Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

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:
Paralympian Deepa Malik – Indian athlete and a silver-medallist at the 2016 Paralympics has been appointed as the independent director of the Hospitality firm Oravel Stays Ltd (OYO), in its board.
OYO is an organisation which brings travellers and hotels / homes on a single platform.

Notes:
The Union Home Ministry has recently enhanced the powers of the Border Security Force (BSF) to arrest, search and seize within 50 km from the international boundary in Assam, West Bengal and Punjab.
BSF is a Central armed police force under the Union. This power will also be applicable to the newly created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Earlier, the BSF’s limit was fixed up to 80 km from the international boundary in Gujarat and 15 km in Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.

Notes:
A key UN biodiversity summit, with an aim to protecting biodiversity has commenced in China, which witnessed the participation of delegates from about 195 countries. Discussion on “30 by 30” agenda that would accord 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans protected status by 2030 is being discussed in the summit.
During the summit, Chinese Government has committed and pledged a sum of $233 million into a fund, to protect biodiversity in developing countries.

Notes:
The Chief of the World Health Organisation honored the late Henrietta Lacks with the Director-General award.
She an American woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge during the 1950s. The cells provided the foundation for vast scientific inventions, including research about the coronavirus. The ‘HeLa’ cell line, derived from the first two letters of Henrietta Lacks, helped in the development of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.

Notes:
The Government of India has proposed to set up Vishwakarma Vatikas at Hunar Haats (talent fairs) in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which aims to showcase traditional skills and craftsmanship. of artisans.
India’s traditional exquisite and hand made products would be exhibited in these fairs to promote and preserve traditional skills.

Notes:
The Government of Delhi has launched an App named “MyParkings”, which permits people to book parking slots online in areas under the jurisdiction of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The app has been designed to provide information about the present number of parked vehicles, total free parking spaces available etc. The app has been built by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited.

Notes:
Actor William Shatner flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket-ship on a suborbital trip and landed in the Texas desert to become at age 90 the oldest person ever in space.
Blue Origin, U.S. billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos’s company carried out its second tourist flight. Shatner was one of four passengers aboard the fully autonomous New Shepard spacecraft. The four astronauts travelled above the internationally recognized boundary of space known as the Karman Line, about 100 km above Earth.

Notes:
Global Handwashing Day 2021 is observed on October 15, to spread awareness about the importance of hygiene. The theme for 2021 is “Our Future is at Hand – Let’s Move Forward Together.”
The day was founded by the Global Handwashing Partnership, an international alliance of institutions that promoted effective handwashing with soap. In 2008, the first World Handwashing Day was celebrated in more than 70 nations and 120 million children.

Notes:
Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the premium to be paid by farmers is fixed at 1.5% of the sum insured for rabi crops and 2% for Kharif crops, while it is 5% for cash/horticultural crops.
The balance premium is split between the Centre and states. The government has constituted a working group, to roll out an overhauled PMFBY from kharif 2022. The working group will find out reasons for high premium rates and suggest mechanism to rationalize them. This comes at the backdrop of exit of several states from the scheme