Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:

• Recently, the naval forces of India and Algeria has conducted a maiden naval exercise
• The exercises were conducted at the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Algeria.
• India was represented by Navy’s stealth frigate INS Tabar and naval ship ANS Ezzadjer was its counterpart.
• This exercise was aimed to enhance interaction and collaboration between the two nations.

Notes:

• The island nation of Sri Lanka has declared food emergency and an economic emergency, under an ordinance.
• The declaration of this, empowers authorities to impose restrictions on stocking and pricing of food articles.
• The country was affected with a foreign exchange crisis, due to which it had undertaken a steep devaluation of its currency, resulting in inflation.

Notes:

• The Reserve Bank releases a quarterly house price index (HPI) based on transaction-level data received from housing registration authorities in ten major cities.
• The cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai.
• According to RBI data, the growth in all-India House Price Index (HPI) slowed to 2 per cent in the first quarter this fiscal against 2.8 per cent in the last year.
• The HPI growth ranged from an expansion of 8.8 per cent (Ahmedabad) to a contraction of (-) 5.1 per cent (Chennai).

Notes:

• Nigeria Central Bank announced plans to launch its own digital currency named the “eNaira”.
• The Central Bank will work with Bitt Inc as a technical partner to launch its own cryptocurrency.
• Nigeria barred banks and financial institutions from dealing in or undertaking transactions in cryptocurrencies, earlier.
• eNaira would operate as a wallet against which customers can hold existing funds in their bank account.

Notes:

• The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS group of nations had admitted the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh as members in its first expansion push.
• Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as BRICS, launched the bank in 2015 and started formal talks with potential new members.
• NDB has initiated its membership expansion and started formal negotiations with prospective members recently.
• NDB has an authorised capital of USD 100 billion, which is open for subscription by members of the United Nations.

Notes:

• ‘Eat Right Station’ certification is awarded by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), to Railway Stations.
• FSSAI-empanelled third-party audit agency concludes the certification, with ratings from 1 to 5. The 5-star rating indicates excellent efforts by stations to ensure safe and hygienic food is available to passengers.
• Chandigarh Railway Station was awarded a 5- star ‘Eat Right Station’ certification for providing high-quality, nutritious food to passengers.
• The certification is part of the ‘Eat Right India’ movement of FSSAI.

Notes:
The Legislative Assembly of Odisha has passed the University of Health Sciences Bill 2021, recently. This bill seeks to bring all the medical and paramedical institutions of the state under a single University of Health Sciences.

Presently, various medical and paramedical institutions of the state are affiliated to different universities. This bill has been passed amidst strict opposition from various fronts.

 

Notes:
The Government of India would sign a tripartite “Karbi Peace Accord” between the Union Government, Government of Assam and representatives of Karbi outfits.

The Karbis are one of the major ethnic communities in the north eastern India, especially in Assam. Assam has a long history of violent activities by Karbis since the 1980s. Recently, 1,040 terrorists of five insurgent groups of this group have laid down arms at an event in Guwahati and have surrendered.

Notes:
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj, current district magistrate of Noida, has become the first IAS officer to win Paralympics medal. He lost gold to top seed Lucas Mazur of France in the men’s singles SL4 class final at the Tokyo Paralympics on September 5. In the Tokyo Paralympics, India has won 19 medals.

Notes:
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India GC Murmu has been elected as the Chairman of the Assembly of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) from 2024-2027 with India set to host the 16th Assembly of ASOSAI in 2024.