DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 20th August 2021
Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma Remembered on his Birth Anniversary
- Shankar Dayal Sharma (19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was the ninth President of India, serving from 1992 to 1997.
- Prior to his presidency, Sharma had been the eighth Vice President of India, serving from 1987 to 1992.
- He was also the Chief Minister (1952–1956) of Bhopal State.
UNITE Aware Platform
- India, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN), has launched a technology platform to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers who are operating across the world.
- The launch of the UNITE AWARE platform came as India assumed the Presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council for the month of August.
- Aim: This project aims to demonstrate the impact of modern surveillance technology on the detection of asymmetric threats.
- Situational Awareness Software Programme: It utilizes modern surveillance technology for real time threat assessments to peacekeepers in maintaining security.
National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR)
- The NCCR under the Ministry of Earth Science has published a report that said one-third of India’s coastline underwent sea erosion in 28 years.
- As much as 32% of India’s coastline underwent sea erosion and 27% of it expanded between 1990 and 2018.
- 60% of the coastline of West Bengal underwent erosion during the period followed by Puducherry (56%), Kerala and Tamil Nadu at 41% and 41%, respectively.
New Development Bank and Proposal for Social Infrastructure
- Recently, during BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) meet, India proposed that NDB’s (New Development Bank) scope be expanded to strengthen Social Infrastructure besides promoting industry.
- Social Infrastructure includes the construction and maintenance of facilities that support social services such as healthcare, education, and housing.
- India is the chair of the BRICS grouping for 2021.
India Inc Credit Outlook Turns Positive: CRISIL Ratings
- The credit rating agency, CRISIL upgraded India Inc’s credit quality outlook for FY22 from “cautiously optimistic” to “positive”, based on continued improvement in demand. This comes after the setbacks caused by the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in Q1 of FY22.
- A CRISIL rating study of 43 sectors shows that the current recovery is broad-based. By the end of this fiscal, 28 sectors are on course to see a 100 per cent rebound in demand to pre-pandemic levels, while 6 will see upwards of 85 per cent.
Student Entrepreneurship Program’ (SEP 3.0)
- NITI Aayog along with La Fondation Dassault Systemes to commence the third series of the ‘Student Entrepreneurship Program’ (SEP 3.0) for the young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL).
- The Student Entrepreneurship Programme is based on the theme of ‘Made in 3D – Seed the Future Entrepreneurs Program’, which was conceptualized and rolled out in France by La Main à la Pate Foundation and La Fondation Dassault Systèmes Europe in 2017.
- As a part of the program, a total of 50 teams from 26 states are selected. These teams include the top 20 teams of (Atal Tinkering Lab) ATL Marathon 2019, 10 teams from Aspirational Districts, 10 teams selected by Dassault, and 10 teams from Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and Northeast regions.
- The Student Entrepreneurship Programme will serve as a catalyst and help accelerate the entrepreneurial journey of the young innovators in creating a new innovative India.
PM Modi greets people on occasion of Sanskrit week
- Sanskrit week is being celebrated from August 19 to 25 to promote and popularize this ancient language.
- In a message, Prime Minister Modi said, Sanskrit language is so rich that it touches every aspect of our life.
- In 1969, the Ministry of Education of Government of India issued instructions to celebrate Sanskrit Day at the Central and State levels.
- Sanskrit Day is celebrated on Shraavana Poornima, that is the full moon day of the Shraavana month in the Hindu calendar.
Afghanistan will no longer be able to access lender’s resources: IMF
- IMF informed that this step was due to lack of clarity within the international community over recognizing a government in Afghanistan.
- Resources of over 370 million $ from the IMF had been set to arrive on 23 August. These funds were part of a global IMF response to the economic crisis.
- Access to the IMF’s reserves in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) assets, which can be converted to government-backed money, have also been blocked.
- SDRs are the IMF’s unit of exchange based on sterling, dollars, euros, yen, and yuan.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
- New Development Bank was formed in
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
ANSWER: A
- New Development Bank was formed at ______ Summit
- Rio
- Mexico
- Shanghai
- Fortaleza
ANSWER: D
- President of New Development Bank is
- Marcos Prado Troyjo
- K. V. Kamath
- Dr. Wang Yi
- Jair Bolsonaro
ANSWER: A
- National Centre for Coastal Research is located at
- New Delhi
- Mumbai
- Visakhapatnam
- Chennai
ANSWER: D
- United Nations Peacekeeping began in _____ when the Security Council authorized the deployment of UN military observers to the Middle East.
- 1948
- 1958
- 1968
- 1977
ANSWER: A
- AMRUT, Digital India, Atal Innovation Mission, Medical Education Reform were initiatives by
- Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
- MHRD
- NITI Aayog
- UGC
ANSWER: C
- _______is currently the CEO of NITI Aayog.
- Rajiv Kumar
- Amitabh Kant
- Rajiv Mehrishi
- Arvind Panagariya
ANSWER: B
- CRISIL (Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited) is a subsidiary of
- Reliance Inc.
- Dalal Street
- S & P Global
- Berkshire Hathaway
ANSWER: C
- HQ of CRISIL is in
- New York
- Paris
- Mumbai
- London
ANSWER: C
- Who was The President of India when Shankar Dayal Sharma was serving as The Vice President of India?
- R. Venkataraman
- K. R. Narayanan
- Giani Zail Singh
- Mohammad Hidayatullah
ANSWER: A
