October 1st Week 2021 Current Affairs Online Test English

Explanation

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has mandated that the industrially produced trans fats should be limited to less than 2% and make the country free from trans–fat by 2022. Recently FSSAI has stated that, only 1.34% of the newly tested processed food samples have shown breach of prescribed levels of industrially produced trans fats, which shows that India is on track to become Trans Fat free.

Explanation

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released a report titled “Climate Indicators and Sustainable Development: Demonstrating the Interconnections”.
• The report stresses the need for immediate action and international collaboration for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to curtail global warming to less than 2°C. WMO is a UN specialized agency, which is headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland.

Explanation

• PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PM JAY) is the Government of India’s flagship scheme, launched on 23rd September 2018, with an aim to achieve universal health coverage. The scheme has successfully completed 3 years of operation. Under this scheme, health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization is provided to the more than 10 crore poor families.

Explanation

• India and Australia held the first Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on Coal and Mines through Video conferencing. It is held ahead to the India–Australia Energy Dialogue scheduled to be held next month.
• The discussions focused on Indian coal resources, strategic minerals–demand and supply scenario and engagements with Australia. They also discussed collaboration on Clean Coal Technology, Surface Coal Gasification, Coal Bed Methane, sharing of Technology for fire quenching, Coal Based Hydrogen, among others.

Explanation

• The Charities Aid Foundation’s (CAF) releases the World Giving Index (WGI). As per the 2021 edition, India is now in the top 20 most generous countries in the world, at 14th rank.
• The COVID–19 pandemic has toppled the charity trends across the world as several western countries did not fare well in the Index due to COVID lockdowns. The USA, Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the Netherlands fell down from the highest rankings.

Explanation

• The Kun Peak is a part of Nun Kun mountain massif. It is also the second highest summit of the massif with elevation of 23,219 ft in the eastern Himalayan Range. The peak is located near the Suru valley, Kargil, Ladakh. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged–in a team of National Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports (NIMAS) Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, in New Delhi. 
• The team completed a mountaineering expedition to Mount Kun between July 15, 2021 and August 10, 2021. NIMAS is a premier mountaineering institute functioning under the aegis of Ministry of Defence.

Explanation

• MyGov India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has launched the Planetarium Innovation Challenge for Indian start–ups and tech entrepreneurs. 
• The challenge aims to encourage tech firms and Indian start–ups to build an indigenous planetariums system software using latest technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Merged Reality (MR). The applicants may be Start–ups, Indian Entities or Individuals or Teams.

Explanation

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Phumzile Mlambo–Ngcuka, former United Nations under–secretary–general and executive director of UN Women, as the winner of the 2021 Global Goalkeeper Award. Fairooz Faizah Beether of Bangladesh has been chosen for the 2021 Changemaker Award for her work promoting good health and well–being.
• The 2021 Progress Award recognizes Jenifer Colpas of Colombia for her work to improve access to clean water and sanitation. The 2021 Campaign Award, recognizes Satta Sheriff of Liberia for her work to promote gender equality.

Explanation

• Vanuatu, a South Pacific Ocean nation made up of 80 islands, has recently moved the International Court of Justice to issue an opinion on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from the effects of climate change.
• A dozen Pacific Island nations are facing rising sea levels and more regular storms. Vanuatu has a population of around 280,000. Vanuatu is set to route the initiative through the United Nations General Assembly.

Explanation

• The Report on Deposits with Banks is released by the Reserve Bank of India, which states that Bank deposits have grown by 11.9% year-on-year during FY 2020-21 compared to FY 2019-20. This is on account of growth in CASA (Current Account – Savings Account deposits).
• The report states that Maharashtra, UP and Karnataka constitute for 1/3rd total bank deposits in India.

Explanation

• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has proposed to celebrate October 1 as National Pension System (NPS) Diwas. This is a part of a campaign of PFRDA to promote pension and retirement planning.
• A campaign titled #npsdiwas is being promoted in social media. PFRDA is a statutory and regulatory body under the Union Ministry of Finance, whose present chairperson is Supratim Bandyopadhyay.

Explanation

• The 5-day ‘First Himalayan Film Festival’ has been inaugurated recently at Leh in the Union Territory of Ladakh by Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur.
• The five-day festival is being held from September 24-28, 2021 as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. The festival is being organised by the administration of UT of Ladakh in collaboration with the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is being hosted in collaboration with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh.

