Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:
India and Nepal on 20th September has begun a 15-day military exercise in Pithoragarh located in the state of Uttarakhand with a focus on counter-terror drills and disaster relief operations. The 15th India-Nepal military training exercise is named ‘Surya Kiran’ and it is being held to boost inter-operability between the two militaries.

Notes:
On September 20, 2021, the 2021 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The 2021 edition of GII shows the latest global innovation rankings of 132 economies based on 81 different indicators. Switzerland, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom continue to lead the innovation rankings and have entered the top five in the past three years. South Korea will be among the top five in GII for the first time in 2021, while 4 other Asian economies are in the top 15: Singapore (8), China (12), Japan (13) and Hong Kong (14th). ). India ranks 46th in this list.

Notes:
English author Ruskin Bond, Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla and six others were selected for the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.

The National Academy of Letters said that the general council of Sahitya Akademi announced its highest honour, the Fellowship.The others who received the Fellowship are Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay (Bengali), M Leelavathy (Malayalam), Dr. Bhalchandra Nemade (Marathi), Dr Tejwant Singh Gill (Punjabi), Swami Rambhadracharya (Sanskrit), Indira Parthasarthy (Tamil).

Notes:
Gujarat government is set to launch “Aap Ke Dwar – Ayushman” mega drive from 23rd September 2021. According to the state health Ministry, 80 lakhs families will be covered under this drive to enroll them for Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Ma Card scheme of the state government.

The National Health Authority (NHA) launched the campaign in February this year. Bihar was the first state to activate the beneficiary verification process.

Notes:
With an aim to provide world class internet / tele-connectivity for the marginalised and to simplify the KYC processes, the Department of Telecommunications – Ministry of Communications, Government of India has initiated reforms in the telecom sector.
These include “Aadhaar based e-KYC”, “Self-KYC” for getting SIM cards delivered at doorstep and “OTP based conversion of mobile connection” from prepaid to postpaid.

Notes:
The Foundation for Environment Education – Denmark is an environment organisation with presently 77 member countries. This organisation awards the Blue Flag certification, which is an eco-label for sustainable beaches across the globe.
Recently, the foundation has awarded Blue Flag certification to 2 more beaches in India – Kovalam in Tamil Nadu and Eden in Puducherry. With this, the number of Blue Flag certified beaches in India has gone up to 10.

Notes:
Every year, 21st September is observed as World Alzheimer’s Day. This day aims to raise awareness about the Alzheimer’s disease, its causes, symptoms and the ways to handle it.
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain condition which retards memory and cognitive abilities of the affected person. It is the most frequent cause of dementia in older individuals, which may cause brain cells to weaken and die.

Notes:
Justin Trudeau – the Liberal party leader of Canada has been elected as the Prime Minister of the country for the third time.
He has been in power since 2015 and has won 3 elections in a term of 6 years. Justin Trudeau called for a snap election in the month of August 2021, with an aim to win a majority in the elections. But, in the present election, he could not win a majority.

Notes:
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India has revised and eased the rules pertaining to storage and handling of ammonium nitrate and calcium carbide, for improved safety.
This revision comes at the backdrop of the deadly Beirut (capital of Lebanon) explosion which occurred due to storage of 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate at the port for 6 years.

Notes:
Mumbai maintained its first position in the Emerging Ecosystems category in the ranking of international startup hubs. The rankings are compiled by Startup Genome for its annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021.
London retained its second-place ranking tied with New York for the second year in a row. Bangalore was ranked at 23 globally and Delhi was placed at 36th. The report revealed that London is the most attractive destination to set up a tech start-up outside of Silicon Valley.