Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:

• The Government of India through the Finance Ministry has released a sum of Rs.13,000 crore as Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) grants.
• This is the first instalment of Tied grants, which would be given to 25 States.
• This grant has been recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, headed by NK Singh.
• These grants would be used for drinking water and sanitation related utilization.

Notes:

• The island nation of Sri Lanka has declared food emergency and an economic emergency, under an ordinance.
• The declaration of this, empowers authorities to impose restrictions on stocking and pricing of food articles.
• The country was affected with a foreign exchange crisis, due to which it had undertaken a steep devaluation of its currency, resulting in inflation.

Notes:

• Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the high jump event in the Tokyo Paralympics.
• Mariyappan Thangavelu had also won a gold medal at the Rio Paralympics.
• With this performance, the tally of India in the event touched 10.
• It is the first time the country has touched double digits at the Paralympics Games.
• India had won a total of 12 medals from the 1968 edition until 2016.

Notes:

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recently declared that the use of leaded petrol has been eradicated from the globe.
• This is seen as a major milestone in safeguarding human lives and environment, since this is expected to prevent 1.2 million premature deaths globally.
• Lead is added to low quality petrol to increase its octane number and hence enhance engine performance.

Notes:

• Ladakh Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur recently inaugurated a 2-Day Ladakh Nomadic Festival at Korzok Phu, Changthang region of eastern Ladakh.
• The festival is organised by Ladakh Cultural Academy in collaboration with Ladakh Tourism Department.
• It aims to highlight the distinctive culture of Changthang region.
• The Changthangi is a breed of cashmere goat native to Ladakh, reared by the nomads of the region for fine-grade Pashmina wool.

Notes:

• Indian Army is participating in Exercise ZAPAD 2021, a multination exercise at Nizhniy, Russia from 3 to 16 September.
• The two-week military exercise named ‘ZAPAD 2021’ aimed at boosting anti-terror cooperation.
• More than a dozen countries from Eurasia and South Asia will also participate in the same exercise.  China and Pakistan are also expected to take part in the exercise as observers.
• A contingent of 200 personnel of the Indian Army will participate in an exercise.

Notes:

• India’s Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of External Affairs is organising BRICS Film Technologies Symposium on 1-2 September.
• The symposium has been conducted in collaboration with FICCI in virtual format.
• India is organising the first ever BRICS Film Technology Symposium as a part of the special event planned before BRICS summit to be held in India.
• The focus of the BRICS Film Technology symposium is to acknowledge the service sector and technicians working for the film industry.

Notes:

• The Government set up a 12-member committee to review the existing guidelines of the Journalist Welfare Scheme (JWS).
• The committee is headed by Prasar Bharti Board member Ashok Tandon.
• The committee will examine the need for revision of the amount of ex-gratia payment in death as well as other cases under the JWS.

Notes:

• India’s Ministry of Defence has signed a project agreement with the US Department of Defence for cooperation in the development of air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (ALUAV).
• This Project Agreement for ALUAV is under the overall framework of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
• It also includes the collaboration between Air Force Research Laboratory, Indian Air Force, and DRDO in the process of co-developing an ALUAV Prototype

Notes:
Suhas L Yathiraj, Noida District Magistrate, created history as the first-ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics. He defeated Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia in his men’s singles SL4-Group A.

In 2016, he participated in the Asian Championship in Beijing and became the first non-ranked player to win the gold medal. He has earlier won many medals at BWF Turkish championship in 2017 and 2019. He also won a gold medal in Brazil in 2020.