state-wide deployment of its Google for Education technology.

In a first, two coastal villages of Odisha have been recognised as being “Tsunami Ready” by UNESCO for their overall preparedness to face the calamity.
The two coastal are Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district and Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district.

Sri Lanka’s strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa staged a political comeback as his party registered a landslide victory in the twice-postponed general elections, according to the final results released by the elections commission.

The International Cricket Council confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 that was postponed due to Covid-19 will be held in Australia in 2022. India will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 as planned.

Former lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir G C Murmu will be the next Comptroller & Auditor General of India.
Murmu, a 1985 Indian Administrative Service Officer of Gujarat cadre will succeed Rajiv Mehrishi who completes his term on August 8.

Educationist Pradeep Kumar Joshi has been appointed as the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the civil services examination to select the country’s bureaucrats and diplomats.

Mukund Lath, prominent cultural historian, scholar, and an exponent of the Mewati gharana has passed away at the age of 82.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra in Delhi, an interactive experience centre on the Swachh Bharat Mission. The Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and it was first announced by the Prime Minister on 10th April 2017, on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Gandhiji’s Champaran Satyagraha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the financing facility of 1 lakh crore rupees under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. He also released the sixth instalment of funds of 17 thousand crore rupees to 8.5 crore farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme.

Serum Institute of India has entered into a new landmark partnership with Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the production of up to 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low and middle income countries.

Private sector lender South Indian Bank (SIB) announced that the RBI has given an in-principle approval for setting up a wholly owned non-financial subsidiary for undertaking activities permitted by RBI.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the existing debt restructuring scheme for stressed micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by three months to March 31, 2021, in view of the distress brought upon by the Covid outbreak. The central bank also changed the cutoff date for MSMEs to become standard accounts in order to be eligible under the scheme to March 1, 2020 from January 1, 2020.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enhanced the amount of loan that banks can give against the pledge of gold ornaments and jewellery for non-agricultural purposes from 75 per cent of the value of gold pledged to 90 per cent. It will be applicable till March 2021; move aimed to address Covid-led disruptions.

Financial services platform Capital India Finance Ltd announced the appointment of former head of NABARD, Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, as Executive Chairman.

The Finance Ministry said 15 proposals worth Rs 6,400 crore of stressed NBFCs and HFCs have been sanctioned under the special liquidity scheme announced as part of the Rs 20.97 lakh crore ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ package.

Former India footballer Manitombi Singh passed away in Imphal after long illness. He was 39. Manitombi played as a side-back and represented India in two significant tournaments in 2002.

E-commerce marketplace Flipkart has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme of the Uttar Pradesh government to bring artisans, weavers and craftsmen into mainstream business.

An agreement was signed between CSIR and FSSAI for collaborative research and information dissemination in the area of food and nutrition.

RBI has permitted banks to invest in debt instruments through mutual funds or exchange traded funds without allocating additional charges.

The Centre has released Rs 553 crore to states under a scheme to promote mechanization in the agriculture sector.

The far-flung tribal village of Chullyu in Arunachal Pradesh will soon be bustling with spinning and weaving activities with Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) set to open the first of its kind Training cum Production Center of Silk in the State.

The government has constituted a three-member committee for determination of ceiling rates under a scheme for reimbursement of taxes and duties to exporters.
The committee would be chaired by Secretary (retd) G K Pillai.

Former WWE wrestler James Harris has died at age 70. He was also known as “Kamala”.

The government of Bangladesh has decided to construct a standalone war memorial in Ashuganj of Brahmanbaria district, bordering Tripura for the Indian soldiers who were killed by Pakistan during the country’s struggle for Independence in 1971.

The Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar released document on Best Practices and launched “SURAKHSYA”, a portal on Human Elephant Conflict on the occasion of World Elephant Day, 2020.
The efforts are in full swing to provide food and water to the animals in the forests itself to deal with the growing human-animal conflict cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2300 kilometre submarine optical fibre cable network between Chennai and Andaman and Nicobar Islands at the cost of Rs. 1,224 Crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a week-long campaign ‘Gandagi Bharat Chorho’ to free India of garbage and waste.
The campaign will continue till August 15. The rural and urban areas of the country will witness special ‘swachhta’ initiatives during the week.

Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur has become the first municipal corporation of the country, where people of urban area have been provided forest land right certificates.

Leading depository CDSL said it has received clearance from UIDAI to carry out e-KYC authentication using Aadhaar.

The Centre has expanded its credit guarantee scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to cover loans given to larger firms, as well as to self-employed people and professionals who have taken loans for business purposes.
The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme was rolled out in May as part of the Centre’s Aatmanirbhar package in response to the COVID-19 crisis. It has a corpus of ₹41,600 crore.

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas organized the webinar with the theme “Biofuels towards Atmanirbhar Bharat”. Celebrated every year on 10th August.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) Online Dashboard, a one-stop solution for all stakeholders looking for information on infrastructure projects in the country.
The online dashboard is being hosted on the India Investment Grid (IIG).

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched ICAR’s data recovery centre – Krishi Megh. The move is aimed at protecting the precious data of the government’s premier research body Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
It has been set up at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in Hyderabad.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that about 10,500 health and wellness centers are to be built in Madhya Pradesh, out of which 2986 centers have been constructed so far.

Haryana’s Health Minister Anil Vij said the government will soon launch a sero survey in the state to gauge the penetration of COVID-19 in the population and monitor its transmission trend.

