Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath will return to Harvard University in January. She was the IMF’s first female chief economist, when she joined the fund in October 2018.
She led IMF’s analytical research on the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccination targets and on climate change mitigation. She was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University. Now the economist is set to join the University again.

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:
Every year, the Uttar Pradesh state conducts State-level Sugarcane competition to award farmers for high yield per hectare.
This year, a farmer from western Uttar Pradesh has won the State cane competition with a sugarcane yield of 2,635 quintal per hectare. The award is given in four categories namely: ratoon, early plant, general plant and drip irrigation.

Notes:
Hardoi MLA Nitin Agrawal was recently elected Deputy Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, which has five months left in its tenure.
Agrawal became the MLA from Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2017, later switched to the BJP. In 2019, SP sought his disqualification from the Assembly under the anti-defection law and was rejected by the Speaker. Article 178 contains the position for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of a state. More than two years of constitution in 2019, the 17th Lok Sabha remains without a Deputy Speaker.

Notes:
Besides the well-known tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, another species of this genus, Aedes koreicus, is expanding throughout Europe.
A paper published recently claims that the dangerous mosquitos have been spreading towards southwest Italy since they were found in the north in 2011. The expansion of foreign mosquito species has caused worries in Europe due to spread of diseases.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the U.N. climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow, as per Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav.
India is the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States. India and China have not yet made stronger pledges to cut emissions, known as nationally determined contributions or NDCs.

Notes:
ABHYAS – the High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) was successfully flight-tested by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The vehicle was tested from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Bay of Bengal in Odisha. It can be used as an aerial target to evaluate various missile systems. ABHYAS is designed and developed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, announced that it aims to reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2060.
Saudi Arabia is the 10th largest emitter of carbon dioxide globally. It is also the largest emitter on a per capita basis among G-20 countries. This was announced by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the inauguration of the kingdom’s first-ever Saudi Green Initiative Forum.

Notes:
A statistical analysis conducted by Mumbai-based International Institute for Population Studies shows that life expectancy in India has dropped by two years due to Covid-19 pandemic.
According to IIPS, the life expectancy at birth for men and women has declined from 69.5 years and 72 years in 2019 to 67.5 years and 69.8 respectively in 2020. The study also found out that the Covid mortality was reported to be the highest for men in the age group of 35-69.

Notes:
Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos became the first non-human creatures to be legally considered people by US courts.
This has been announced as a measure to save the “cocaine hippos” from being culled. There have been proposals in Columbia to kill these hippos since 2009, citing that they are an invasive species. reportedly compete with local wildlife for food and pollute local waterways with their faeces. The hippos are said to reportedly compete with local wildlife for food and pollute local waterways with their faeces.