DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 4^th August 2021

New Frog Species: Minervarya Pentali

• A new frog species was discovered in the Western Ghats and named after former DU Vice-Chancellor and plant geneticist Deepak Pental.
• It belongs to the family “Dicroglossidae”, found around the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia and Papua New Guinea.
• It was discovered from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot and is endemic to the southern Western Ghats.

Hunger Hotspots Report: FAO-WFP

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) released a report named Hunger Hotspots – August to November 2021.
• The 2021 Global Food Crises Report (by WFP) released in May 2021 had already warned of acute food insecurity, soaring to a five-year high, pushing at least 155 million people into acute food insecurity in 2020.
• Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan, northern Nigeria, and Yemen are among 23 countries where acute food insecurity will worsen from August through November 2021.

Remembering Pingali Venkayya

• A country is identified and distinguished by its flag, emblem, anthem, that are unique to it. To India, Pingali Venkayya, a freedom fighter, gave India its unique identity by designing the national flag.
• Pingali Venkayya, the designer and architect of the national flag was a freedom fighter, who was born on August 2, 1876. On his 145th birth anniversary, remembering the man who gave India an identity and united the country in its freedom struggle against the Britishers.
• Pingali Venkayya had designed a flag, known as the Swaraj Flag, that now forms the basis of India’s present-day national flag. It consisted of red and green bands to symbolize the two major communities in the country- Hindus and Muslims.
• His design had given an identity to India and its people. Back in the days of freedom struggle, the flag helped in uniting and giving rise to the spirit of independence.
• On the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, Pingali Venkayya added a white band over red over green with a charkha design onto Khadi bunting. The white represented peace and the rest of the communities living in India, and the spinning wheel symbolized the progress of the country. Though the first tricolour was not officially accepted by the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), it began to be hoisted on all Congress occasions.

Bhubaneswar Becomes First City in India to Fully Vaccinate its Residents

• The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation as of August 2, 2021, 18,77,178 vaccination (1 and 2) doses have been administered in Bhubaneswar.
• Strategies like identification of priority population, increase in vaccination centers, and creating awareness helped the administration to achieve 100% vaccination in the city.

Battery Operated Vehicles Exempted from Payment of Fees

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification dated 2nd August 2021 to exempt Battery Operated Vehicles from the payment of fees for the purpose of issue or renewal of registration certificate and assignment of new registration mark.
• This has been notified to encourage e- mobility.

Shri Kiren Rijiju to Attend the Eighth Justice Ministers Meet of the SCO

• The 8^th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States will be attended by Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of Law & Justice, on 6th August 2021.
• Here the member States shall further deliberate on areas of cooperation; the role of coronavirus laws in the pandemic; providing free legal aid to citizens in accordance with national legislation; role of ministries of (law and) justice in countering corruption and other allied areas of cooperation and assistance in legal services. 
• A Joint Statement following the results of the Session shall be signed.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

• The creation of SCO was announced on _____ in Shanghai, China.
• 15 June 2001
• 15 July 1999
• 15 June 2000
• 15 July 1998

ANSWER: A

• HQ of SCO is at _______?
• Shanghai
• Beijing
• Tokyo
• Moscow

ANSWER: B

• ________ served as independent India’s first Law Minister.
• B. R. Ambedkar
• H. R. Bhardwaj
• Shanti Bhushan
• Charu Chandra Biswas

ANSWER: A

• He was India’s longest-serving union cabinet minister.
• Sardar Swaran Singh
• Babu Jagjivan Ram
• Chaudhry Charan Singh
• Morarji Desai

ANSWER: A

• The first national flag of India is said to have been hoisted on 7th August 1906 in _________.
• Madras
• Bombay
• Calcutta
• Delhi

ANSWER: C

• Madame Cama hoisted an Indian flag in ____ in 1907, this was the first Indian flag to be hoisted in a foreign land.
• Germany
• Japan
• UK
• USA

ANSWER: A

• The Constituent Assembly adopted the motion of national flag on _____.
• 24^th Jan 1950
• 26^th Jan 1950
• 15^th Aug 1947
• 22^nd July 1947

ANSWER: D

• The Congress Committee met in ____ and adopted the tricolor (that of Pingali Venkayya) as India’s national flag.
• Calcutta (1911)
• Karachi (1931)
• Lahore (1929)
• Bombay (1933)

ANSWER: B

• The Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag was headed by ________.
• B R Ambedkar
• Sardar Patel
• Pandit Nehru
• Rajendra Prasad

ANSWER: D

• Global Hunger Index is annually released by______.
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• World Hunger Aid
• United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)

ANSWER: B

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