India’s KN Ananthapadmanabhan has been included in ICC’s international panel of umpires following compatriot Nitin Menon’s promotion to the elite panel.

Election officials in Belarus say the country’s longtime authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has won his sixth consecutive presidential term, taking over 80% of the votes.

Noted Urdu poet and lyricist Rahat Indori died of cardiac arrest in Indore He was also tested positive for COVID-19. He was 70. With a 50-year career in poetry, Indori was known for the lyrics of hit films like Munnabhai MBBS, Kareeb, Ghatak and Ishq.

International Youth Day is celebrated each year on 12th August.
The theme of this year is ‘Youth Engagement for Global Action’.

The Centre constituted a committee to consider the logistics, ethical aspects of procurement, and administration of COVID-19 vaccine.
The committee titled National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration has been formed under the chairmanship of Dr VK Paul, who is member (health) at the NITI Aayog.

Goa’s traditional festive sweet dish ‘Khaje’, spicy Harmal Chilli and Myndoli Banana (Moira Banana) has obtained Geographical Indication (GI) tag in last three months, thus giving the local producers exclusive brand protection rights. Earlier, the State’s popular ‘Cashew Feni’ and ‘Khola Red Chilli’, had obtained GI tag.’

An offshore patrol vessel (OPV) for the Indian Coast Guard was launched and rechristened as “Sarthak” through video conferencing from the Coast Guard headquarters at New Delhi.
It has been designed and built indigenously by Goa Shipyard Limited in line with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Make in India’.

Israel has successfully tested the Arrow 2 ballistic missile interceptor, developed in collaboration with the United States. The Arrow is part of Israel’s multi-tiered missile defense system, from short-range rockets to exospheric ballistic missiles.

Dell Technologies in association with NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) announced the second Student Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP 2.0) that would mentor eight teams to foray into the world of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Soma Mondal has been selected by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) as the next chairman of public sector steel major Steel Authority of India Limited.
She will make history with the rare distinction of being the first-ever woman chairperson of the country’s largest steel company.

Ahluwalia is succeeded by Pramod Bhasin, currently Vice Chair of the Board of Governors. Bhasin is former President & CEO, GE Capital India & Asia.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh released the book titled ‘Connecting, Communicating, Changing’ chronicling M. Venkaiah Naidu in office as the Vice President of India for three years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the platform for ‘Transparent Taxation — Honoring the Honest’ as the government goes ahead with its tax reform journey. The platform is aimed to honor India’s taxpayers who have been sincere with taxes.

The number of applications received under PM Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme has crossed the five lakh mark within 41 days of commencement of lending process.
The number of loans sanctioned under the scheme has crossed 1 lakh

A microwave device named ‘Atulya’ that can disinfect any premises in just 30 seconds, disintegrating COVID-19 virus was unveiled by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur.
The ‘Atulya’ microwave like device can be used to disinfect any premises up to five metres area, besides surface areas, home and office furniture, beds, new boxes and even the contents of the boxes.

Himachal Pradesh state government launched Nutritional Immunity Boosting ‘Him Haldi Dudh(Turmeric Latte)’ manufactured by MILKFED.
Him Haldi Dudh has been developed by the Bio Technology Department of Punjabi University Patiala and has been patented.

The Gujarat government launched a new scheme under which farmers facing crop losses due to drought, excess or unseasonal rain will get compensation without collection of any premium from them.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has decided to introduce a mechanism of ‘Positive Pay’ for all cheques of value Rs 50,000 and above.
Under the ‘positive pay’ system, a customer who issues the cheque clicks a picture of the cheque before handing it over to the beneficiary and uploads the same on the bank’s mobile application.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has jumped 10 places to break into the world’s top 100 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate is ranked 96th in the 2020 ranking released by Fortune.

Paytm has launched its first pocket Android PoS device for contactless ordering and making payments, for SMEs. This comes at an introductory price of ₹499 per month on a rental basis and is designed like a phone.
This device enables delivery personnel logistic players, Kirana stores, and small shopkeepers to accept digital payments on the go.

Payment gateway startup Razorpay has introduced a feature that allows micro-entrepreneurs and freelancers to instantaneously accept digital payments online.
The feature called the ‘Payment Button’ will enable businesses and freelancers to add a single line of code on a website or blog and go live with a payment gateway “within a few minutes.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will release a new book on climate change with German environmental journalist Franz Alt in November,2020.
The book has been titled “Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World”.

The RBI Board has approved the transfer of 57,128 crore rupees as surplus to the central government for the accounting year 2019-20.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked urban co-operative banks (UCBs) with assets of ₹2,000 crore or more to implement system-based asset classification from 30 June 2021.

On the occasion of International Youth Day, the West Bengal government launched ‘Karma Sathi Prakalpa’ scheme under which one lakh unemployed youth would be provided soft loans and subsidies to make them self-reliant.

The government said a price monitoring and resource unit (PMRU) has been set up in Karnataka under the aegis of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched a portal SRIJAN which is a one stop shop online portal that provides access to the vendors to take up items for indigenization.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed that work has started on the first-of-its-kind Katra (Jammu and Kashmir)-Delhi Express Road Corridor which will be ready by 2023.
Estimated to cost over Rs 35,000 crore, the important cities through which this expressway corridor will pass include Jammu and Kathua in J&K, and Jalandhar, Amritsar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana in Punjab.