Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2023

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated India’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) school called as Santhigiri Vidyabhavan in Kerala’s capital city, Thiruvananthapuram.
The AI school is a result of a collaboration between iLearning Engines (ILE) USA and Vedhik eSchool.

Notes:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently chaired 26th meeting of Western Zonal Council at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
He also inaugurated an e-Resource web portal of Inter State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs. This portal will facilitate functioning of Zonal Councils. The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Administrator of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Notes:
Western Cuba was lashed by tropical storm Idalia and is likely to turn into a major hurricane as it moves towards the Gulf Coast in Floria.
Evacuations have been ordered by the officials. Idalia was churning around 80 miles off Cuba’s western tip.

Notes:
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has approved an increase in minimum wages for labourers by Rs 26 per day. This increase would be effective from January 1, 2023.
He also announced that registered insured employees and their dependent families under the Employees State Insurance (ESI) Scheme of Rajasthan will also get the benefit of Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana under the ESI category.

Notes:
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to plant at least 10,000 trees within a month in Uttarakhand.
This direction was s part of compensatory tree plantation to make up for hundreds of trees felled during construction of a road from Simli to Gwaldam. There were petitions about construction of a road in the fragile and sensitive mountains of Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

Notes:
Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur announced that 1000 Khelo India Centres will be established within a year in the country.
It will not only provide employment opportunities to former athletes but also give budding sportspersons a chance to take guidance from the veterans. To commemorate the National Sports Day, over 3500 events were observed across the nation.

Notes:
Assam-based Oncologist Ravi Kannan has been named one of the four winners of the 2023 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel prize.
He is a recipient of India’s fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri and the director of Assam’s Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (CCHRC).

Notes:
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues for August 2023 have shown a growth of 11 per cent year-on-year as it stands at Rs 1.59 lakh crore.
The increase is due to increased compliance and reduced evasion. In August 2022, the collection from GST was Rs 1,43,612 crore. Out of the Rs 1.59 lakh crore GST collected, CGST accounted for Rs 28,328 crore, SGST for Rs 35,794 crore, IGST for Rs 83,251 crore, and cess for Rs 11,695 crore.

Notes:
The seventh and last stealth frigate of Project 17A, Mahendragiri, was launched at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDL) in Mumbai.
Under Project 17A, a total of seven ships were constructed, four at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. , Mumbai and three at Garden Reach Ship Builders Limited (GRSE), Kolkata.

Notes:
The Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) programme is an initiative for promoting an investor-friendly and non-adversarial tax regime in India.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has recently released the fourth and fifth annual APA reports. The reports present key data and statistics pertaining to the APA programme.