Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF jointly released the 2021 State of The World’s Hand Hygiene report.
As per the report, all households in the world’s 46 least developed countries could have handwashing facilities by 2030 if the world invested less than $1 per person per year, in hand hygiene. An annual cost to governments on promoting handwashing with soap at home comes to 2.5% of the average government health expenditure in these countries.

Notes:
Every year, 14th of October is celebrated as the World Standards Day, to commemorate all the experts who have contributed to develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as International Standards. This year’s World Standards Day is observed under the tag line “our shared vision for a better world”.

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:
Mount Harriet is the third-highest island peak in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Union Home Minister has announced that the peak will now be known as Mount Manipur, as a tribute to the freedom fighters of Manipur.
Manipur’s Maharaja Kulchandra Singh and 22 other freedom fighters were imprisoned during the Anglo-Manipuri war (1891) at the Mount Harriet. They were sent to Kalapani and kept on Mount Harriet.

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:
As many as 10 reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported in New York, USA. It is rare form of pneumonia caused by a bacteria called Legionella.
As per the country’s health department, the cases have been reported around the Long Island neighbourhood. People can contract Legionnaires by breathing in a vapour containing the Legionella bacteria. The symptoms include breath, high fever, cough, muscle aches and headache.

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 Delhi government is set to begin its ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign, which aims to reduce pollution in the national capital.
The campaign urges commuters to switch off the engines of their vehicles as soon as they stop at a red light. This was first introduced by the government last year. This year, the first phase of the campaign will run for a month till November 18. It will take place in two shifts – from 8am-2pm and then 2pm-8pm.

Notes:
Tech Major Microsoft has launched a start-up program called AI Innovate along with an AI Playbook that will help start-ups in the country adopt the technology.
Microsoft has also been involved in two similar programs for agri-tech and health-tech startups. As per a 2020 report by Nasscom, data and AI have the potential to add $500 billion to the economy by 2025 and can account for 10% of the country’s GDP.

Notes:
In the World Bank’s ease of doing business report, under the construction permits category, India’s rank jumped to 27th out of 190 nations from 181st rank last year.
Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has recently announced that ‘Online building permission system’, which has been implemented in about 2,500 cities so far, will be made operational across all cities by March next year. This will help improve the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the country.