Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn and industrial group Siemens unveiled the world’s first automated, driverless train in the city of Hamburg.
The project is part of a 60 million euro ($70 million) modernisation of Hamburg’s rapid urban rail system. As per the operator, this project can bring up to 30 percent more passengers, can improve punctuality and save more than 30 percent energy.

Notes:
Bullish trader Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed new airline named ‘Akasa Air’ has got no objection certificate (NOC) from the government to operate in India.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is often referred to as the Warren Buffett of India or the Big Bull. His stock moves and investment strategies are closely tracked by investors. He manages his own portfolio as a partner in his asset management firm, Rare Enterprises.

Notes:
As per the International Monetary Fund’s ‘Fiscal Monitor’ Report, the global debt has jumped to a new high of USD 226 trillion. Advanced economies and China contributed more than 90 per cent to the accumulation of world-wide debt in 2020.
India’s debt increased from 68.9 per cent of its GDP in 2016 to 89.6 per cent in 2020. It is projected to jump to 90.6 per cent in 2021. The debt of governments, households and non-financial corporations added up to USD 226 trillion in 2020.This is the highest increase on record.

Notes:
World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF jointly released the 2021 State of The World’s Hand Hygiene report.
As per the report, all households in the world’s 46 least developed countries could have handwashing facilities by 2030 if the world invested less than $1 per person per year, in hand hygiene. An annual cost to governments on promoting handwashing with soap at home comes to 2.5% of the average government health expenditure in these countries.

Notes:
‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Prerana Sthal’ was inaugurated at Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.
It was inaugurated on the occasion of 90th birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and to commemorate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. NSTL is the premier naval research laboratory of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). NSTL products including Varunastra, Torpedo Advanced Light (TAL) and Maareech decoy are displayed at the venue.

Notes:
The eighth ministerial meeting of the India-U.S.A. Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue held at Washington D.C.
The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Dr. Janet Yellen. During the meeting, discussions were held on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, financial regulatory and technical collaboration, multilateral engagement, climate finance and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.

Notes:
Every year, 17th October is celebrated as World Trauma Day across the world. This day highlights the high rate of accidents and injuries causing death and disability across the world and the need to prevent them.
Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is the leading cause of trauma across the world. Every year, over 5 million people die from injuries across the world. In India alone, around one million people die and 20 million are hospitalized every year due to injuries.

Notes:
Each year, the World Health Organisation releases the Global TB Report. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic.
As per the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis. It also highlighted that for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased.  Approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 and the increase in number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB.

Notes:
The American space agency NASA has recently released a climate action plan, which aims to avert climate related impact on its key missions to space.
The plan also ensures resilience of NASA’s facilities and assets and to provide important climate related observations to nations across the globe.

Notes:
Every year, 16th October is observed as International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN), which is an event marking the night when moon is near the first quarter phase.
On this date, the moon will be in waxing gibbous, an intermediate phase in which it is not yet full. Celebration of this event is sponsored annually by the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA.