Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:
At the 11th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD), the Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak met virtually.

They signed a USD 1.2-billion package of public and private investment in green projects and renewable energy. A new Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership has been agreed to mobilise private capital into sustainable infrastructure in India.

Notes:
Carlos Alcaraz recently became the youngest player in the Open era to reach the quarter-finals of the US men’s tournament.

The 18-year-old Spaniard beat Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in five sets. He is eight days younger than Andre Agassi when the American reached the 1988 U.S. Open quarter-finals and semi-finals. He is also the youngest to reach this stage in New York since Thomaz Koch of Brazil did in 1963.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu government has decided to celebrate every year the birth anniversary of reformist leader E. V. Ramasamy Periyar on September 17 as Social Justice Day. Periyar (September 17, 1879–December 24, 1973) was instrumental in the enactment of the first Constitutional Amendment Act (that safeguarded reservation for backward classes).

Notes:
Government of Tamil Nadu recently announced its plan to set up India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve in the Palk Bay on the southeast coast. Dugong or sea cow is an endangered marine mammal. It is facing extinction because of habitat loss, sea pollution, and loss of sea grass. Dugong is found in Gulf of Mannar and at Palk Bay in Tamil Nadu. With the help of community participation, Government will also construct a Dugong Marine Conservation Reserve in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay area to protect the species.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Karnataka Bank, in collaboration with Mswipe Technologies Pvt Ltd, has launched ‘WisePOSGo’ — a PoS (point-of-sales) device that processes business payments — for the bank’s merchant customers. This device is an all-in-one swiping machine loaded with advanced features such as contactless payment, mobile phone, QR code, pay by link, magstripe and barcode scanner.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology launched the pilot drive ‘Main Bhi Digital 3.0’ – A special Campaign for Digital Onboarding and Training for street vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme across 223 cities in the country. BharatPe, Mswipe, PhonePe, Paytm, Aceware are participating in this drive to issue UPI IDs, QR code and provide digital training.

Notes:
Co-WIN has developed a new Application programming interface called ‘Know Your Customer’s or Client’s Vaccination Status (KYC-VS). This will enable entities to check an individual’s status of vaccination through CoWIN. To use this API, an individual needs to enter his/her mobile number and name. Thereafter, they will get an OTP which they have to enter. In return, Co-WIN will send a response to the verifying entity on the individual’s status of vaccination. CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work) is an Indian government web portal for COVID-19 vaccination registration, owned and operated by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Notes:
Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been awarded the Africa Food Prize 2021 for improving food security in sub-Saharan Africa. The award was given away at the Africa Forum for Green Revolution (AGRF) 2021 Summit that is underway in Nairobi, Kenya. ICRISAT got the award for the Tropical Legumes Project that has improved food security across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT has its headquarters at Patancheru on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Notes:
Bhupendra Patel has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was sworn in by Governor Acharya Devvrat at the Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar. He is also a member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly and represents Ghatlodia constituency. Bhupendra Patel became chief minister of Gujarat on September 13 after Vijay Rupani resigned from the post.