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:
Kudumbashree is a flagship community-oriented programme of Kerala. Recently, the Kerala Government has planned to start an online platform to deliver products manufactured by Kudumbashree and other micro, small and medium production units.
The state also inaugurated the State-level seed capital financial assistance scheme, in which assistance will be given to self-help Groups as part of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) project.

Notes:
Nebra Sky Disc is said to be the oldest map of stars available on earth and is set to be displayed at the British Museum at London.
It is said that the disc was buried along with two swords, axes, two spiral arm-rings near Nebra in Germany about 3600 years ago. It is thought to be buried as a dedication to God.

Notes:
Government think tank NITI Aayog launched the ‘Geospatial energy map’ of the country. It captures data on all sources of energy, in a comprehensive way.
As per the NITI Aayog, the energy maps available in the country were fragmented and scattered across multiple departments or ministries. It can be used by policymakers, investors, environmentalists, financial institutions and disaster management authorities.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Culture, International Buddhist Confederation in association with the Government of Uttar Pradesh is organising the Abhidhamma Day on the auspicious occasion of Ashwin Poornima.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also participating in an event marking Abhidhamma Day at Mahaparinirvana Temple. Eminent monks from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, South Korea, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia and ambassadors of several nations will take part in occasion.

Notes:
Egyptian-Sudanese Joint Exercise “Guardian of the South – 1” began recently at Egypt’s Mohamed Nagib Military Base.
The exercise is being executed by Egyptian Border Guard Force elements, and Sudanese infantry elements trained on border security. It includes lectures, practical exercises on achieving integration among forces, Exhibition of arms and equipment used in border security is also held.

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:
Russia’s Energy Ministry signed an agreement with India’s Steel Ministry to increase coking coal supply to India up to 40 million tonnes per year.
The deal was signed at the Russian Energy Week Forum, held in Moscow. Russia currently supplies around 80 lakh tonnes of coal to India. The pact also aims for development of coal deposits, development of coal logistics and promotion of R&D in production.

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:
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.