Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:
Kasai River is located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was seen in the news because the Kasai River had turned red recently.

The bodies of hippos and dead fish were seen floating in the river. The pollution was first detected in a tributary of the Kasai River, named the Tshikapa. The Kasai is a tributary of the Congo River. The pollution originates from a major spill at three mining facilities around in Angola. Researchers also fear the potential for lasting contamination of groundwater.

Notes:
The Punjab government and the American Chamber of Commerce in India (Amcham India) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote investment in the state as well as further increase the ease of doing business for US member companies. The first-of-its-kind MoU that Amcham India signed with any state will also see the formation of a joint working group which will include members from Invest Punjab and the American trade body.

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:
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.

Notes:
India and Australia hold first ever 2+2 talks with focus on strategic ties and situation in Afghanistan. India and Australia on Saturday began a high-level foreign and defence ministerial dialogue to boost the overall strategic cooperation between the nations. External affairs minister S Jaishankar and Union defence minister Rajnath Singh held the ‘two-plus-two’ talks with their Australian counterparts Marise Payne and Peter Dutton.

Notes:
Fourteen districts of Chhattisgarh have signed MoUs with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Millets Research to boost production of millets in their respective areas. These millets will be procured through Van Dhan societies of the Chhattisgarh Minor Forest Produce Co-operative Federation, and after processing, will be used in mid-day meal schemes, public distribution system and nutrition programmes. The 14 districts are Kanker, Kondagaon, Bastar, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, Balrampur, Koriya, Surajpur and Jashpur.

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.

Notes:
The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation is an initiative for the economic, social and political developments of the countries in the Southern region. South-South cooperation refers to the technical cooperation among developing countries in the Global South. Every year, this day is celebrated globally on September 12. The international day South-South Cooperation also highlights the efforts of the United Nations for cooperation among developing countries.

Notes:
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has enabled the country’s first FASTag-based metro parking facility in partnership with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). As an acquiring bank for the parking facility at the Kashmere Gate metro station, PPBL will facilitate the processing of all FASTag based transactions for cars having a valid FASTag sticker, thus eliminating the hassle of stopping and paying cash at the counter.

Notes:
American Rajeev Ram and British Joe Salisbury overcame a slow start to beat Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the US Open men’s doubles final.