current affairs 23 August 2021 (In English)

Facebook launches "Small Business Loan Initiative" in India.

• India is the 1st country for Facebook where this program is being launched.
• It will help small and medium businesses (SMBs) who advertise on Facebook's platform to get instant access to credit through independent lending partners.
• The program is open to registered businesses in 200 towns and cities in India.
• The initiative aims to make business loans more easily accessible to small entrepreneurs and reduce the credit gap within India's MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector.

India ratified the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out HFCs.

• The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty that entered into force in 1989.
• The Kigali Amendment came into force in 2019.
• It requires ratifying countries to reduce their use of hydrofluorocarbons by 80% by 2050.
• India will be expected to reduce its HFC usage from 2028 to 85% from 2024-2046 figure by the year 2047.

According to the World Food Program in Afghanistan, 14 million out of 39 million people are currently facing severe hunger.

• The UN food agency has been able to negotiate with the Taliban to distribute aid to a provincial capital in Afghanistan.
• However, it has been unable to resume food distribution in the three other provincial capitals.
• This is the second drought in three years that the country is facing.
• This year drought has been combined with fighting.
• The draft affected Afghanistan long before the Taliban took over the country on 15 August.
• According to WFP estimates, about two million children in Afghanistan are malnourished.

Assam announces COVID relief package for drivers, helpers, priests.

• The Assam government has recently announced a COVID relief package for helpers, drivers and priests.
• Under which a lump sum of Rs 10,000 will be given to the drivers and assistants of private buses and Rs 15,000 to the temple priests and head of the Namghars.
• Along with this, the state government has made it mandatory to teach history and geography in schools.

14-year-old Diksha Shinde from Aurangabad India has been recently selected as the finalist of NASA.

• 14-year-old Diksha Shinde from Aurangabad India, has been selected as a panelist in the virtual panel of the US space agency NASA's MSI Fellowship.
• 14-year-old Diksha Shinde has won a research competition organized by the International Astronomical Exploration Cooperation.