Current Affairs Quiz-September, 2020

Notes:
Telugu Language Day also called as Telugu bhasha dinotsavam is observed on August 29 every year across the country.
The state of Andhra Pradesh commemorates the birthday of the Telugu poet Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy. The Department of Culture organises various events for developing the language. Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu addressed ‘Our Language, Our Society and Our Culture’ organised by the South Africa Telugu Community (SATC).

Notes:
Indian Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, and his counterparts from Australia and Japan attended the Australia-India-Japan Economic Ministers’ Joint meeting on Supply Chains Resilience.
As per the joint statement released, the countries have decided to launch an initiative to build a resilient supply chain in Indo-Pacific region. They have also decided to keep their markets open and thereby creating a transparent trade environment. This is expected to reduce China’s dominance.

Notes:
The third round of the monthly sero-prevalence survey began in the National Capital Region, to analyse the situation of the Covid-19 spread.
Under the survey, using the blood samples, the presence of antibodies for Covid-19 will be checked, which will explain the extent of the spread of the virus. In the last survey, it was found that 29.1 per cent of people had antibodies. This time, the sample size will be 17,000.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India has allowed a period of 10 years to telecom companies like Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Tele-services to pay their remaining Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues to the government.
The top court also held that 10 % of the total dues to be paid before March 31, 2021. The judgment was pronounced by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra.

Notes:
Former Finance Secretary, Rajiv Kumar has taken charge as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India.
Rajiv Kumar is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service Officer and has served in various capacities at Ministries in the Centre and his state cadre of Bihar/Jharkhand. He retired as Finance Secretary, in February 2020, after which he was appointed as the Chairman Public Enterprises Selection Board.

Notes:
The CSIR’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) has developed the world’s largest ‘solar tree’, It is installed at the CSIR residential complex, Durgapur in West Bengal.
The solar tree is ergonomically designed to ensure maximum solar exposure of each solar photovoltaic panel. The tree has an annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Power. There is a total of 35 Solar photovoltaic panels in each tree.

Notes:
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has extended the tenure of Pramod Chandra Mody for a period of 6 months from 01.09.2020 to 28.02.2021.
This move has been made to ensure continuity in Income Tax related matter till the next Budget. Pramod Chandra Mody is a 1982 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and his tenure has been extended for the second time in a row.

Notes:
After the United Arab Emirates requested, Saudi Arabia announced that it will allow flights from all countries to cross its skies to reach the UAE.
Before some days, Saudi Arabia allowed the first direct Israeli commercial passenger flight use its airspace to reach the UAE. It carried a high-level delegation of the Government of Israel and the USA, which moderated the ties.

Notes:
Google has partnered with Bangladesh for development of a comprehensive flood warning services in the country.
Presently it has covered more than 40 million people in Bangladesh and it is proposed to expand its service to the whole of the country. The flood warning services would double the lead time so that people have an extra day to prepare in case of floods.

Notes:
The Union Government has capped export incentives under Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), at Rs.2 crore per exporter.
This incentive cap is applicable for exporters who have made outbound from September 1 to December 31, 2020. This has been announced by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) though its notification. The DGFT also stated that MEIS scheme would be withdrawn from 1st January 2020.