Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2023

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Fourth Partner Energy Private Limited signed a long-term loan of up to 1.2 billion Indian rupees to construct and operate a 25-megawatt solar photovoltaic-based power plant in the state of Tamil Nadu in India.
It is expected to generate about 50.7 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually and increase clean and low-cost energy supply to commercial and industrial customers.

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:
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:
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:
17-year-old D Gukesh took over as the country’s top-ranked player from Viswanathan Anand in FIDE’s monthly rankings list.
It has been 37 years since anyone other than Anand holding the top position. The five-time World champion is currently ranked ninth, a spot below Gukesh on the world list, is semi-retired from active chess.

Notes:
The Government of India has decided to organise a literacy week from 1st September to 8th September 2023 to celebrate International Literacy Day.
UNESCO will celebrate International Literacy Day (ILD) on 8 September 2023 under the theme ‘Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies’.

Notes:
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will come back through Earth’s atmosphere after a year-long journey to Bennu, a potentially hazardous asteroid with a 1 in 2700 chance of smashing cataclysmically into Earth.
The goal of the mission is to see whether life on Earth came from outer space. OSIRIS-REx is now returning from its mission with a 2-ounce sample of Bennu’s surface that could contain extraterrestrial precursors to life on our planet.

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:
In Athletics, India’s Avinash Sable qualified for his maiden Diamond League Final after finishing fifth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase race at the Xiamen Diamond League 2023 in China.
Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, the reigning Olympic and world champion, won the Xiamen track and field event with a meet record. India’s Neeraj Chopra (men’s javelin throw) and Murali Sreeshankar (men’s long jump) have already entered the Diamond League Final.

Notes:
In the Satkosia Tiger Reserve, two highly decomposed elephant carcasses were recently discovered. This reserve is situated in the Odisha, spanning across four districts: Angul, Cuttack, Boudh, and Nayagarh. The reserve covers a vast area of 1136.70 sq km, with 523.61 sq km designated as the core area. It’s also part of the Mahanadi Elephant Reserve and serves as the confluence of two significant bio-geographic regions in India: the Deccan Peninsula and the Eastern Ghats. Satkosia’s terrain is characterized by hills, moderate to steep slopes, and narrow valleys. The forest primarily consists of North Indian tropical moist deciduous forests and Moist peninsular low-level sal. Sal trees dominate the landscape, often growing in dense clusters, alongside species like Asan, Dhaura, Bamboo, and Simal. The reserve is home to a variety of wildlife, including tigers, leopards, elephants, spotted deer, sambar, chowsingha, barking deer, bison, wild dogs, sloth bears, jackals, giant squirrels, and porcupines. It also provides a natural habitat for two endangered species: the freshwater crocodile and the gharial.