Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2023

Notes:
Union Cabinet has declared August 23 as ‘National Space Day’ to commemorate Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing on the Moon.
The Cabinet also applauded the designation of two moon locations as ‘Tiranga Point’ (the imprint of Chandrayaan-2) and ShivShakti Point (the landing site of Chandrayaan-3) in the release.

Notes:
The Gujarat government has increased the reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the state’s panchayats and urban local bodies from 10% to 27%.
This decision was made based on recommendations of the K.S. Jhaveri Commission, which was formed based on a 2022 Supreme Court order on deciding the level of OBC quotas in Gujarat.

Notes:
As 42 per cent workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme still not eligible for Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS), the deadline for enabling Aadhaar-based payment for MGNREGA workers was extended till December 31
Earlier, the deadline was September 1 and this is the fifth extension by the Centre. This was announced by the Ministry of Rural Development.

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:
PhonePe has entered into stock broking business with the launch of a new mobile application called ‘Share(dot)Market’, under its subsidiary PhonePe Wealth Broking.
It provides market intelligence and quantitative research-based WealthBaskets, a scalable technology platform. It will be available as a mobile app and a dedicated web platform, enabling retail investors to buy stocks, engage in intra-day trades, buy curated WealthBaskets and mutual funds.

Notes:
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), announced the launch of Falcon blockchain-based project named ‘Falcon’.
It is an open-source project that aims to simplify the management and use of blockchains based on ‘Hyperledger Fabric’ and supported on Kubernetes clusters. Essentially, Falcon is expected to help developers innovate on blockchain-based payment solutions.

Notes:
United Nations Biodiversity has urged people globally to use the word ‘funga’ whenever they say ‘flora and fauna’, in order to highlight the importance of fungi.
Fungi, along with Animalia (animals), Plantae (plants), Protista, Archaea/Archaebacteria, and Bacteria or Eubacteria form the six ‘kingdoms’ of biology.

Notes:
The European Space Agency (ESA) is helping India in tracking the Solar mission Aditya-L1.
It is offering deep space communication services and assisting with the validation of new flight dynamics software developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

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.

Notes:
India emerged champions in the Men’s Hockey5s Asia Cup, beating arch-rivals Pakistan 2-0 in a shootout after both teams were locked at 4-4 in regulation time.
With the win, India have booked their place in the FIH Men’s Hockey5s World Cup 2024.