Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
Retired commodore Amit Rastogi, took over as the chairman and managing director of the National Research Development Corporation.
Amit Rastogi has been appointed to this position, after his service of 34 years in Indian Navy. NRDC is an enterprise of DSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology. It was established in 1953 to promote the development, promotion and transfer of technologies from various national R&D institutions.

Notes:
The American space agency NASA has launched a robotic spacecraft named Lucy, which is set to reach the Trojans (Jupiter’s asteroids) by 2027.
The spacecraft is designed to reach seven Trojan asteroids along with another one in the main Asteroid Belt. The spacecraft was launched using an Atlas V rocket from Florida.

Notes:
Valneva SE, a French vaccine company, announced the results from its Phase 3 trial of its inactivated Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001.
As per the company, the vaccine was as effective as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. VLA2001 is an inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine. The Sars-CoV-2 virus is killed using chemicals, heat, or radiation and delivered in an inactivated form. India’s Covaxin vaccine is also an inactivated vaccine.

Notes:
Talpiot Cemetery is seen in the news recently, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the place as he began his five-day visit to Israel.
It is the cemetery for Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the region during the World War I, located in Talpiot, Jerusalem. About 900 Indian soldiers are buried in cemeteries across Israel in Jerusalem, Ramle and Haifa. The Indian Army commemorates September 23 every year as Haifa Day to pay its respects to the three brave Indian Cavalry Regiments.

Notes:
The ancient city of Kushinagar is the final resting place of Lord Gautama Buddha, where he attained Mahaparinirvana after his death.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Kushinagar International Airport. It is aimed at boosting tourism on the Buddhist circuit. At present, two international airports are operational in the state of Uttar Pradesh namely Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at Lucknow and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Varanasi.

Notes:
The Assam Cabinet has approved the creation of a directorate and posts under the newly-established Indigenous Faith and Culture Department.
The directorate is set to begin the process of preserving indigenous faiths such as Bathou of the Bodo community and Heraka of the Zeme Naga community. These are considered to be endangered because of conversions to mainstream religions.  Arunachal Pradesh had formed the Department of Indigenous Affairs five years ago to insulate the indigenous faiths.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Paytm Payments Bank recently.
The penalty was for submitting information that did not reflect the factual position. It is an offence under Section 26 (2) of the Payments and Settlement Act. RBI also imposed a penalty of Rs Rs 27.78 lakh on Western Union Financial Services for non-compliance with Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) directions.

Notes:
Ashfaqullah Khan, an Indian freedom fighter, was sentenced to death at the age of 27 for the Kakori train robbery. He was born on October 22, 1900 and he was remembered recently on his anniversary.
Ram Prasad Bismil and Chandrashekhar Azad were among the people who were part of the Kakori train robbery of 1925. He used to write poems in Urdu and Hindi, under the pen name Varasi and Hazarat.

Notes:
Tech major Intel has recently launched a skill development program named “Intel Unnati”, which is designed to upskill and equip Engineering students with industry relevant data.The company has planned to establish 100 Intel Unnati Data Centric Labs under the program in next one year.

Notes:
Bangladesh has announced that it would present its “climate prosperity plan” at the upcoming UN Climate Conference at Glasgow.
Bangladesh is considered prone to extreme weather and rising ocean levels. The plans aim to lessen the effects of climate change on the economy. It also seeks to boost renewable energy, make agriculture more resistant to climate shocks and restore mangroves to protect coasts from cyclones.