Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

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:

• A start-up company of IIT Ropar has claimed that it has developed the world’s first ‘Plant based’ smart air-purifier.
• Named the “Ubreathe Life”, the ‘Smart Bio-Filter’ has been developed by Urban Air Laboratory.
• The living-plant-based air purifier amplifies the air purification process in indoor spaces.
• The technology used in this product is ‘Urban Munnar Effect’. The room-air interacts with leaves and goes to the soil-root zone where maximum pollutants are purified.
• Phytoremediation is a process by which plants effectively remove pollutants from the air.

Notes:

• India has recently hosted the 8th BIMSTEC Agriculture Experts Meeting, in a virtual mode.
• The meeting was chaired by Dr Trilochan Mohapatra – Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
• Experts of the Agricultural Ministries from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand participated in the meeting.
• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)  is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, which is Headquartered at Kathmandu.

Notes:

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) clocked more than 3 billion transactions for the second consecutive month in a row in August.
• In August, UPI logged 3.55 billion transactions worth Rs 6.39 trillion. This is an all-time high in terms of the volume and value.
• On a month-on-basis, UPI’s volume of transactions was up 9.5 per cent in August, and the value of transactions was up 5.4 per cent.
• The rapid increase in transactions indicate an increased adoption of digital payments by consumers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Notes:

• Dr Firdausi Qadri, a vaccine scientist from Bangladesh and Muhammad Amjad Saqib, the microfinance pioneer from Pakistan are among the five recipients of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award.
• Established in 1957, the award is Asia’s highest honour and regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize.
• The other winners are Filipino fisher and community environmentalist Roberto Ballon, American Steven Muncy for humanitarian work and refugee assistance and Indonesian torchbearer for investigative journalism, Watchdoc.
• The award is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia who provide significant service to the society.

Notes:

• India’s Ministry of Defence has signed a project agreement with the US Department of Defence for cooperation in the development of air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (ALUAV).
• This Project Agreement for ALUAV is under the overall framework of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
• It also includes the collaboration between Air Force Research Laboratory, Indian Air Force, and DRDO in the process of co-developing an ALUAV Prototype

Notes:
Exercise Bright Star is a multinational military exercise, held once in two years at Egypt. This year’s exercise would witness participation from 21 countries including the USA.
The first such exercises were held in the year 1980 after signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The last Bright Star exercise was conducted in 2018, with 16 participating nations.

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:
The state government of Arunachal Pradesh has launched 2 schemes named Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojna and Atma Nirbhar Bagwani Yojna. AtmaNirbhar Krishi Yojna is an agri sector scheme while Atma Nirbhar Bagwani Yojna is a horticulture scheme.

The government has allocated a total sum of Rs. 120 crores for these two schemes, Rs.60 crores for each of the schemes.