Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:

• Amazon India has launched the Kisan (farmer) store a store on its platform, meant exclusively for farmers.
• The Amazon Kisan store was launched by Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar.
• Farmers can now buy farming tools, seeds, crop protection and other farming tools on the Amazon platform.
• This aims to make agri-inputs available to buyers at competitive prices with the added convenience of delivery at their doorstep.

Notes:

• World-Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF India) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have joined hands to develop a platform to promote a circular system for plastics.
• The new platform is called, the ‘India Plastic Pact,’.
• India generates 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, of which 40 per cent is not collected.
• About half of all plastics produced in the country are used in packaging, most of it is single use in nature.
• The pact has time-bound targets for reducing, innovating and re-imagining plastic packaging.

Notes:

• Corbevax is the COVID 19 vaccine candidate, produced by Hyderabad based pharma company Biological E.
• Recently, the company has received the nod from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting two clinical trials of the vaccine.
• The company has also received approval from DGCI to conduct phase 2 and 3 trials on children aged 5 – 18.
• The company has received assistance form Government of India under the Mission COVID Suraksha for development of this vaccine.

Notes:
The State Government of Chhattisgarh has implemented the scheme named ‘Patrakar Kalyan Kosh’. Under this scheme, the families of journalists who lost their lives in COVID, would be provided with financial assistance.

Further, under this scheme, a sum of Rs 2 lakh would be given to journalists for treatment of COVID disease. The state has also decided to increase the monthly pension to senior journalist from Rs.5000 to Rs.10,000, under the Senior Journalist Samman Nidhi scheme.

Notes:
According to the Ladakh Resident Certificate Order 2021 passed on September 4, 2021, the Ladakh administration has decided to issue “Resident Certificate” only to Permanent Resident Certificate holders of the region unlike J&K, where new domicile laws allowed outsiders too to apply for jobs, land and other facilities.

Notes:
The bilateral exercise – AUSINDEX between Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy is being held in Australia from September 6 to 10, 2021. The exercise will provide an opportunity for both Navies to further bolster inter-operability, gain from best practices and develop a common understanding of procedures for Maritime Security Operations. The two countries will also be holding their first “2+2″ Foreign and Defence Ministers meet in New Delhi.

Notes:
Max Verstappen won the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull on September 5, 2021 at Zandvoort, Netherlands followed by Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in second and third places respectively.

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:
HDFC Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) to offer and strengthen credit support to MSMEs across India. Partnership with NSIC will help in boosting the MSME Sector growth which is the backbone of India in terms of economic development as well as job creation. Under this MoU, HDFC Bank will provide MSMEs a set of specially tailored schemes in order to enhance their competitiveness. HDFC Bank branches will also extend support to MSME projects in the areas they are located and other important industrial sectors in India.

Notes:
Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $112 million loan in order to develop water supply infrastructure in the state of Jharkhand. The loan will also strengthen capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) in order to improve service delivery in four towns of Jharkhand. This project is in line with the priority of Jharkhand Government to improve urban services in state. It will ensure continuous, treated piped water supply in Ranchi and other three towns namely Jhumri Telaiya, Hussainabad, and Medininagar. These towns are located in economically and socially backward areas.