Daily Current Affairs Quiz : September 17, 2021

Notes:
NITI Aayog, with US-based RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) and RMI India’s support, launched Shoonya—an initiative to promote zero-pollution delivery vehicles by working with consumers and industry. The campaign aims to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about the benefits of zero-pollution delivery. Industry stakeholders such as e-commerce companies, fleet aggregators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and logistics companies have been scaling up their efforts towards final-mile delivery electrification.

Notes:
US President Joe Biden administration has announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-pacific. Security partnership was done between Australia, United Kingdom and United States. This security grouping called AUKUS, will focus towards advancing strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region. The central feature of this partnership comprises of a trilateral 18-month effort in order to help Australia in acquiring nuclear powered submarines which are quieter, more capable as compared to their conventional counterparts. Such submarines can be deployed for longer periods and needing to surface less frequently. These are nuclear powered submarines and not armed with nuclear weapons. AUKUS will also involve a new architecture of meeting and engagements between three countries. It also involves the cooperation across emerging technologies like AI, quantum technologies as well as undersea capabilities.

Notes:
SpaceX has launched four amateurs on its first ever private flight on September 15, 2021. SpaceX first ever “Earth-circling trip” was started on boarding two contest winners, a health care worker as well as their rich sponsor. This is the most ambitious leap in space tourism. This was the first time any rocket blasted off toward orbit with an all-amateur crew and no professional astronauts. Two men and two women are looking forward to spend three days on Dragon capsule circling the world. They will be circling the Earth on an unusually high orbit at 160 km higher than the International Space Station. Their flight will splash down off the Florida coast by September 19th Dragon capsule aimed for an altitude of 575 km, beyond the Hubble Space Telescope.

Notes:
NITI Aayog has launched a report on measures to ramp up urban planning capacity in India. The report is titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India.’ The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, in consultation with concerned ministries and eminent experts in the domain of urban and regional planning. It presents a condensed outcome of the extensive deliberations and consultations conducted over a period of 9 months.

Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has announced that project-specific moderately priced loan assistance under the SIDBI Cluster Development Fund (SCDF) will be extended to the state government of Assam for upgrading various existing MSME clusters and for developing new industrial infrastructural facilities in the state. Assam will e focussing on three major themes—startups, cluster development and livelihood, and enterprise promotion.