Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
Padmaja Chunduru has been appointed managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of National Securities Depositories (NSDL).
She has earlier served as the MD & CEO of Indian Bank between September 2018 and August 2021. Her appointment has been approved by the shareholders of NSDL. She is succeeding GV Nageswara Rao, who was the previous MD & CEO of NSDL.

Notes:
The world marks the second International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste on September 29, 2021. UNEP also launched the ‘Food is Never Waste’ Coalition at the UN Food Systems Summit held recently.
The theme of the day this year is ‘Stop Food Loss and Waste; For the People; For the Planet”. Around 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while 17 percent of total global food production is wasted across the world in various stages. World Heart Day is also celebrated on 29 September. The theme of this year is ‘USE HEART TO CONNECT’.

Notes:
Union Minister of Power has recently approved a “Dispute Avoidance Mechanism” through ‘Independent Engineer’ (IE).
The CPSEs executing Hydro Power Projects had been raising concerns that the present mechanism of dispute resolution in Hydro Power sector did notaddress the conflicts between the Employer and the Contractor at their initial stage.

Notes:
Najla Bouden Romdhane has been named Tunisia’s first female prime minister. Before two months President Kais Saied assumed executive authority, sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament.
The President had said that during the emergency period, the government would be responsible to the president. Hence, the new Prime Minister would have less direct power than previous Prime Ministers.

Notes:
India has more than 63 million MSMEs. They account for nearly 40 per cent of India’s exports, about 6.11 per cent of the country’s manufacturing GDP. MSMEs contribute to 24.63 per cent of the GDP from services sector.
Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane has inaugurated the India Export Initiative and IndiaXports 2021 portal of the India SME Forum. India has fixed its exports target of USD 400 billion for this fiscal year. The Minister said that MSMEs would further take it to $1 trillion by 2027.

Notes:
Kilauea – one of the most active volcanoes on earth is located in the Hawaii islands. The volcano has recently started to erupt, raising the alert level to “warning” and the aviation code being changed to “red” in the region.
The US Geological Survey has confirmed the large-scale eruption in Halemaumau crater of the volcano. Prior to this, the volcano made a major eruption in 2018 which led to destruction of more than 700 houses and left thousands of residents displaced from the locality.

Notes:
The Indian Navy had signed the “Joint Guidance for the India – Australia Navy to Navy Relationship” on 18th August 2021, following which India has signed Terms of Reference for the Conduct of Navy-to-Navy Talks” with Australia.
The signing ceremony was held virtually between the Rear Admiral of the two Navies.

Notes:
The Armies of India and Sri Lanka are set to participate in the 12-day military exercise – “Mitra Shakti”, which would be held in Combat Training School in Sri Lanka’s Ampara. This is the 8th edition of the joint military exercise between the two countries.
India would be represented by a contingent of 120 personnel. This exercise is aimed to promote close coordination and interoperability among the two military forces.

Notes:
The Chief Justice of India (CJI), is also the Patron-in-chief of the National Legal Services Authority.
Recently, the six-week-long ‘The Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign’ by NALSA was launched at Vigyan Bhavan. It was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.

Notes:
The Tropical Cyclone Shaheen has hit the coast of Oman and has caused human and material damage in the region. This cyclone is an offspring of the cyclone Gulab which had a devastating impact on the east coast of India in late September 2021.
The remnant of cyclone Gulab along with the low-pressure region over Gujarat had gained strength to form the new cyclone Shaheen.