Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2019

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has rolled – out programme ‘Build for Digital India’ along with Google for engineering students. The programme will offer a platform to engineering students to develop market-ready, technology-based solutions that address key social problems. As part of the program, engineering students across the country will be invited to present their ideas and solutions in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, women safety, smart mobility and transportation, environment, accessibility and disability and digital literacy. Applicants will take part in online and offline learning opportunities on key technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Cloud and Android that will be offered through Google’s Developer Student Club network and other Google Developer networks. Google will also offer mentorship sessions in product design, strategy and technology to the most promising products and prototypes. This initiative will not only motivate the college students across India to innovate but will also produce some good technology solutions for some major social challenges of India.

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The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched the first-ever ‘Terracotta Grinder’ at Sewapuri in Varanasi. This machine can be used to grind wasted and broken pottery items for re-use in pottery-making. The Terracotta grinder was designed by the KVIC Chairman and fabricated by a Rajkot-based engineering unit. It will make grinding of wasted pottery items faster than the traditional mortar and pestle. It will lessen the cost of production and will also help in solving the problem of shortage of clays. The machine will also be a boon for potters as Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has proposed to introduce Kulhads and other terracotta products at 400 prominent railway stations. The proposal is under active consideration of the Railways.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be honoured with the prestigious ‘ 2019 Global Goalkeeper Award’ by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his leadership and commitment to his ambitious pet project “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)” on 24th September 2019. The Prime Minister will also address global leaders and corporate executives at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum during his visit here for the high-level UN General Assembly (UNGA) session. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), which was launched on 2nd October 2014, is a nationwide initiative aimed to inspire the public to voluntarily clean public spaces as a service to the nation. The aim of the campaign is to achieve the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October 2019. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a private foundation owned by billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates.

Notes:
The Gujarat Government has recently signed the Sister State MoU with elaware State of America in Gandhinagar.  This is the first sister state MoU signed by Gujarat with any state of America. According to official sources, cooperation in the field of services and investment opportunities in GIFT IFSC have also been discussed during the meeting. The sectors like Biotechnology University, bio sciences, financial services, animal husbandry and dairy, port services have been short listed for future cooperation.

Notes:
The digital transformation and IT services major, Wipro Limited has bagged a strategic contract valued at $300 million from the ICICI Bank to provide digital technology led services. Under the contract, Wipro will offer a comprehensive suite of services to ICICI Bank for the next 7 years. Earlier, Mumbai-based IT services firm Vara lnfotech was providing these services to the ICICI Bank. As part of this strategic deal, Wipro will absorb about 3,800 employees of Vara lnfotech along with its existing contracts, facilities and assets, on a going concern basis, through a business transfer agreement for an all cash consideration of  Rs 321 crore. This transaction is expected to be completed during the quarter ending September 30, 2019 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Notes:
The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has partnered with State Bank of India (SBI) for direct transfer of benefits electronically into bank accounts of all stakeholders. As per pact, SBI will provide e-payment services directly to bank accounts of all ESIC beneficiaries and payees without any manual intervention as an integrated and automated process. The bank would provide e-payment integration with the enterprise resource planning processes of ESIC through its cash management product e-payment technology platform. The e-payment integration would effect statutory benefit payments to ESIC beneficiaries as well as other payees on real time basis, reducing time lags and delays and at the same time, help eliminate mistakes and errors caused by repetitive and manual data entries. 

Notes:
The World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2019 has been released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). In it, India has moved up six places to rank 34th because of its rich natural and cultural resources and strong price competitiveness.  Spain topped the index, followed by France, Germany, Japan and the United States. The index covered 140 economies & measures the set of factors and policies that enable sustainable development of travel and tourism sector which contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country. 

Notes:
Kiran Nagarkar (77), the acclaimed English-Marathi novelist and playwright, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on 5th September 2019. He was known for his works  such as ”Saat Sakkam Trechalis” (Seven Sixes Are Forty Three) (1974), ”Ravan and Eddie” (1994) and the epic English novel ”Cuckold” (1997). He  released his latest novel ”Jasoda” in November 2017.

Notes:
The Union government has constituted a  task force for drawing up National Infrastructure Pipeline of Rs 100 lakh crore from the fiscal year 2019-20 to  2024-25. The Task Force headed by Rajiv Kumar (Economic Affairs Secretary) will identify technically feasible and economically viable infrastructure projects that can be initiated in the current fiscal.  The National Infrastructure Pipeline would include greenfield and brownfield projects costing above  100 crore rupees. It  also enables robust marketing of the pipeline of projects requiring private investment through the India Investment Grid and  National Investment & Infrastructure Fund.

Notes:
On 9th September 2019, a 3-day long International conference ANGAN for Energy Efficiency in Building Sector is being organized by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)  in New Delhi. Indo-German Technical Co-operation is also partnering in the event. Experts and policy makers from 16 countries are participating in this event to discuss various alternative options and technologies in the field of design and construction of energy efficient commercial as well as residential buildings. The event will provide a platform to deliberate on interdependence between organizations, systems sustainability and feedback loops for better resource efficiency.