Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
NITI Aayog released a ‘Handbook on sustainable urban plastic waste management, jointly released with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Niti Aayog suggested urban local bodies to adopt the material recovery facility (MRF) model & operate it as a public-private partnership model. A materials recovery facility, also called as a materials reclamation facility or recycling facility is a specialized plant that receives, separates, and prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers.

Notes:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently launched the ‘Desh ke Mentor’ programme to provide career guidance to the students of class 9 to 12.
The Delhi government school students will be mentored by subject experts for providing various career options. Every mentor will adopt up to 10 students to provide career counselling. Actor Sonu Sood has been named by the Delhi government as the brand ambassador of the initiative.

 

Notes:
The Central Government has accorded “Maharatna” status to Power Finance Corporation (PFC). PFC is the 11th state-owned entity to get the status, joining the elite group of ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, SAIL among others.
“Maharatna” status is granted to a company which has recorded more than ₹ 5,000 crore of net profit for three consecutive years, an average annual turnover of ₹ 25,000 crore for three years or should have an average annual net worth of ₹ 15,000 crore for three years.

Notes:
Former bureaucrat Amit Khare, who retired recently as higher education secretary, has been appointed as advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He has been appointed for two years on contract basis, as per a personnel ministry order issued. Mr Khare is a 1985 batch (retired) IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.  The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment in the rank and scale of secretary to government of India.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has kept India’s growth forecast for 2021-22 unchanged at 9.5%, in its latest World Economic Outlook report.It also projected India’s economy to grow 8.5% in FY23.
In July, IMF had slashed India’s growth forecast for FY22 to 9.5% from earlier projection of 12.5%. It has lowered the global growth projection marginally to 5.9% from 6% earlier. Supply disruptions in advanced economies and worsening pandemic impact in developing countries are the reasons.

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:
The Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a technical skill development programme organized and conducted by the Indian Railways, to unemployed youths of age 18-35 years. The scheme aims to enhance their employability and entrepreneurship
Recently, the Indian Railways’ Banaras Locomotive Works had successfully conducted the training for its first batch of trainees, and distributed self-employment toolkits cum certificated to the trainees.

Notes:
The Office of the Economic Adviser is an attached office of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, under the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
The key function of the office includes Compiling and releasing monthly Wholesale Price Indices and Compiling and releasing monthly Index of Core Industries Production. The wholesale price-based inflation has eased to a six-month low of 10.66% in September 2021, primarily helped by moderation in food price.

Notes:
As per the study report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, 17% of households in Delhi and Tamil Nadu are using some form of electric cooking means. The rate in Telangana is 15% and in the state of Kerala the rate is 12%.
Council on Energy, Environment and Water commonly called as CEEW, is a not-for-profit policy research institution based at Delhi.

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.