Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

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:
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has won the prestigious awards of CII ‘National Energy Leader’ and ‘Excellent Energy Efficient Unit’ at the 22nd National Award ceremony for ‘Excellence in Energy Management’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Green Business Centre (GBC) during the 22nd edition of ‘Energy Efficiency Summit’, Virtual Conference & Exposition on Energy Efficiency.

Notes:
The world’s largest plant designed to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and turning it into rock started running in Iceland. The plant, named Orca, after the Icelandic word “orka” meaning “energy”, consists of four units, each made up of two metal boxes, similar in appearance to the containers used for maritime transport. World’s Largest Plant Capturing Carbon Dioxide From Air Starts In Iceland A facility for capturing carbon dioxide from air. (Reuters File) 3 Reykjavik: The world’s largest plant designed to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and turning it into rock started running on Wednesday, the companies behind the plant said. The plant, named Orca, after the Icelandic word “orka” meaning “energy”, consists of four units, each made up of two metal boxes, similar in appearance to the containers used for maritime transport. Constructed by Switzerland’s Climeworks and Iceland’s Carbfix, when operating at capacity the plant will draw 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air every year.

 

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has been adjudged the best higher educational institution in 2021 followed by Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc) and IIT Bombay. The rankings were announced by education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as part of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), an initiative of the government to rank top Indian institutions. Several key parameters, including research output, teaching learning environment, outreach and inclusivity, resource, graduate outcome, and perception, among others, were considered for preparing the exhaustive list.

Notes:
A workshop for Non-Governmental Organizations on Nutrition and Health was organized by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on 09th September, 2021, as part of its POSHAN MAAH activities. The purpose of the workshop was to closely associate NGOs working with Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the mission of Sahi Poshan-Desh Roshan. The workshop was attended by more than 70 NGOs who are working in the health sector in tribal areas. The workshop was organized by Tribal Health Cell under Ministry of Tribal Affairs. This workshop was also organized in association with AIIMS.

Notes:
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has handed over the first deliverable Firing Unit (FU) of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) System to Indian Air Force (IAF). In a significant boost to defence capabilities of India, MRSAM was handed over to IAF at Air Force Station, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. MRSAM is an advanced network centric combat Air Defence System. It was jointly developed by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in collaboration with Indian industry consisting of private and public sectors as well as MSMEs. It is a surface-to-air-missile, 4.5m in length. Contract for MRSAM programme was signed in February 2009. Under the contract, IAF was to buy 450 MRSAMs and 18 firing units at the value of $2bn.

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The President has appointed Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit as the new Governor of Punjab.

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A new government has been announced in Lebanon over a year after the previous administration quit following the devastating Beirut port explosion. Najib Mikati – Lebanon’s richest man – becomes Prime Minister, a position he has held twice before. Lebanon had been without a proper functioning government since then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned days after a massive blast on August 4, 2020 destroyed Beirut port and the surrounding area. The explosion, caused by improperly stored ammonium nitrate, killed 203 people, injured at least 6,000 others and left billions of dollars of damage.

Notes:
On September 11, 2021, the Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel, inaugurated a Food Processing Unit of M/s Sahara Frozen Foods in Morena, Madhya Pradesh. Food Processing Unit was inaugurated under a central sector cold chain scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana. It was launched on the last day of Food Processing Week. Food Processing week was celebrated from September 6, 2021 to September 12, 2021 as a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.’