Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:

• 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.

Notes:
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICAR-Indian Institute of Millet Research (ICAR-IIMR).

This is expected to boost value addition and farmers’ income and for increasing exports. MoU also seeks to create market linkages with farmers as well as Farmer Producers Organizations. A joint coordination committee with representatives from APEDA and ICAR-IIMR would also be set up.

Notes:
Union Minister of Culture Kishan Reddy Gangapuram has launched the program ‘Bujurgon ki Baat–Desh Ke Saath’ with Union MoS for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal, at IGNCA, New Delhi. The programme aims at enhancing the interaction between the youth and the elder persons who are 95 years and above and thus have spent around 18 years in India before independence.

Notes:
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, launched Vidyanjali Portal and several other initiatives in the education sector on September 7, 2021. Vidyanjali portal was launched to enable community or volunteers to contribute by connecting with the government and government-aided schools of their choice directly. He also addressed the inaugural conclave of ‘Shikshak Parv’ through video-conferencing. He launched the Indian Sign Language Dictionary (audio and text embedded sign language video for the hearing impaired, in conformity with Universal Design of Learning) and Talking Books (audio books for the visually impaired). School Quality Assurance and Assessment Framework of the Central Board of Secondary Education were also launched. PM also launched NISHTHA, a teachers’ training programme for NIPUN Bharat.

Notes:
The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) has signed a MoU with Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO). Under the MoU, IREDA will extend technical expertise & support to TANGEDCO for Renewable energy project development, to bid process management, and provide implementation support. IREDA will also assist TANGEDCO in debt raising by developing financial models, assistance in the understanding market instrument, underwriting services for the proposed debt requirement, conducting pre-market surveys, and road shows to evoke interest amongst potential investors. TANGEDCO is planning to undertake 20,000 MW of Solar Power Project, with adequate Battery Storage, 3,000 MW of Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Project, and 2,000 MW of Gas Based Power Plant for efficient Renewable integration.

Notes:
International Literacy Day is observed and celebrated widely every year on September 8. The first International Literacy Day was observed in the year 1967. This date was declared as International Literacy Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the year 1966. This day is observed to remind the international community about the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies.  International Literacy Day also highlights the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies. In 2021, the theme is ‘Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide’.

 

Notes:
Central government has approved the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme of worth Rs 10,683 crore for the textiles sector. This PLI scheme was approved in order to boost domestic manufacturing and exports. This scheme will help in creating direct additional employment of more than 7.5 lakh people and several supporting activities. As a part of incentives approved for textiles sector, the payout will be spread over a period of five years. This PLI scheme was approved for textiles, MMF (man-made fibre) fabrics, MMF apparel and 10 segments or products of technical textiles. This PLI scheme will impact and benefit special states including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha.

Notes:
The government has constituted an eight-member panel for framing a new law for drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. The panel is being headed by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr V G Somani. The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, regulates the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. This Act is amended from time to time. The last amendment in the Act was made in 2008.

Notes:
Nirlep Singh Rai has been appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of State-owned fertiliser firm National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL).

Notes:
Shivani Meena, an IIT Jodhpur alumna, has become the first woman excavation engineer to work in an open cast mine at Coal India arm CCL (Central Coalfields Ltd). She will be posted at CCL’s Rajrappa project, one of the important enterprises of the coal mining behemoth. Until now the position belonged to men. The feat follows another milestone when Akanksha Kumari became Coal India’s first woman mining engineer to work in an underground mine at CCL’s Churi facility in North Karanpura area in Jharkhand.