Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
Praggnanandhaa is Indian ace Chess player and is one of the young Grandmasters of the country. Recently, he won Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour by winning against his American opponent Christopher Yoo.
With this victory, Praggnanandhaa has won $12,500 prize money as well as the right to play with an elite set of chess champions at the Meltwater Champions Tour in 2022.

Notes:
The Finance Minister of Germany “Olaf Scholz” belonging to the Social Democrats, the ecologist Greens and liberal FDP have announced a preliminary deal to form a new government in Germany. If successful, he would succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany.
Earlier in September, Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the general elections but could not have a clean majority.

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.

Notes:
The Indian Navy received its 11th P-8I long range maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing. The Navy has signed a contract of 12 P-8Is from Boeing in two batches.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also launched an ‘Integrated Unmanned Road Map for Indian Navy’ at the second edition of the Naval Commanders Conference. This will outline all unmanned aerial and underwater platforms and efforts of the Navy in modernisation.

Notes:
Allium negianum, a plant discovered in Uttarakhand in the year 2019 has been recently confirmed as a new species of Allium, in journal PhytoKeys.
Allium is the genus that includes many foods such as onion and garlic, among 1,100 species globally. It was discovered in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. It grows at 3,000 to 4,800 m above sea level. The scientific name Allium negianum honours late Dr Kuldeep Singh Negi, an explorer and Allium collector.

Notes:
India is ranked at 71st position out of 113 countries in the Global Food Security (GFS) Index 2021, with an overall score of 57.2 points. It is a global report released by Economist Impact and Corteva Agriscience.
Ireland, Australia, the UK, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, France and the US shared the top rank with the overall GFS score in the range of 77.8 and 80 points on the index. The GFS Index considers 58 unique food security indicators including income and economic inequality.

Notes:
Imprisoned Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize- the Sakharov Prize.
The European Parliament praised the 45-year-old activist’s immense personal bravery. He was poisoned with a nerve agent last year and arrested and imprisoned. He has campaigned consistently against the corruption of Russia’s ruling government.

Notes:
Mount Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan, and is one of the largest in the world. It is located in the island of Kyushu, and its peak is located 1,592 meters above sea level.
Japan’s Mount Aso volcano recently erupted, spewing a huge column of hot gas and ash over 3,500 metres into the sky. Japan’s meteorological agency raised alert level for the volcano to level 3 on a scale of 5, and asked people not to approach the mountain.

Notes:
A micro-snail species named Georissa mawsmaiensis has been discovered in Mawsmai, a limestone cave in Meghalaya.
Before 170 years, Georissa saritta, a member of the same genus, was collected and described from the Musmai valley near Cherrapunjee. The researchers involved in the discovery are from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru.

Notes:
Global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) retained Pakistan on its ‘Grey List’ of countries.
FATF also announced that three new countries: Turkey, Jordan, and Mali have also been added to the Grey List. FATF affirmed that Pakistan is cooperating and only four action items remain to be completed. In June this year, FATF had retained Pakistan on its ‘Grey List’ for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing.