Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
E-commerce major Amazon India announced the launch of Amazon Future Engineer in India. It is the company’s global computer science education programme.
According to the company, the programme will enable access to quality computer science education and career opportunities for students from underserved communities. In the first year, Amazon aims to deliver learning opportunities to more than 1 lakh students from 900 government and aided schools across seven states in the country.

Notes:
France and Greece announced a multibillion-euro Defence deal, which includes the decision of Greece to buy three French warships.
Greece will boost its Defense capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean amid tensions with Turkey. President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a Defense and security strategic partnership in Paris. Greece has already bought 18 French Rafale fighter jets.

Notes:
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur launched a month-long Clean India Programme from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology-Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
The programme has been launched as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. The aim of the cleanliness drive is to create awareness, encourage people and make them involve in cleaning waste especially the ‘Single Use Plastic’ waste throughout the country. This campaign will continue till 31st October.

Notes:
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) announced that Chacha Chaudhary, the popular comic book character, has been declared as a mascot of Namami Gange Programme.
The character would be used for sensitising children and youths about the cleaning of Ganga and other rivers. ‘Ganga ki Baat, Chacha Choudhary Ke Sath’ is a public engagement activity under the  public outreach activities of Namami Gange mission.”

Notes:
The NITI Aayog, Amazon Web Services and Intel have jointly created a new experience studio, which is located at NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center, New Delhi.
This premise would serve as an experimentation facility for government, start-ups, enterprises, and industry experts. It would house technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and virtual reality etc.

Notes:
The first consignment of Kashmiri walnuts was recently flagged off from Budgam. The consignment with 2,000 kgs of walnuts was despatched to Bengaluru, Karnataka under the One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative.
ODOP is a flagship initiative of Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Kashmir accounts for 90% of India’s walnut production. They are known for the superior quality, taste and nutrients and hence widely in demand across the globe.

Notes:
The World Space Week was declared by the United Nations (UN) since 1999. In 1957, the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik, was launched on October 4.
Also in 1967, an agreement was signed on October 4 to ensure the peaceful use of Outer Space. The theme for World Space week 2021 is ‘Women in Space’. This theme aims to create more awareness to the issues of gender diversity in the field of space sector and identify the obstacles that women face when entering space-related careers.

Notes:
The Pandora Papers, which is in the news recently are documents on hidden wealth, tax avoidance and money laundering by famous personalities across the globe. The data in this regard has been obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 140 media organisations are working on the people who are involved in money laundering.
These documents reveal the complex network of companies set up across the globe to evade taxation.

Notes:
ICMR’s initiative for ‘drone-based vaccine delivery system’ in North-Eastern India was launched recently. A “Made in India” drone was deployed in Manipur to transport Covid-19 vaccines for an aerial distance of 15 km from Bishnupur district hospital to the Loktak lake, Karang island.
This is the first time a Made in India drone was deployed for vaccine transportation. This makes India the first nation in Southeast Asia to send vaccines in an unmanned aerial craft.

Notes:
The Ministry of Textiles has approved continuation of Comprehensive Handicrafts Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS) with a total outlay of ₹160 crore. The scheme will now continue up to March 2026.
Under the scheme, infrastructural support, market access, design and technology up-gradation support are provided to handicraft artisans.