October 3rd Week 2021 Current Affairs Online Test English

Explanation

• Indian Born Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, also known as the father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program died recently in Pakistan. He was born in the year 1936 in Bhopal and moved to Pakistan during the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.

Explanation

• The International Day of the Girl Child is observed annually on October 11, to highlight the gender equality impacts. In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognise the challenges faced by girls.
• This year, the UN urges the world to bridge the gender digital divide existing in diverse skills and jobs.

Explanation

• Rajnish Kumar, former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), has joined the board of Fintech firm BharatPe as its Chairman. Rajnish Kumar earlier retired from the country’s largest lender after four decades of service in October 2020. He was previously appointed as a non–executive director for banking giant HSBC’s Asia unit.

Explanation

• Union Environment Minister released important publications of the Central Zoo Authority, at the National conference for Zoo directors and veterinarians organized by Central Zoo Authority and hosted by Sardar Patel Zoological Park, Gujarat.
• First is the Vision Plan (2021–2031) for Indian zoos to upgrade them to global standards and strengthening of Central Zoo Authority. It focusses on animal care, research, and visitor experiences. Second is the WASH Manual for Zoos– for creating and maintaining WASH facilities within the premises for staff and visitors. He also gave away ‘Prani Mitra’ Awards, set up by CZA.

Explanation

• The Prime Minister recently launched the Indian Space Association (IsPA). It is an industry association of space and satellite companies. The Founding members include Larson & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Bharti Airtel, Mapmyindia, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited. Other core members include Godrej, Hughes India, among others. Lt Gen Anil Bhatt (Retd) has been appointed the director–general of the association.

Explanation

• Punjab National Bank, the country’s second largest Public Sector Bank, has launched a “6S Campaign” including different schemes such as – Swabhiman, Samruddhi, Sampark and Shikhar, Sankalp and Swagat. The objective is to drive awareness campaign for development of financial services in the country. It aims to create awareness on credit growth, social security schemes and drive digital banking push, especially credit outreach for the agricultural sector.

Explanation

• Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe. The summit of the Mont Blanc peak, has shrunk by two metres over the past 20 years. Recently, surveyors including experts and high mountain guides measured the peak and announced its new measurements. It has reached an official height of 4,807.81 metres above sea level. The highest reading was 4,810.9 metres in 2007.

Explanation

• 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been announced to two joint winners, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian.
• The award has been given for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch that gives the ability to sense heat, cold and touch needed for survival. David Julius is a professor with the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Ardem Patapoutian is an immigrant, is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Explanation

• The Union Ministry of Ayush, Government of India has entered into an agreement with the Government of Croatia for research and development in Indian traditional medicine systems.
• The MoU agreement was signed by the All–India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) on Indian behalf. Croatia has proposed to include Indian Ayurveda and Yoga along with its tourism packages.

Explanation

• A set of 136 countries including India have set a minimum global tax of 15% for big companies. This sets a floor tax rate for these countries to attract investment and prevents countries from levying tax at a lower rate to multinational companies. By many countries including the USA, this move is seen as a level playing field and this rate is lower than the corporate tax rate of 23.5% in many countries.

Explanation

• Finnish racing driver Valtteri Bottas wins the Turkish Grand Prix 2021. Another Racing Driver Max Verstappen came in the 2nd place and Sergio Perez was in the 3rd place. Ace Racing Driver Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in the 5th place while Charles Leclerc took the fourth place. Bottas, the 32–year–old driver has won ten races from 2017 till 2021.

Explanation

• India’s rank has slipped by six places from last year to 90 on the Henley Passport Index, which lists the world’s most travel–friendly passports. The index ranks the passports of countries according to the number of destinations their holders can visit without a prior visa. 
• The rankings are based on the analysis of data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Japan and Singapore hold the first rank on the passport index, while the second position is shared by South Korea and Germany.

