Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

• The Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the twin towers that had come up in violation of building bye-laws in Supertech’s Emerald Court housing project in Noida.
• The Court also ordered that the towers be razed within three months for violation of building norms in agreement with district officials.
• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called for an inquiry and strict action against guilty officers in Noida in the illegal twin tower case.
• The Chief Minister also directed officers to register a criminal case against guilty persons.

• Legendary South African fast bowler Dale Steyn announced his retirement from cricket, after a career spanning nearly 16 years.
• Steyn had retired from the Test Cricket last year as South Africa’s highest wicket-taker with 439 wickets.
• The bowler was named in the ICC Test team of the Decade and holds the record for the fastest to 400 Test wickets.
• Steyn played 93 Tests, 125 ODIs and 47 T20 internationals for South Africa since making his debut for the Proteas on December 17, 2004.

• The Covid-19 technical advisory committee (TAC) constituted by the Karnataka government has proposed the ‘school bubble’ concept.
• It aims to mitigate the spread of the disease among children attending offline classes at schools and colleges across the state.
• School bubbles are physical classifications made between groups comprising a small number of students.
• As per the concept, each such bubble will include students who will be made as a group during school hours throughout the term or an academic year.

• KAZIND-21 is the India – Kazakhstan joint military exercise, which is held in Kazakhstan.
• This year’s KAZIND is the 5th annual bilateral joint exercise between the two armies.
• India is represented by a contingent of 90 soldiers and Kazakhstan is represented by 120 troops.
• This exercise comprises 48 hours joint validation exercise, under which the troops would be subjected to challenges of actual operations.

• Slovenia currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Slovenian President Borut Pahor and discussed the challenges facing India and the European Union.
• The Minister is set to visit Slovenia, Croatia and Denmark to boost bilateral ties and strengthen India’s cooperation with the EU.
• Slovenia has invited Jaishankar to attend the informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU states.
• Jaishankar will also attend the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) being held in Slovenia.

• The Fukutoku-Okanoba volcano, is situated in Japan.
• It is located at about 80 feet below the sea, five kilometres north of Japan’s South Iwo Jima Island.
• As per the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the underwater volcano that exploded in the Pacific Ocean, mid-August, poses a risk to the passage of planes and ships.
• This is regarded as unusual as the eruptions from submarine volcanoes did not reach the height that the plume did.

• The Government set up a 12-member committee to review the existing guidelines of the Journalist Welfare Scheme (JWS).
• The committee is headed by Prasar Bharti Board member Ashok Tandon.
• The committee will examine the need for revision of the amount of ex-gratia payment in death as well as other cases under the JWS.

• NASA’s Mars rover have successfully collected its first rock sample for return to Earth.
• The rock sample, which is about the thickness of a pencil, could have slipped deeper into the tube during a series of planned vibrations.
• Perseverance arrived in February at Mars’ Jezero Crater, in search of rocks to find evidence of ancient life.
• The crater is believed to be the home of a lakebed and river delta, billions of years ago.
• NASA plans to launch more spacecraft to retrieve the samples collected by Perseverance.

• The International Coconut Community (ICC), an intergovernmental organization of coconut producing countries.
• It functions under the aegis of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).
• International Coconut Community (ICC) is based at Jakarta, Indonesia.
• To commemorate the foundation day of ICC, World Coconut Day is observed on September 2, 2021.
• The theme for the 23rd World Coconut Day celebrations this year is “Building a safe, inclusive resilient and sustainable coconut community amid Covid-19 pandemic and beyond”.
• In India, Coconut Development Board celebrates Coconut Day every year to promote awareness on the importance of coconut and focus national and international attention on coconut sector.

Under this scheme, the government encourages donations for development of social infrastructure like schools, drainage, sports complex etc in rural areas.