Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has pegged India’s economic growth rate to hit a four-year high of 7.2% for 2021. It had predicted a contraction of 7% in 2020. At this rate, India would be the fastest growing economy after China, which is projected to grow by 8.3%. Calculations are based on GDP at constant dollars in 2015.

Notes:
On September 18, 2021 the International Equal Pay Day was celebrated. In all regions, women’s pay is lower than men’s, and the global gender pay gap is estimated to be 23%. The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) is led by the International Labour Organization, UN Women and partners. The goal of the alliance is to achieve equal pay for men and women everywhere.

Notes:
Annually, on 18 September the World Bamboo Day is observed globally. The purpose of this day is to raise the world’s awareness of the protection and promotion of the bamboo industry and bamboo plantations. This special day was celebrated by the World Bamboo Organisation (WBO), which aims to protect natural resources and the entire environment. The organization also intends to ensure the sustainable use of bamboo and promote traditional uses for the economic development of local communities. The message for World Bamboo Day 2021 is “#PlantBamboo: It is time to Plant Bamboo.” WBO also launched new hashtag #PlantBamboo.

Notes:
Ukraine began joint military exercises with the United States and other NATO forces on September 20, 2021. This military exercise is being conducted at that time during which neighbouring countries Russia and Belarus were conducting large-scale exercises, which aroused the vigilance of the West. The Rapid Trident 2021 exercise will continue until October 1.

Notes:
The US Space agency NASA has announced the deployment of VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover), which is a mobile robot to the Moon.

This would be sent as a part of the Artemis programme in the year 2023, and is aimed to search ice and other resources on and below the lunar surface. The Moon’s South Pole is one of the coldest areas in our solar system. No prior missions to the Moon’s surface have explored it yet.

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:
The Indian Navy, in association with the Indian Naval Sailing Association (INSA) has proposed to conduct a Sailing regattas and a Sail parade in all the three command headquarters. This is as a part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
The first of the such event would be conducted in Indian Naval Watermanship Training Center, Kochi under which a team of 75 Naval personnel would participate.

Notes:
UNESCO has stated that, the USA would return a 3,500-year-old tablet recounting the epic of Gilgamesh to Iraq. The tablet was earlier illegally imported by a wealthy US collector. In addition to the tablet, the UNESCO has announced the repatriation of 17,000 other artifacts to Iraq.
UNESCO has considered this as a victory against illicit trafficking of cultural objects, which is said to be a major source of funding for terrorist groups.

Notes:
India’s leading private sector Bank – Axis Bank, has committed a sum of Rs.30,000 crore for lending to sustainable financing till the financial year 2025-26, which is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. This commitment is intended to assist India to reach the SDG targets by 2030.
The Bank intends to make wholesale lending to Sustainable Development projects which would  have positive social and environmental impact.

Notes:
Zee Entertainment Enterprises is set to be merged with Sony Pictures Networks India. A sum of $1.57 billion would be infused into the capital of the merged entity by Sony. The merged entity would be India’s largest entertainment network with more than 25% total viewership in India.
The shareholding pattern of the merged entity between Zee and Sony would be 47:53. Punit Goenka – the present CEO of Zee Entertainment, would be the MD CEO of the merged entity.