Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 8th August 2020

Correct Answer: A. Central Pollution Control Board

Explanation: The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for all municipal corporations and state pollution control boards to use the ‘COVID19BWM APP’ for tracking biomedical waste daily. COVID19BWM App: It is an application launched by the Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) to track biomedical waste. It allows a generator of waste (urban local body in the case of home and hospital); the picker of the waste (transport of the ULB) and the waste treatment operator to feed in data so that COVID-19 biomedical waste can be tracked and monitored.

• Biomedical Waste: It comprises human & animal anatomical waste, treatment apparatus like needles, syringes and other materials used in health care facilities in the process of treatment and research.
• CPCB: It is a statutory organization constituted in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,1974.
• Further, CPCB was entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,1981.It also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act,1986.

Correct Answer – C. Devlali to Danapur

Explanation: The Indian railways will begin its “Kisan Rail” services to transport perishable goods from today. India’s first ‘Kisan Rail’ will run between Devlali in Maharashtra’s Nashik and will reach Danapur in Bihar. The train will cover the journey of 1,519 kilometres in over 31 hours. The train will be flagged off via video conferencing by Union Minister of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

• This train is a step towards realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. Indian Railways aims to help double farmers’ income with the launch of Kisan Rail.
• This train will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the market in a short period of time.
• The train with frozen containers is expected to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of fish, meat and milk.

Correct Answer – B. USD 18 million

Explanation: A Line of Credit of worth 18 million US dollars has been extended by the Government of India to the Government of Maldives. The Line of Credit has been extended with the primary objective of expanding the fishing facilities at Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO). The project will promote investment in the fish collection as well as the storage facilities. It also aims to set up a tuna cooked plant and fishmeal plant, as fishing is deeply connected to the Maldivian way of life.

• President of the Maldives: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
• Capital of Maldives: Male; Currency of the Maldives: Maldivian Rufiyaa.

Correct Answer – D. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru

Explanation Karnataka’s Medical Education Minister Dr. K Sudhakar inaugurated India’s first Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT- PCR) COVID-19 mobile Lab approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The mobile lab is called the Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting lab (MITR) which was developed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bengaluru and handed over to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in Bengaluru. The lab is capable of producing 100% results within 4 hours and it can conduct 9000 RT-PCR tests per month.

Correct Answer – D. Bhima

Explanation: The South Western Railway commissioned the development of Lachyan-Hotgi section, which is 33 km long, as part of the doubling project from Hotgi-Kudgi-Gadag (284 km) which had been sanctioned by the Railway Board in 2014-15. The route connects Karnataka with Maharashtra through Bijapur and Sholapur districts. The track passes through the 670 m long important bridge over River Bhima, the longest bridge in the zone comprising 14 spans of 45.7 m each which is now being seen as one of the most important developments of the route.

Correct Answer – D. 8th August

Explanation: The 78th anniversary of the August Kranti Din or Quit India Movement, which is considered as one of the important milestones in the history of freedom struggle of our country, is being observed on 8 August 2020. On 8 Aug 1942, Mahatma Gandhi gave a clarion call to end the British rule and launched the Quit India Movement at the session of the All-India Congress Committee in Mumbai. After the failure of Cripps Mission, Gandhiji gave the call to “Do or Die” in his Quit India speech delivered at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai. The grateful country is paying homage to the freedom fighters and remembering the supreme sacrifices of the martyrs during the freedom struggle.

Correct Answer – A. Neena Rai

Explanation: The book titled ‘Amazing Ayodhya’ has been authored by Neena Rai. The book offers “authentic information” about the city, which will not only help understand the life and times of ancient Hindus but also the revered figures of Rama and Sita. The book is publishing by house Bloomsbury. The author compares Ayodhya with the cultures of other ancient civilisations so that the reader feels connected to the past and the content of the book appears contemporary. The book will release in November this year.

Correct Answer – D. Overhead Equipment (OHE)

Explanation: Indian Railways has launched an Overhead Equipment (OHE) Inspection app which will help in minimizing the train delays and long waits due to technical snags. The app has been rolled out on an all over India basis. On 1 July 2020 for the first time in the history of Indian Railways, 100% punctuality of trains was achieved as 201 trains arrived at their destination at the right time. The previous best was 99.54% on 23rd May 2020.

• The Overhead Equipment (OHE) app will monitor the overhead wire in real-time and if there are any defects in it, it will alert the Indian Railways.

Global Positioning System (GPS) based tracking of the patrolman. Real-time capturing of Overhead Equipment defects and provision of taking Photographs. Exception alerts to the Indian Railways.

Correct Answer – E. Both B & C

Explanation:  Indian middle-order batsman Suresh Raina & Indian women’s team captain(T20I) Harmanpreet Kaur were appointed as Global brand ambassadors of Win Trade Fantasy (WTF) Sports. In addition to this, Suresh Raina has also joined the brand as Strategic Partner. World Trade Fantasy (WTF) Sports is a fantasy sports gaming platform, which was formally launched in India and other parts of the world on 6th August, 2020.

Correct Answer – C. 2nd

Explanation: Mukesh Ambani-led oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries has been ranked the second biggest brand after Apple on the FutureBrand Index 2020. It is the only Indian Company in the Top 10 and Second Indian organisation on the ranking. In the Future Brand Index 2020 Samsung is ranked 3rd followed by Nvidia, Moutai, Nike, Microsoft, ASML, PayPal and Netflix in the top 10. Tata is ranked 65 for its technology business. The index looks at PwC’s Global Top 100 Companies by Market Cap and reorders them according to global perception strength rather than on financial strength. Reliance ranked 91 on PwC’s 2020 list.

Correct Answer – B. Uttarakhand

Explanation: The Uttarakhand State Government is to develop India’s first Snow Leopard Conservation centre of India. The centre is to be developed by the Uttarakhand forest department and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The main aim of the centre is to conserve and restore Himalayan ecosystems. It also aims to conserve elusive snow leopards and other endangered Himalayan species. A number of snow leopards have been spotted in the districts of Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi. However, the actual figures are unknown. So far, the state government has concluded that there are 86 snow leopards in the state.

Correct Answer – A. Haryana

Explanation: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar launched “Mahila Evam Kishori Samman Yojana” to provide free sanitary napkins to girls and women of below poverty line (BPL) families, and also initiated “Mukhya Mantri Doodh Uphar Yojana” to provide fortified flavoured skimmed milk powder to women and children.

Correct Answer – B. Novelist

Explanation: The famous fiction writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner, Shirley Ann Grau passed away. She was born on July 8, 1929, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. She wrote six novels and four short stories which are all set in the Deep South, from New Orleans to north Louisiana and Alabama. Her first book, The Black Prince was published in 1954. Shirley won the Pulitzer Prize for her fourth book, “The Keepers of the House” in 1965 which speaks about the romance between a wealthy white man and his black housekeeper in rural Alabama which drew critical praise and threatening phone calls. The Book, “The Black Prince and Other Stories” was nominated for the National Book Award in 1956.

Correct Answer: B. Actor

Explanation: Renowned TV actor, Sameer Sharma passed away. The 44-year-old actor committed suicide on 5 August 2020, by hanging. He has been part of some renowned TV serials like ‘Geet – Hui Sabse Parayi’, ‘Left Right Left’, ‘Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii’, ‘Four’ and ‘Ssshhhh….Koi Hai’. He was also seen in Sidharth Malhotra’s movies ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’ and ‘Ittefaq’.