Current Affairs Quiz-September, 2020

Notes:
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India has banned the export of all varieties of onions, except for those in cut, sliced or in powder form.
This has been done to increase the supply of onion in the county and to bring down its market price. The provision under Section 3 of Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 is used by the ministry in this regard.

Notes:
The Lok Sabha has passed the Salary, Allowances and Pension of MPs (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The Bill would reduce the salaries of Members of Parliament by 30 % for a period of 1 year to meet the exigencies arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, the government had brought an ordinance in this regard.

Notes:
Bharatiya Janata Party has organised a week-long Seva Saptah to celebrate the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Under this programme, several welfare activities were organised across the country. Several programmes related to cleanliness, distribution of sanitary pads and wheel chairs and other social service events are organized from 14th to 20th September.

Notes:
The Government of Bangladesh has decided to export Hilsa fish to India on a limited scale.
This is in view of the forthcoming Durga Puja. The country’s commerce ministry has permitted nine exporters to export 1500 tonnes of Hilsa to India. Bangladesh imposed a ban on the export of Hilsa in 2012.

Notes:
In the latest edition of the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index, India has been ranked at the 116th position.
The index ranks countries on the basis of key components of human capital. India’s score increased to 0.49 from its earlier score of 0.44 in 2018. This year, the index includes health and education data for 174 countries, up to March 2020. It also reveals that more than 1 billion children are out of school.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has initiated a complete investigation into the accident that involved the Howitzer gun system.
The indigenously-developed gun system when undergoing firing caused an accident in Pokhran in Rajasthan. DRDO is presently developing ‘Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS)’ along with two private sector defence firms.

Notes:
National Jal Jeevan Mission has launched an ICT Grand Challenge to create innovative and affordable solution to develop a ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement and Monitoring System’.
This Challenge has been launched in partnership with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY). Proposals from Indian Tech start-ups, MSMEs and other companies will be invited, to deploy at the village level.

Notes:
The Epidemic Diseases Amendment Bill, 2020 has been recently passed in the Rajya Sabha, to bring a law, that punishes those who attack Health workers or Doctors who are fighting the coronavirus outbreak or a similar situation. It provides for up to five years in jail for the act.

Notes:
Recently, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has advised the States and Union Territories to stamp “International Convention of Road Traffic” on the first page of International Driving Permit (IDP) issued by them because many countries are not accepting the International Driving Permit issued to Indian citizens and ask for the validation of IDP in accordance of International Convention of Road Traffic. This convention is an International treaty for promoting safety of international traffic by making certain uniform rules for the contracting parties and is also known as the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. It was signed in 1949 and came into force in 1952.

Notes:
Israel has signed ‘Abraham Accord’ agreements normalizing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.