Explanation

• U.S.-based not-for-profit entity Freedom House recently released a report on Internet freedom, a term that includes digital rights, freedom of information, and the right to Internet access.
• As per the report, Internet Freedom has declined for the 11th year in a row worldwide. The greatest damaging effects were found in Myanmar, Belarus, and Uganda. China was ranked as the worst environment for Internet freedom for the seventh year in a row.

Explanation

• India’s 3-time World Cup gold medal-winning compound archer Abhishek Verma has been elected to World Archery’s athletes’ committee. Reigning World Archery Champion Natalia Avdeeva of Russia and Abhishek Verma of India have been elected for a four-year term. 32-year-old Abhishek Verma, an Arjuna awardee, has won gold medals in the World Cups in Poland (2015) and Paris earlier this year.

Explanation

• Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur addressed the Summit for Information and Democracy on the sidelines of the UNGA organised in New York. He participated in the discussion, by joining from Leh, Ladakh.
• The ‘International Partnership for Information and Democracy’ was launched in New York on Sept.26 2019. It aims to promote freedom of opinion and expression and access to free, pluralistic and reliable information. The partnership has been signed by 43 States, till date.

Explanation

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Phumzile Mlambo–Ngcuka, former United Nations under–secretary–general and executive director of UN Women, as the winner of the 2021 Global Goalkeeper Award. Fairooz Faizah Beether of Bangladesh has been chosen for the 2021 Changemaker Award for her work promoting good health and well–being.
• The 2021 Progress Award recognizes Jenifer Colpas of Colombia for her work to improve access to clean water and sanitation. The 2021 Campaign Award, recognizes Satta Sheriff of Liberia for her work to promote gender equality.

Explanation

• Mary and Albert Lasker founded the Lasker Awards in 1945 to honour the scientists whose biological and clinical discoveries have helped to improve human health. This year, two scientists– Katalin Karikó and Dr Drew Weissman who developed key technology used in the COVID–19 mRNA vaccines have been awarded the $250,000 Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. The messenger RNA (mRNA) forms the basis of the Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna COVID–19 vaccines.

Explanation

• Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – SAUBHAGYA is one of the largest household electrification schemes in the world.
• It was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25th September 2017. The objective of the scheme is to achieve Universal Household Electrification in the country and to provide access to electricity to all un–electrified households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas.  2.82 crore households have been electrified since the launch of SAUBHAGYA, till March 2021.

Explanation

• The Ladakh police, in association with the Cycling Federation of India has organised the second edition of Ultimate Ladakh Cycling Challenge. This has been organised under the “Fit India Movement” and “Azadi Ka Amrit Mohatsav”. The event was flagged off by the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Shri Anurag Thakur.

Explanation

• The Chennai Central Railway Station of Indian Railways, also known as the Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, has become a fully solar powered station. The station meets all its energy requirements by way of solar panels installed on the rooftop. The station has an installed capacity of 1.5 MW solar power.

Explanation

• Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah attended ‘National Cooperative Conference’ (Sehkarita Sammelan) in New Delhi as Chief Guest.
• He also announced that the Central Government will soon come out with a new cooperative policy and work along with states to strengthen the cooperative movement. The government is working on setting up cooperative common service centres, national database and a National cooperative university.

Explanation

• The first in–person meeting of Quad leaders was recently hosted by US President Joe Biden at Washington DC. Prime Minister of India Modi and his counterparts Scott Morrison from Australia and Yoshihide Suga from Japan gathered in the city for the meeting. In 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia formed the alliance, named QUAD.

Explanation

• In the month of September 2021, US president Joe Biden, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and British prime minister Boris Johnson jointly announced the formation of the trilateral security alliance AUKUS.
• The US has also ruled out adding India or Japan to the trilateral partnership. This alliance is seen as an effort to counter China in the Indo–Pacific. It will also allow the US and the UK to provide Australia with the technology to develop nuclear–powered submarines for the first time.

