Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2023

Notes:
The President of India, Droupadi Murmu released a postage stamp in memory of Dadi Prakashmani, former chief of Brahma Kumaris at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre.
This stamp was released under the ‘My Stamp’ initiative of the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications to mark the 16th death anniversary of Dadi Prakashmani.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch Aditya-L1 on September 2 to study the sun.
The Aditya-L1 mission is the first space-based observatory-class Indian solar mission to study the Sun. It will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point (L1) of the Sun-Earth system.

Notes:
Odisha’s javelin star Kishore Jena became the first from the state to represent India at the finals of the World Athletics Championship.
At the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, he finished fifth with a personal best of 84.77 metres.

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:
For most of August 2023, Rishikesh in Uttarakhand held the record as the wettest town in the country.
Between August 1 and August 25 the town received 1,901 millimetres of rainfall, according to Typhoon Research Centre of Jeju National University in South Korea. During the same period, the two wettest places in India and the world, Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, received 1,876.3 mm and 1,464 mm rainfall respectively.

Notes:
China is exploring ways to produce its own high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the next-generation of memory chips tailored for artificial intelligence (AI) processors, amid US sanctions.
China’s top dynamic random access memory (DRAM) maker, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), is the country’s best hope for HBMs.

Notes:
India is finalizing a Letter of Request (LoR) to the US government to acquire 31 MQ-9B Predator drones from General Atomics. These drones, a variant of the MQ-9 “Reaper,” offer remote or autonomous flight capabilities and also carry strike missiles for precise target elimination. Developed by General Atomics, the MQ-9B comes in two versions, SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian. The Indian Navy already operates the MQ-9B Sea Guardian since 2020. With a payload of up to 5,670 kg, the drone can fly above 40,000 feet for 40 hours, making it valuable for surveillance, warfare, and expeditionary roles, including integration into civil airspace.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved the Scheme for Viability Gap Funding (VGF) aimed at fostering the development of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
This scheme aspires to generate 4,000 MWh of BESS projects by 2030-31, backed by up to 40% capital cost support in the form of VGF. the scheme seeks to provide clean, reliable, and cost-effective electricity to citizens. With an initial outlay of Rs. 9,400 crores, it aims to achieve a Levelized Cost of Storage (LCoS) ranging from Rs. 5.50-6.60 per kWh.

Notes:
The Jharkhand government, has decided to incorporate the transgender community into its universal pension scheme, in a bid to provide social security and inclusion.
The Cabinet decided to include transgender individuals under the backward class category, ensuring they receive associated benefits. Under the Mukhyamantri Rajya Samajik Suraksha Pension Yojana, eligible transgender beneficiaries will receive Rs 1,000 per month as financial aid.

Notes:
A new global data platform, Marine Sand Watch, developed by GRID-Geneva within the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), has unveiled that six billion tonnes of sand are being extracted annually from the world’s ocean floors, posing irreparable harm to benthic life.
The platform monitors sand, clay, silt, gravel, and rock dredging in marine environments, particularly in hotspots like the North Sea, Southeast Asia, and the East Coast of the United States.