Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

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Max Verstappen won the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull on September 5, 2021 at Zandvoort, Netherlands followed by Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in second and third places respectively.

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Gujarat government has planned to undertake public welfare projects worth Rs. 1,000 crores jointly with non-resident Gujaratis which have to be completed by December 2022. The projects will be under the state government’s ‘Vatan Prem Yojana’. Vatan Prem Yojana is a repackaged version of Madar-e-Vatan scheme by the state government of Gujarat. The Vatan prem yojana will cover village-level projects such as: Smart classes in schools, Library Community hall, Primary health centres, CCTV surveillance system, Water recycling, drainage, sewage treatment and beautification of ponds, Solar energy powered streetlights, etc.

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Tamil Nadu CM M.K Stalin has announced that Rs 5,000 each as a financial assistance will be paid to the artisans making Vinayaka statues. They will be gien this amount since the ban on public celebration of Vinayaka Chathurthi had affected 3,000 artisans.

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Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav has virtually inaugurated the first functional smog tower in India at Anand Vihar, Delhi. A smog tower is a structure designed as large/medium scale air purifiers to reduce air pollution, usually by forcing the air through filters. The tower has been built by Tata Projects Limited with NBCC (India) Ltd. as the project management consultant.

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Union environment minister, Bhupendra Yadav has launched a portal called PRANA on September 7, 2021. PRANA Portal will be used to track the progress of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in order to comply with India’s commitment to ensure clean air and blue skies to everybody. This portal was launched on the occasion of ‘International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies’ in non-attainment cities (NAC). Non-attainment cities are those cities that failed to meet the National air quality standards in a five-year period.

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The government has appointed Harsha Bhupendra Bangari as the managing director (MD) of Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank). Bangari, who is presently the deputy managing director at EXIM Bank, would be at the helm for a period of three years or until further orders of the government.

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SBM Bank has partnered with fintech player OneCard to launch a mobile-based credit card named ‘mobile-first.’ OneCard will leverage Visa’s technology and global acceptance in this co-branded credit card offering through an app. State Bank of Mauritus (SBM) was the first foreign bank to receive a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India.

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Bank of Baroda has topped the MeitY Digital Payment Scorecard for 2020-21 with a total of 86% marks on the scorecard. The scorecard ranks 44 banks (Public Sector Banks, Private Banks, Foreign Banks, Payments Banks, Small Finance Banks) on various parameters on the digital business.

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Reserve Bank of India has taken public sector lender UCO Bank out of Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework (PCA) on improvement in financial and credit profile. This decision gives the bank more freedom for lending, especially to corporations and grows the network, subject to prescribed norms. The Kolkata-based lender was placed under PCA in May 2017 on account of high Net Net-Performing Assets (NPAs) and negative Return on Assets (RoAs). As of March 2021, its net NPAs declined to 3.94% from 8.54% in March 2017 (FY17).

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World Suicide Prevention Day is observed annually on September 10. The theme this year is “Creating hope through action.” World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003. World Suicide Prevention Day is organised by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP).