Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
The eighth ministerial meeting of the India-U.S.A. Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue held at Washington D.C.
The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Dr. Janet Yellen. During the meeting, discussions were held on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, financial regulatory and technical collaboration, multilateral engagement, climate finance and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.

Notes:
Each year, the World Health Organisation releases the Global TB Report. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic.
As per the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis. It also highlighted that for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased.  Approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 and the increase in number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB.

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:
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:
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:
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:
Infrastructure firm Larsen & Toubro Limited emerged as the lowest bidder for the construction and maintenance of the first three buildings of the Common Central Secretariat under the Central Vista redevelopment project.
According to the Central Public Works Department’s bid documents, Larsen & Toubro quoted around Rs 3,141 crore.Tata Projects Limited is constructing a new parliament building while Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Limited is executing the redevelopment work of the Central Vista Avenue stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.

Notes:
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multi-stakeholder platform, which brings representatives together from various groups, to discuss public policy issues related to the Internet.
The Indian Government along with National Internet Exchange of India and other Stakeholders has decided to host its own Internet Governance Forum  in November this year. The India Internet Governance Forum (IIGF) will recognize every citizen as a stakeholder and enable them to participate in policy dialogue and decision making.

Notes:
NASA has selected a new space telescope proposal to study the recent history of star birth, star death, and formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way.
The gamma-ray telescope, called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), is set to be launched in 2025 as NASA’s latest small astrophysics mission. COSI will study gamma rays from radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded. It will also probe the origin of our galaxy’s positrons, also known as antielectrons.

Notes:
According to the 2021 Global Agricultural Productivity Report (GAP Report), total factor productivity (TFP) is growing at an annual rate of 1.36 per cent.
This is below the Global Agricultural Productivity Index, whose annual target is at 1.73 per cent growth to sustainably meet the needs of consumers for food and bio-energy in 2050. TFP tracks changes in how efficiently agricultural inputs such as land, labour, fertiliser and machinery are transformed into outputs like crops and aquaculture products.