Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2023

Notes:
Assam launched a clean district ranking drive called MODI (Most Outstanding District Initiative), to boost solid waste management and sanitation.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the most outstanding district will be awarded Rs 100 crore towards infrastructure development and the results will be tentatively declared by the first week of April 2024. The cabinet also approved installation of 2,000 CCTV cameras across the state.

Notes:
Thiruvonam, the most auspicious day during the Onam festival, is celebrated throughout Kerala. Onam is a harvest festival that celebrates the return of King Mahabali/Maveli to his beloved state.
The festival is celebrated for ten days and each day holds a lot of significance. Onam also marks the beginning of the Malayalam year, called Kolla Varsham.

Notes:
Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Ltd signed an MoU for capacity building and collaboration in ship design and construction.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Bare Duale held bilateral talks in New Delhi to promote military industry cooperation and deepen maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region.

Notes:
A team of technology experts of BITS Hyderabad, IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur, has won Asian Development Bank’s grant of USD 3.99 lakh (₹3.32 crore) to develop TUTEM.
TUTEM stands for Technologies for Urban Transit to Enhance Mobility and Safe Accessibility. It aims for safe public transport travel in Hyderabad.

Notes:
WR Chess has triumphed as inaugural FIDE World Rapid Team Champions. Altogether, WR Chess secured 22 matchpoints, Freedom finished on 20, and third-placed MGD1 had 18.
WR Chess had one Indian- R Praggnananda, Freedom had two Indian players and MGD1 eight. When it comes to individual medals for board prizes, as many as seven Indians won either a Silver or Bronze medal.

Notes:
The Ministry of Textiles has approved the Startup Guidelines for Technical Textiles – Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT) providing grant-in-aid upto INR 50 Lakhs for upto a period of 18 months.
Ministry of Textiles gives nod to 26 engineering institutions for introduction of Technical Textiles under National Technical
Textiles Mission.

Notes:
India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered a growth of 7.8 percent in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal (2023-2024), compared to a growth of 6.1 percent in the previous January-March quarter of fiscal 2022-23.
According to official data shared by the National Statistical Office, India’s nominal GDP or GDP at Current Prices in the first quarter showed a growth rate of 8 percent as compared to 27.7 percent in the previous year’s first quarter.

Notes:
The new U.S. – India Renewable Energy Technology Action Platform (RETAP) under the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership has been launched.
RETAP was announced meeting in Washington D. C., between His Excellency Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of America and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when the two leaders announced the expansion of collaboration on new and emerging technologies to accelerate the clean energy transition.

Notes:
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has launched a new type of frigate, the Type 054B, China’s Ministry of National Defense.
Type 054B is the larger and more advanced version of Type 054A, which currently forms the backbone of the PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy).

Notes:
The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) has secured three new licensing agreements via the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). Launched in May 2020 with WHO and Costa Rica’s collaboration, backed by 44 Member States, UN agencies, and partners like MPP, C-TAP operates under the Solidarity call to action. Its mission is to facilitate the voluntary sharing of intellectual property, knowledge, and data among developers of COVID-19 treatments, diagnostics, vaccines, and health products. This initiative aims to expedite technological advancements and enhance global production capacity to combat the pandemic.