Current Affairs Quiz-September, 2020

Notes:
Under the Swachh Bharat Mission of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, an event with a duration of a fortnight is observed to focus on the issues of Swachhata.
Named as ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’, the event was started in the year 2016 and an annual calendar is provided to the Ministries with a fortnight allotted to them. Recently, the Department of Fertilizers is observing Swachhta Pakhwada from September 1-15.

Notes:
The CSIR’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) has developed the world’s largest ‘solar tree’, It is installed at the CSIR residential complex, Durgapur in West Bengal.
The solar tree is ergonomically designed to ensure maximum solar exposure of each solar photovoltaic panel. The tree has an annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Power. There is a total of 35 Solar photovoltaic panels in each tree.

Notes:
Indian Economy has contracted by 23.9% in the Q1 of FY 2020-21 compared to the same quarter of previous FY. This is supposed to be the worst performance since quarterly measurement began in 1996.
The prime reason for economic slowdown and contraction is the COVID 19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown that followed it.

Notes:
Two Union Territories of India Ladakh and Lakshadweep have been recently integrated to One Nation One Ration Card Scheme.
With this, a total of 26 states and UTs are seamlessly integrated in the national cluster of the scheme. The UTs have successfully completed the trial of portability transactions with other States and UTs.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) implements Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters).
Recently, the Union Government has approved the implementation of 27 projects under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana scheme. The projects aim to develop integrated cold chains and value addition infrastructure.

Notes:
After the United Arab Emirates requested, Saudi Arabia announced that it will allow flights from all countries to cross its skies to reach the UAE.
Before some days, Saudi Arabia allowed the first direct Israeli commercial passenger flight use its airspace to reach the UAE. It carried a high-level delegation of the Government of Israel and the USA, which moderated the ties.

Notes:
The lawmakers of Tunisia have approved Hichem Mechichi as the country’s new Prime Minister. Mechichi and his proposed government won a confidence vote, after a long debate.
Earlier, the 46-year-old former Minister explained how his government would bring the country out of the economic and social crisis. This is the third Government of Tunisia since October and the ninth since the revolution held in 2011.

Notes:
The Government of India has appointed Kshatrapati Shivaji as the chief Statistician of India from September 1, 2020.
The 1986-batch IAS officer will take charge as the Secretary in Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The Government has not appointed a full-time Chief statistician yet while Kshatrapati Shivaji will continue to head the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has approved the appointment of Murali Ramakrishnan as the new Managing Director & CEO of Kerala-based South India Bank.
Earlier, He has retired from ICICI Bank as Senior General Manager and joined the Bank in the post of an Advisor, three months ago. Murali Ramakrishnan will lead the bank for a period of three years with effect from October 1, 2020.

Notes:
A relatively low concentration of Ozone over Guwahati has been discovered by the Scientists at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital.
ARIES is an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The team has evaluated the near surface ozone in the Brahmaputra River Valley (BRV) and found the Ozone variation in Guwahati, compared to the other urban locations in India.