Test: September 2020 Weekly Current Affair - 4 - UPSC MCQ

The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has projected the GDP growth for the Indian economy at -12.6% for 2020-21 (FY21).

World Rabies Day is observed every year on September 28 to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease.
14th World Rabies Day theme is ‘End Rabies: Collaborate, Vaccinate’.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved a three-member committee of directors to run the day-to-day functioning of cash-strapped Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
The committee chairperson is Meeta Makhan with Shakti Sinha and Satish Kumar Kalra as members.

Minister of State for Railways and Karnataka BJP MP Suresh Angadi passed away. He was 65.

World deaf day or the international day of sign languages is celebrated every year on the last Sunday of September as a part of International Week of the Deaf. This year World deaf day is observed on 27th September.
The theme of the 2020 International Week of the Deaf is “Reaffirming Deaf People’s Human Rights”.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched nine highway projects and Ghar tak Fiber scheme in Bihar.
The ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ scheme is launched by following the motto of Digital India programme and the scheme will be connecting 45,945 villages of Bihar through optical fibre internet service.

Tamil Nadu became first state in the country to come out with policies on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Cybersecurity policies.

The global economy is expected to contract by 4.3 per cent this year, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which will wipe out global output worth over USD 6 trillion, a UN report said.
The UNCTAD ‘Trade and Development Report 2020 – From global pandemic to prosperity for all: Avoiding another lost decade’ report says, Output in India is expected to shrink by 5.9 per cent in 2020, before rebounding to 3.9 per cent the next year.

The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a unified portal called ‘U-Rise’ to guide students in learning, career counselling, and getting employment in the state.Uttar Pradesh was the first state to launch a unified portal along with the implementation of NEP.

Syeda Anwara Taimur, the first and only woman Chief Minister of Assam, passed away in Australia because of cardiac arrest. She was 84-year-old.

Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima, who was abducted, tortured and sexually assaulted on her way to interview an infamous paramilitary warlord in Bogota in 2000 was awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom award by the World Association of News Publishers (Wan-Ifra).

World Tourism Day (WTD) is commemorated each year on 27 September since 1980. The date marks the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes in 1970.
The theme of World Tourism Day this year is “Tourism and Rural Development”.

Fauja Singh (109), the world’s oldest marathon runner, has created history as this ‘young athlete’ has been featured as a superhero in a children’s book titled ‘Fauja Singh Keeps Going’.
The book was written by New York-based professor Simran Jeet Singh, was released recently.

L Adimoolam has been elected president of the Indian Newspaper Society, an apex body of the publishers of newspapers, magazines and periodicals in the country.

Vakrangee Ltd said the Reserve Bank has granted in-principle approval to set up Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 to handle payment services related to bills.

The Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has approved two loans totalling $570 million (about Rs 4,200 crore) for urban sector projects in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The $300 million loan has been approved to finance inclusive water supply and sanitation infrastructure and services in secondary towns of Rajasthan.
It has approved a $270 million loan for construction of water supply and integrated storm water and sewage management infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh.

Ratings agency ICRA revised downwards its forecast for the contraction in the gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020-21 to 11% from 9.5% earlier with fresh Covid-19 infections remaining elevated at the end of the second quarter of the year.

Indian men’s team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and women’s squad’s mid-fielder Sanju were declared the winners of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Footballer of the Year awards for the 2019-20 season.
Ratanbala Devi won the 2019-20 Emerging Women’s Footballer of the Year Award.

Union MoS for Home G Kishan Reddy and Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao inaugurated the World’s longest span concrete deck extra-dosed cable-stayed bridge at Durgam Cheruvu of Hyderabad.
The bridge was constructed at the cost of Rs 184 crore and it was built by Larsen & Toubro.
The cable-stayed bridge portion is 435 m long, including the approaches at both ends, 25.8 m wide with a total of 52 stay cables.

Jaswant Singh, former Union minister and one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) passed away after a prolonged illness. He was 82.
He held multiple cabinet portfolios including Finance, External Affairs and Defence.

Every year on September 22, the world celebrates World Rhinoceros Day. The day intends to celebrate rhinos across the world in unique ways.
Theme for World Rhino Day 2020 is “Five Rhino Species Forever”.

Kerala Tourism’s internationally-acclaimed ‘Human by Nature’ campaign bagged the prestigious PATA Grand Award 2020 for Marketing.

International Day of Sign Languages is observed annually on September 23, along with the celebrations of International Week of the Deaf.
The theme for International Day of Sign languages 2020 is “Sign Languages Are for Everyone!”

Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the Centre has sanctioned 8.2 crore rupees as collateral-free loans for the street vendors in Odisha under the PM SVANidhi Yojana.

Amid the ongoing economic woes created by the coronavirus pandemic, the Reserve Bank has decided to extend by six months the enhanced borrowing facility provided to banks to meet liquidity shortage till March 31, 2021.