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:
Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have launched the sixth edition of Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2023.
Since its inception in 2017, the Smart India Hackathon has become a global model for hackathons and innovation frameworks. This event presents 239 problem statements, including 182 software challenges and 57 hardware challenges.

Notes:
President Droupadi Murmu released the commemorative coin on Late NT Rama Rao on his centenary year at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre.
NT Rama Rao, who founded the Telegu Desam Party (TDP), also served as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for three terms. He initiated many public welfare programs.

Notes:
NITI Aayog and UNDP India have signed, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise a framework of cooperation on a range of areas, including SDG localisation, data-driven monitoring, Aspirational Districts and Blocks, among others.
The MoU was signed for a period of five years. NITI Aayog is the nodal Institution for coordinating the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national levels. UNDP plays the integrator role in coordinating efforts to fast-track progress on the SDGs within the UN system.

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:
Bhubaneswar and Guwahati will host India’s opening two home matches in the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2, the All India Football Federation announced.
India have been drawn in Group A of the Asian qualifiers, alongside Qatar, Kuwait, and the winners of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 fixture between Afghanistan and Mongolia.

Notes:
On September 4, 2023, President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, unveiled a 12-foot statue of Mahatma Gandhi and inaugurated ‘Gandhi Vatika’ at Gandhi Darshan, New Delhi. She praised Gandhi’s global influence, highlighting his non-violence principles during times of world turmoil like the world wars. The President cited leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama who followed Gandhi’s path for world welfare. She emphasized the role of institutions like Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti in promoting his teachings through various media.

Notes:
The first Su-34 bomber crew to launch a Kinzhal missile in Ukraine received state awards. The Kh-47M2, known as “Kinzhal” (Dagger), is a Russian air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads with a 480 kg payload, including a 10-50 kt thermonuclear option. It achieves speeds up to Mach 10 (12,350 km/hr) and has a range of 1,500-2,000 km. With an 8 m length, 1 m body diameter, and 4,300 kg launch weight, it’s launched from MiG-31 jets at 18 km altitude, maneuvering throughout its flight to evade air defense.

Notes:
Eight stump-tailed macaques were recently relocated to the Delhi Zoo from Aizawl Zoological Park in Mizoram. Also known as bear macaques, these monkeys belong to the Old-World monkey species, Macaca arctoides. They are primarily found in the tropical and subtropical evergreen forests of South Asia.
Their natural habitat spans Cambodia, southwest China, northeast India, Laos, Myanmar, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In India, they inhabit regions south of the Brahmaputra River, including Assam, Meghalaya, eastern Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. Stump-tailed macaques sport thick, dark brown fur, short tails (3.2-69 mm), and distinctive pink or red faces that darken as they age. Males are larger than females, with longer canine teeth used for social dominance. Their diet comprises fruits, leaves, seeds, insects, and small animals, often stored in cheek pouches. They move primarily on the ground due to limited tree agility. These macaques are classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and are protected under India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 (Schedule II). Conservation efforts are crucial to safeguard their population.

Notes:
I-CRR was introduced as a temporary measure to manage the excess liquidity in the banking system, which occurred due to the return of Rs 2000 currency notes. This reserve required banks to maintain 10% of the increase in their net demand and time liabilities between May and July 2023 to absorb the surplus liquidity. The RBI has decided to discontinue the I-CRR in a phased manner by releasing impounded funds in installments, as mentioned in the text, to ensure that the system liquidity is not subject to sudden shocks and that money markets function smoothly.