Explanation

• ‘International Day of Older Persons’ is celebrated every year on October 1. The aim of the day is to spread awareness about the need for health facilities and social care for elderly. On Dec.14 1990, the United Nations General Assembly declared Oct.1 as the International Day of Older Persons. The theme for 2021 is “Digital Equity for All Ages”.

Explanation

• The State Election Commission of Telangana is about to conduct a dry run of the voting using their smartphones. This trial has got approval from the state government. The trial would be run in Khammam district on October 20th 2021 and would be the country’s first e–voting process using mobile smart mobile phones.

Explanation

• The Exercise Malabar is a Naval / Maritime Exercise of Navies of India, Japan, Australia and USA. The second phase of Malabar exercise would be conducted from October 12–15, 2021 in the Bay of Bengal. INS Ranvijay, INS Satpura, P8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft and a Submarine would be representing India in the exercise.

Explanation

• The PM on the 75th Independence Day speech had announced for “PM Gati Shakti Master Plan” at a total financial outlay of Rs.100 lakh crore, aiming for holistic infrastructure development. The scheme is proposed to offer modal connectivity to more than 1000 industrial clusters and would include projects under existing schemes like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Udaan etc.

Explanation

• The Union Ministry of Environment has released a draft notification on regulation of extended producer responsibility under the plastic waste management rules 2016. This covers three categories of plastics namely rigid plastic packaging: flexible plastic packaging of single layer / multilayer plastics. As per the draft, quantity of waste that will have to be managed by producers and importers has been specified.

Explanation

• The Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a technical skill development programme organized and conducted by the Indian Railways, to unemployed youths of age 18–35 years.
• The scheme aims to enhance their employability and entrepreneurship. Recently, the Indian Railways’ Banaras Locomotive Works had successfully conducted the training for its first batch of trainees, and distributed self–employment toolkits cum certificated to the trainees.

Explanation

• The Naval forces of China and Russia have commenced the “The Naval Interaction–2021” joint Naval exercise, which aims to enhance the two country’s capability and hone their skills to jointly deal with maritime security threats. The exercise is taking place at Russia’s Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan.

Explanation

• The eighth ministerial meeting of the India–U.S.A. Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue held at Washington DC. The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Dr. Janet Yellen.
• During the meeting, discussions were held on recovery from the COVID–19 pandemic, financial regulatory and technical collaboration, multilateral engagement, climate finance and anti–money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.

Explanation

• “The Challenge” is the world’s first movie to be shot in space. Russian actress and a director along with a cosmonaut returned to Earth after spending 12 days in the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the movie. The trio departed ISS in their Soyuz MS–18 spacecraft, according to NASA. They blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier this month.

Explanation

• From the images captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers led by Timothy Hamilton have discovered an unusual gravitational lensing configuration. It is named as ‘Hamilton’s Object’.

Explanation

• Amoria is a genus of marine gastropods (snails and slugs). These predatory creatures are found in onshore and offshore waters around the entire coast of Australia. Some species extend into waters of southern Indonesia. Named Amoria thorae, the species is very rare.

Explanation

• World Sight Day is observed annually on the second Thursday of October. This year, the Day is observed on October 14.
• It is a global event which aims to create awareness on blindness and vision impairment. It was originally initiated by the Sight First Campaign of Lions Club International Foundation in 2000. The theme for World Sight Day 2021 is ‘Love Your Eyes’

Explanation

• The Central Government has accorded “Maharatna” status to Power Finance Corporation (PFC). PFC is the 11th state–owned entity to get the status, joining the elite group of ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, SAIL among others.
• “Maharatna” status is granted to a company which has recorded more than ₹5,000 crore of net profit for three consecutive years.

Explanation

• World Arthritis Day is observed every year on October 12 to spread awareness about the existence and impact of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. The day was first observed in 1996 and this year the theme of the day is “Don’t Delay, Connect Today: Time2Work”.

Explanation

• The ‘Dhole’ (Cuon alpinus) is an animal native to Central, South, East, and Southeast Asia. Other names for the species include Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, and mountain wolf. It is a Schedule II species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• A recent study has identified 114 priority tehsils where habitats can be consolidated to enhance population connectivity for the dhole or Asiatic Wild Dog. The animals are found across India.

