Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:
5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament is being held in Vienna on Sept 7th and 8th. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reached Vienna to attend the 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament by the Austrian Parliament, Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations. The two-day conference will begin on Sept 7. The World Conference of Speakers of Parliament is held regularly every five years with the goal to reinforce the Parliamentary dimension of global governance.

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 of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala, has chaired a review meeting with Uttar Pradesh State Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister. He reviewed the implementation of animal husbandry and dairy schemes in the state and also took stock of the proposals in respect of animal husbandry and dairying. The state has been advised to focus on creating rural Entrepreneurship and better livelihood opportunity for unemployed youth and livestock farmers and to further expand the existing Pashu Bima and to promote Kisan Credit card for livestock farmers.

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:
UCO Bank has partnered with Finwizard Technology, which runs Fisdom, to offer wealth management products and services via its mBanking Plus App. Under this collaboration, customers of UCO bank can make seamless investments in mutual funds via its mBanking Plus App. Kolkata-based UCO Bank is one of the leading public sector banks in India with over 3 crore customers Currently, the bank has around 22,000 employees and 3,069 pan India branches with overseas presence in Hong Kong, Singapore and Iran.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh and Union Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the Emergency Landing Facility on a National Highway in Rajasthan. This emergency landing facility has been constructed on the Satta-Gandhav stretch of National Highway (NH) 925A in Barmer, Rajasthan. This is the first time a National Highway will be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India has taken public sector lender UCO Bank out of Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework (PCA) on improvement in financial and credit profile. This decision gives the bank more freedom for lending, especially to corporations and grows the network, subject to prescribed norms. The Kolkata-based lender was placed under PCA in May 2017 on account of high Net Net-Performing Assets (NPAs) and negative Return on Assets (RoAs). As of March 2021, its net NPAs declined to 3.94% from 8.54% in March 2017 (FY17).

Notes:
International Day to Protect Education from Attack is observed globally on 9th September. The first ever International Day to Protect Education from Attack was observed on 9th September, 2020. This day is also observed to spread awareness about the difficulties faced by those children living in countries which are affected by military conflicts. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the importance of protecting schools as a protective and safe place for students and educators, and the need to put education at the top of the public agenda.

Notes:
World Suicide Prevention Day is observed annually on September 10. The theme this year is “Creating hope through action.” World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003. World Suicide Prevention Day is organised by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP).

Notes:
India and the United States have agreed to expand their energy partnership by adding emerging fuels to the list of areas of cooperation that previously included power and energy efficiency, oil and gas, renewable energy and sustainable growth. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri co-chaired a virtual Ministerial meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to launch the revamped U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).