Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has been constituted under the leadership of Jayant Sinha. This committee would visit the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and discuss on the separation of the debt management function from the RBI.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan and former Governor of RBI Manmohan Singh is also a member of the committee.

Notes:
Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe has launched PhonePe Pulse, India’s first interactive platform with data, insights and trends on digital payments in the country.

The website showcases more than 2000 crore transactions by consumers on an interactive map of India. PhonePe also launched the Pulse Report, which studies on the evolution of digital payments over the past 5 years with detailed geographical and category-specific trends. As per the report, over 300 million Indians from 19,000 pin codes now use digital payments.

Notes:
India and Nepal have signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding), under which India would help Nepal in reconstruction of 14 cultural heritage and 103 health sector projects which were damaged during the 2015 earthquake. The total cost of these reconstruction is 420 crore Nepalese Rupees.

This is a part of India’s post-earthquake reconstruction package, under which India has committed a total grant of USD 250 million to Nepal.

Notes:
Some 28% of the 1,38,374 species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for its survival watch list are now at high risk of vanishing forever. The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 is being held in Marseille, France from September 3 to 11, 2021. Habitat loss, over-exploitation and illegal trade have hammered global wildlife populations for decades, and climate change is now kicking in as a direct threat as well as reported by the IUCN. The event was originally scheduled in June, 2020 but was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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:
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj, current district magistrate of Noida, has become the first IAS officer to win Paralympics medal. He lost gold to top seed Lucas Mazur of France in the men’s singles SL4 class final at the Tokyo Paralympics on September 5. In the Tokyo Paralympics, India has won 19 medals.

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:
Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, has been appointed as India’s Sherpa for G20. G20 is an influential grouping which brings together the major economies of world. Next G20 Summit is scheduled to take place from October 30 to 31, 2021 under Italian Presidency. India will hold the G20 Presidency from December 1, 2022 and will also convene G20 Leaders’ Summit in 2023 for the first time. India will also be part of the G20 Troika (preceding, current, and incoming G20 Presidencies) from December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2024.

Notes:
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Fiserv Inc. Has partnered to launch a plug-and-play RuPay credit card stack named ‘nFiNi’. ‘nFiNi’ is a RuPay based Application Programming Interface platform to boost credit card based products in the country. The nFiNi platform will power RuPay cards (including National Common Mobility Card) by offering access to needed services through the NPCI network combined with FirstVisionTM cloud-based open API integrations from Fiserv.

Notes:
Microsoft and OYO have announced a multi-year strategic partnership to co-develop next-gen travel and hospitality products and technologies. The duo plan to develop solutions using Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities that will be geared to benefit clients who operate small and medium hotel and home storefronts across the world.