Explanation

• The Malabar series of exercises, which began as an annual bilateral naval exercise between India and the US in 1992. The Indian Navy is set to participate in the Second Phase of Multilateral Maritime Exercise Malabar along with the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force, Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy. It is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 12 – 15 Oct 2021. First Phase of the exercise was conducted in the Philippines Sea in August.

Explanation

• As per the government’s new rules, the gestational limit for termination of a pregnancy in India has been increased to 24 weeks. Earlier the limit was 20 weeks. 
• Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Rules, 2021, the women including survivors of sexual assault, rape or incest, minors, those whose marital status changes during pregnancy (widowhood and divorce) and those with physical disabilities are included for the new limit.

Explanation

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually conducted the final breakthrough blast of the Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, recently. The construction of the tunnel is expected to be over by June 2022. Sela tunnel is expected be the world’s largest bi–lane tunnel at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet.
• The construction is being undertaken by Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The tunnel goes through Sela Pass and will cut down the distance to the China border through Arunachal Pradesh by 10 km.

Explanation

• The Chief of the World Health Organisation honored the late Henrietta Lacks with the Director–General award. She an American woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge during the 1950s. The cells provided the foundation for vast scientific inventions, including research about the coronavirus.
• The ‘HeLa’ cell line, derived from the 1st two letters of Henrietta Lacks, helped in the development of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.

Explanation

• The Director–General of the World Health Organisation has set up the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins on Novel Pathogens (SAGO). The SAGO will advise the Secretariat on technical and scientific considerations on emerging and re–emerging pathogens. 
• An Indian epidemiologist, Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, will be part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Scientific Advisory Group for determining the origin of covid–19 pandemic.

Explanation

• The Chief of the World Health Organisation honored the late Henrietta Lacks with the Director–General award. She an American woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge during the 1950s. The cells provided the foundation for vast scientific inventions, including research about the coronavirus.
• The ‘HeLa’ cell line, derived from the 1st two letters of Henrietta Lacks, helped in the development of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.

Explanation

• National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is celebrated on 1st October of every year across the country. It aims to raise awareness about Blood donation and promote voluntary Blood donation in the country.
• The theme for this year’s Blood donation event is “Give Blood and keep the world beating”. Our country needs around 1.45 crore units of blood every year. Collection of blood is done through 3500 licensed blood banks across the country.

Explanation

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has set up an expert panel headed by former Enviornment and Forest Secretary C K Mishra to suggest a framework to develop a world–class sustainable finance hub at IFSC. IFSCA was established in April last year under the IFSC Authority Act, 2019. It is headquartered at GIFT City, Gandhinagar. 
• IFSCA is an authority for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India.

Explanation

• The Tropical Cyclone Shaheen has hit the coast of Oman. This cyclone is an offspring of the cyclone Gulab which had a devastating impact on the east coast of India in late September 2021. The remnant of cyclone Gulab along with the low–pressure region over Gujarat had gained strength to form the new cyclone Shaheen.

Explanation

• The Government of India’s Union Ministry of Road transport and highways has launched a scheme named “Good Samaritan”. Under the scheme, anyone who saves the life of a road accident victim would be incentivized with Rs.5000/– and a certificate, if the victims are rushed to hospital within the “Golden hour”. Also, individuals could be awarded a maximum of five times in a year under the scheme.

Explanation

• The Interpol has launched a cyber security campaign – “Keeping cybercriminals out: #JustOneClick” from Oct.4 to 22, which will be organized mainly in social media.
• The aim of this campaign is to create awareness about cyber threats and help people to protect their computer systems, networks and personal information from cyber criminals.