Explanation

• Mumbai maintained its first position in the Emerging Ecosystems category in the ranking of international startup hubs. The rankings are compiled by Startup Genome for its annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021. London retained its second–place ranking tied with New York for the second year in a row.
• Bangalore was ranked at 23 globally and Delhi was placed at 36th. The report revealed that London is the most attractive destination to set up a tech start–up outside of Silicon Valley.

Explanation

• The Government of Delhi has recently launched a mobile application named “Dekho Meri Dilli”. This has been designed and built by the Tourism Department of the Delhi Government.
• The app is designed to act as a one–stop centre for all tourism related information in Delhi. It would also be a marker place for tickets to all major tourist destinations in Delhi.

Explanation

• Labour and Employment Minister Shri Bhupender Yadav today released the report of first quarter of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) part (April to June 2021), of the All–India Quarterly Establishment–based Employment Survey (AQEES) prepared by the Labour Bureau.
• Announcing the results, Shri Yadav said, the estimated total employment in the 9 selected sectors from the first round of QES is 3 crores and 8 lakhs approximately against a total of 2 crores and 37 lakhs in these sectors taken collectively, as reported in the sixth Economic Census (2013–14) reflecting a growth rate of 29 percent.

Explanation

• The Government of India has proposed to extend the term and applicability of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015–20 till March 2022. The policy was originally to end on 31st March 2020.
• The policy was first extended for one year till March 2021 and further to September 2021. For the third time, the term of the policy is proposed to be extended. This was announced by the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

Explanation

• The National Institute of Biotic Stress Tolerance is a Deemed University under the ICAR is located at Raipur. This institution came into existence in 2012. This institution is in news recently, as the new campus of the institution at Raipur was dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the event, the PM also dedicated 35 climate resilient crop varieties.

Explanation

• The Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) released the ‘Clinicopathological Profile of Cancers in India: A Report of the Hospital Based Cancer Registries, 2021’. As per the report, the proportion of all cancer cases was higher in males (52.4%) than females (47.4%).
• Gynaecological cancers, including breast cancer, comprise over half of all cancers in females. Childhood (0–14 years) cancers constitute 7.9% of all cancers. It also highlighted the cancers of the head and neck region were at nearly one third (31.2%) of the cancers among males.

Explanation

• Kerala has emerged as the fifth Asian Ecosystem in Affordable Talent in the 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER). The report was prepared by Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network and was globally launched recently.
• The 2021 Report, which ranks the top 140 ecosystems across the world, based on 7 parameters– performance, funding, connectedness, market reach, resource attraction, experience and talent.

Explanation

• The Uttarakhand Forest Department dedicated the state’s first Palmetum and the biggest one in North India, to the people in the Haldwani, Nainital. The Palmetum took over 3 years to develop and has over 110 species of palms. It was developed under CAMPA scheme. 
• The palm species which is endemic to Uttarakhand is called Trachycarpus Takil (Takil Palm), that can survive sub–zero temperature.

Explanation

• Kaza – located in the Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, has housed the world’s highest electric charging station. This station has been set up by the company named “Go Ego”. This station is set up at a height of 500 ft above the mean sea level. As a trial run, two electric scooters were charged at the station.  

Explanation

• The International Week of Deaf People is observed during the last week of September. This year’s theme for the International Week of Deaf People is “Celebrating Thriving Deaf Communities”. The week falls under the key principle, “Nothing about us, without us!”.
• The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) was established in 1951 in Rome, Italy. This international organisation declared Sunday in the last week of September as the International Day of the Deaf. Later, the day has been extended to a week.

Explanation

• India’s Comptroller and Auditor General G C Murmu selected as the external auditor of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). IAEA is a prestigious international institution that promotes peaceful use of nuclear energy. As per the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), his candidature received majority support of the IAEA general conference and his tenure will be for six years, from 2022 to 2027.

Explanation

• The International Maritime Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. It is headquartered at London. World Maritime Day 2021 is celebrated every year on 30 September. IMO has declared 2021 a year of action for seafarers, who are facing hardship due to the COVID–19 pandemic.
• The World Maritime Theme for 2021 is “Seafarers: at the core of shipping’s future”. The IMO building, including the Seafarer Memorial, will be lit in blue light on World Maritime Day, to unite the maritime community.

Explanation

• E–commerce major Amazon India announced the launch of Amazon Future Engineer in India. It is the company’s global computer science education programme. According to the company, the programme will enable access to quality computer science education and career opportunities for students from underserved communities.

