Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

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:
The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) has signed a MoU with Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO). Under the MoU, IREDA will extend technical expertise & support to TANGEDCO for Renewable energy project development, to bid process management, and provide implementation support. IREDA will also assist TANGEDCO in debt raising by developing financial models, assistance in the understanding market instrument, underwriting services for the proposed debt requirement, conducting pre-market surveys, and road shows to evoke interest amongst potential investors. TANGEDCO is planning to undertake 20,000 MW of Solar Power Project, with adequate Battery Storage, 3,000 MW of Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Project, and 2,000 MW of Gas Based Power Plant for efficient Renewable integration.

Notes:
Amazon India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the industries and mines department of government of Gujarat to help drive e-commerce exports in the state. As part of the MoU, Amazon will train and onboard MSMEs from the state on Amazon Global Selling, enabling them to sell their unique Made in India products to millions of Amazon customers across more than 200 countries and territories.

Notes:
Amazon India has announced the launch of Kisan Store – an online platform that will enable farmers across India to get access to more than 8,000 agriculture inputs such as seeds, farm tools and accessories, plant protection, nutrition, and more. These products, which are listed by small and medium businesses (SMBs), will be available at competitive prices on Amazon India, with the added convenience of delivery at the doorstep of the farmers. The store was launched by Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

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:
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 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).

Notes:
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has resigned. Mr. Rupani met the Governor Acharya Devrat and submitted his resignation. Mr. Rupani had taken over as the Chief Minister in August 2016 after the sudden resignation of the then C. M. Anandiben Patel, who is now the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.