Explanation

• Subject Expert Committee on Covid–19 granted emergency use approval to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children in the 2–18 years age group.
• Hyderabad–based Bharat Biotech had completed Phase–2 and Phase–3 trials of Covaxin on children below 18 years of age and submitted the trial data to the Drugs and Comptroller General of India (DCGI). The 1st group examined was between 12 –18 years, the 2nd group was between 6– 12 years and the third age group was between 2–6 years.

Explanation

• The Union Home Ministry has recently enhanced the powers of the Border Security Force (BSF) to arrest, search and seize within 50 km from the international boundary in Assam, West Bengal and Punjab. BSF is a Central armed police force under the Union.
• This power will also be applicable to the newly created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Earlier, the BSF’s limit was fixed up to 80 km from the international boundary in Gujarat and 15 km in Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.

Explanation

• JSW Steel Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal has been elected as the Chairman of the World Steel Association (WSA) for the 2021–22 period. Jindal also becomes the first representative from India to serve as Chairman of the WSA.
• He precedes Yu Yong as the Chairman of WSA, whose members represent approximately 85 percent of the world’s steel production. Established in 1967, it is headquartered in Brussels.

Explanation

• The Department of Biotechnology has recently launched ‘One Health’ consortium, to monitor important bacterial, viral and parasitic infections of zoonotic and pathogens in the country. The project aims to study the use of existing diagnostic tests and the development of additional procedures for monitoring and understanding the spread of emerging diseases. One Health Consortium consists of 27 organisations led by DBT–National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad.

Explanation

• The Tawang Ganden Namgyal Lhatse (Tawang Monastery), which is the second largest monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, is located in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. India strongly rejected China’s objection to a recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh by Vice–President M Venkaiah Naidu. China has been objecting to visits of Indian leaders to Arunachal Pradesh, citing it as a part of South Tibet.
• Tawang provides a strategic entry into India’s northeastern region and is a critical point in the corridor between Tibet and Brahmaputra Valley.

Explanation

• The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has awarded President’s Tatrakshak Medal (PTM) and Tatrakshak Medal (TM) to Indian Coast Guard personnel. The awards are being given to the personnel of Indian Coast Guard on Republic Day and Independence Day every year, since 26 Jan 1990. The awards are given for their act of exemplary gallantry and meritorious service on the occasion of the Republic Day 2021.

Explanation

• ‘Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Award’ is the Government of Assam’s highest civilian award for National Integration and National Contribution. Gopinath Bordoloi was a freedom fighter, Assam’s first Chief Minister after independence.
• The award carries a prize of Rs.5 lakh, a citation. This year’s award was presented by the Vice President M. Venkaiah.

• Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been sworn in for a new five–year term. The government has been facing a lot of challenges, including a long conflict in the northern region of Tigray. Abiy’s Prosperity Party was declared the winner of parliamentary elections earlier this year. The prime minister was also the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner for restoring ties with neighbouring country Eritrea.

Explanation

• India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is set to conduct the 40th edition of India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from November 14 to 27.
• The fair is to be conducted with the theme of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” with a focus on economy, export potential, infrastructure supply chain, demand and vibrant demography. The event is organised as a part of “AzadiKaAmritMahotsav”.

Explanation

• Every year, First Monday of October is observed by the United Nations as “World Habitat Day”, to stress on the basic right of all to adequate shelter and to highlight the state of our habitats. This year, it was observed on October 4. The theme for this year’s World Habitat Day is “Accelerating urban action for a carbon–free world”.

Explanation

• Karuppur Kalamkari paintings and wood carvings of Kallakurichi, both belonging to the state of Tamil Nadu have received geographical indication or GI tag, from the Government of India. GI tag is awarded to products of specific geographical origin and it adds significance to the product. It is regulated under the Geographical Indications registration is administered by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 1999. 

Explanation

• October 10 marks the World Day Against the Death Penalty. This year, the theme is focused on safeguarding the health and rights of women and girls around the world. According to Amnesty International’s 2020 death penalty report, more than two–thirds of the world has now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
• As many as 108 countries have completely abolished the death penalty for all crimes. As per the report, at least 483 people were known to have been executed in 2020.