Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2021

Notes:

• Kendrapara district located in the state of Odisha has been found to have all three species of crocodiles -salt-water, gharial and mugger.
• The Bhitarkanika National Park is located in this district and is known for conservation of crocodiles.
• This national park is home to more than 70% of India’s crocodiles.
• This is the second Ramsar conservation sites in India and was designated so in the year 2002.

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 Indian Institution of Technology Madras (IIT-M) is developing an online platform named e-Source.
• This platform aims to tackle e-waste by linking various participants in formal and informal sector.
• It would act as a market place between buyers and generators of e waste, in electrical and electronic equipment segment.
• This is expected to pave a great way for recycle and reuse of electronic wastes, thus achieve the objectives of circular economy.

Notes:

• Legendary South African fast bowler Dale Steyn announced his retirement from cricket, after a career spanning nearly 16 years.
• Steyn had retired from the Test Cricket last year as South Africa’s highest wicket-taker with 439 wickets.
• The bowler was named in the ICC Test team of the Decade and holds the record for the fastest to 400 Test wickets.
• Steyn played 93 Tests, 125 ODIs and 47 T20 internationals for South Africa since making his debut for the Proteas on December 17, 2004.

Notes:

• India’s market capitalisation to GDP ratio has touched a 13-year high of 122%.
• This means, the listed companies in India are worth 122 per cent of India’s latest annualised gross domestic product (GDP).
• This is the highest since December 2008, when it reached an all-time high of around 150 per cent.
• India’s current m-cap to GDP ratio is nearly 55 per cent higher than the 15-year median ratio of 79 per cent.

Notes:

• UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) published a report titled ‘Uncertain Pathways’ recently.
• As per the report, more girls and boys than ever are migrated, with 35.5 million having lived outside their country of birth in 2020 and an additional 23.3 million displaced internally.
• The report found that over the course of the year, there were almost 15 million new displacements or 41,000 each day, and that boys outnumber girls.
• Afghanistan is on the top of the list of the top 10 countries of origin, with the largest number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Europe.
• In camps, girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys.

Notes:

• In Uttar Pradesh, many children have been diagnosed with a new mystery fever identified as Scrub Typhus.
• Several children are sick in the region surrounding Western Uttar Pradesh districts including Mathura, Agra, Firozabad etc.
• Scrub typhus, also known as shrub typhus, is caused by a bacterium called Orientia Tsutsugamushi.
• The infection spreads to people through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).

Notes:
The Government of Gujarat has launched a scheme named ‘Vatan Prem Yojana’, under which NRI Gujaratis who are willing to donate for development of their native village, would get financial support from the state government.

Under this scheme, the government encourages donations for development of social infrastructure like schools, drainage, sports complex etc in rural areas.

Notes:
At the Tokyo Paralympic Games, the Indian contingent finished with a total of 19 medals which includes 5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals. Out of the total 162 countries, India was ranked at 24th position and 20th in terms of number of medals.

This year, India had sent the largest contingent of 54 para-athletes, who participated in 9 sporting disciplines. This is also the highest ever medal haul of India.

 

Notes:
India and Nepal have signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding), under which India would help Nepal in reconstruction of 14 cultural heritage and 103 health sector projects which were damaged during the 2015 earthquake. The total cost of these reconstruction is 420 crore Nepalese Rupees.

This is a part of India’s post-earthquake reconstruction package, under which India has committed a total grant of USD 250 million to Nepal.