Explanation

• SEBI’s board recently cleared a proposal for setting up a ‘Gold exchange’ and a ‘Social Stock Exchange’. In the Gold Exchange, the metal will be traded in the form of Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs) and they will be notified as securities. Any recognised stock exchange, existing as well as new, can launch trading in EGRs.

Explanation

• India unveiled a ‘National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination’(NAPRE) by 2030. It has been drafted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in consultation with the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying. World Rabies Day is observed on September 28. NAPRE is based on 5 major pillars – political will, sustained funding, intersectoral planning, coordination and review, community planning, and operational research.

Explanation

• The general election results in Iceland have been a special event for the country, since 48% of the winning candidates were women. Out of the 63–seat parliament, 30 seats were won by women candidates.
• This makes Iceland’s Parliament have the highest number of women’s representation in Europe. Finland has 47% women representation and Sweden has 465 women representations in their respective Parliament.

Explanation

• A referendum for a proposal to allow abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy was conducted in the Republic of San Marino. Nearly 77% of the total voters backed the proposal and favoured to allow abortion. Till date, in the Republic of San Marino, ending pregnancy was illegal and invited an imprisonment of 3 years, and an imprisonment of 6 years for the one who carries out abortion.

Explanation

• The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the 7th edition of Swachh Survekshan, which is the cleanliness survey conducted under the Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban.
• In the current edition of Swachh Survekshan, specific indicators on ‘working conditions and livelihood of sanitation workers’ has been incorporated, in order to recognize the contributions made by them during the pandemic.

Explanation

• Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles Piyush Goyal announced to set up a “Weaver Services and Design Resource Center” in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
• This centre will help in encouraging the attractive handicraft products of the state and provide a better platform to export these products at the international market. Programme was organized under ‘Seva & Samarpan Abhiyan’ to commemorate the golden jubilee year of statehood of Himachal Pradesh on September 27, 2021.

Explanation

• “My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future” is the memoir of 65–year–old former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. It will be published in the month of September 2021 by Portfolio books. It narrates her life from childhood till her becoming one of the world’s most powerful women. Indra Nooyi served as the CEO of PepsiCo for 12 years.

Explanation

• Lucy is a mission of the USA’s NASA, to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. This is set to provide new insights into the solar system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago. The probe is named Lucy after an ancient fossil that provided insights into the evolution of human species. It is set to be launched on Oct.16 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Explanation

• Facebook launched its largest creator education and enablement programme in India. Named “Born on Instagram” the programme includes e–learning course, aimed at encouraging, educating and enabling creators. The programme was originally launched in 2019. It focusses on content creators who drive more users, viewers and commerce across different platforms.

Explanation

• Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) refers to the watchlist of weak banks, by the Reserve Bank of India. The regulator imposes restrictions like curbs on lending among others, on such banks.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently removed Indian Overseas Bank from the Prompt Corrective Action Framework. The bank was placed under the PCA framework in 2015. On the basis of the published financial results for 2020–21, the Board for Financial Supervision, found that the bank has not breached PCA parameter.

Explanation

• According to the Union Finance Ministry’ status report on India’s external debt, India’s External debt to GDP ratio increased marginally to 21.1% from 20.6% as at end–March 2020.
• India’s external debt rose by 2.1% year–on–year to $570 billion as of March–end 2021. Reserves to external debt ratio increased to 101.2% from 85.6% during the same period.

Explanation

• Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) is the apex trade promotion organisation set up by the Ministry of Commerce, and private trade and industry bodies in 1965. Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal recently launched the ‘Ease of Logistics’ portal. The new portal will be a connecting link between exporters and logistic service providers.

Explanation

• France and Greece announced a multibillion–euro Defence deal, which includes the decision of Greece to buy three French warships. Greece will boost its Defense capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean amid tensions with Turkey.
• President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a Defense and security strategic partnership in Paris. Greece has already bought 18 French Rafale fighter jets.

Explanation

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated CIPET: Institute of Petrochemicals Technology, Jaipur through video conference.
• The Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET), formerly called as the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology, was established in 1968 by India with the assistance of United Nations Development Programme at Chennai.