Test: September 2021 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ministry of Civil Aviation launched ‘Medicines from the Sky (MFTS)’ in Vikarabad, Telangana to send Medicines using Drones. It will use drones for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLoS) to deliver the payload.
i. This initiative was started by the Government of Telangana in association with World Economic Forum (WEF), NITI Aayog, and HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals).

Joint Life Insurance is designed to provide insurance cover to couples or partners. In case of death of one insurer, the partner gets the sum assured. Whereas, Group life insurance is offered to a group like employees of a company.

India collaborated with & USA to launch ‘Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) 2021’ & agreed to expand their energy partnership by adding the Emerging Fuels to the list of areas of cooperation as a 5th pillar.
i. An India-US Task Force on Biofuels will be set up to look after cooperation in the biofuels sector.

Narasimham Committee was set up in 1998 on structural reforms, recommending merger of banks to solve the problem of NPA.
i. It recommended the introduction of a Liquidity adjustment facility in India.

i. IIT- Madras got the 1st position in Overall Category as well as in Engineering for the 3rd consecutive year.
ii. IISc, Bengaluru topped the University as well as Research Institution category while New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) retained top slot in Medical for the 4th consecutive year.
iii. National Institutional Ranking Framework 2021 was established in 2015 under the Ministry of Education (MoE).

Paytm’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Paytm Money partnered with WealthDesk to launch a wealth & investment advisory marketplace on its platform named- ‘WealthBaskets’.

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland – Khaplang (NSCN-K), a militant group led by Niki Sumi, signed the new ceasefire agreement with the Indian government for a period of 1-year.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Girish Chandra Murmu was elected as the chairman of the assembly of Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for a period of three years from 2024 – 2027.
i. India will host the 16th ASOSAI assembly meeting in 2024.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) set up three Boards for Advance Rulings (BAR) which will offer help on tax implications of transactions, which in turn will help avoid income tax disputes. It was taken to fast-track disposal of cases.
i. This will replace the Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR), which was set up in 1993.

The Union Minister of Culture, Gangapuram Kishan launched the book titled “Gita Govinda: Jayadeva’s Divine Odyssey” written by Padma Shri awardee Dr Utpal K. Banerjee.
i. Gangapuram Kishan also launched an exhibition on “Gita Govinda” and a program ‘Bujurgonki Baat-Desh Ke Saath’ in New Delhi.

i. Indian Sign Language Dictionary & Vidyanjali 2.0 were launched for persons with hearing impairments & school development respectively.
ii. NISHTHA 3.0 (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) was initiated for NIPUN Bharat (ECCE to Class V).
iii. National Digital Architecture i.e. N-DEAR will play a major role in eradicating inequality in education and its modernization.
School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework (SQAAF) was developed to introduce a common scientific framework in education.
The theme of the ‘Shikshak Parv-2021’ is “Quality and Sustainable Schools: Learnings from Schools in India”

India won a total of 19 medals (5 G, 8 S & 6 B) & was ranked 24th in the overall medal tally.
i. President of Paralympic Committee of India is Deepa Malik

Indian navy and Sudan Navy had conducted the bilateral maritime exercise in the Red Sea off the Sudanese coast. India Navy Ship (INS) Tabar and two Sudanese Navy ships- Almazz and Nimer- participated in the maiden exercise.

Veteran journalist Vir Sanghvi authored a memoir titled “A Rude Life: The Memoir” which shares his views and experience as an Indian journalist.

Nuakhai, the harvest festival of Odisha celebrated on Bhadraba Shuklapakhya Panchami tithi, the next day of Ganesh Chaturthi i.e., September, 11, 2021. It marked the consumption of the first harvested crops.

World EV Day is annually observed across the globe on 9th September to mark the celebration of e-mobility. The day is observed with special awareness campaigns aimed to globally educate people on the benefits of electric vehicles.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) & the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched the “Main Bhi Digital 3.0” -A special Campaign for Digital Onboarding and Training for street vendors.
i. It was launched under Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVA Nidhi) Scheme.

i. RBI extended the scope of tokenization from device-based tokenization to CoFT services. This enhancement will bar merchants from storing actual card data while online transactions.
ii.RBI permitted card issuers (such as Rupay, Visa, & Mastercard) to act as token service providers (TSP).
iii. It refused to extend its deadline for card tokenization beyond January 1, 2022.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) constituted an 8 member panel to frame new laws for drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. It is chaired by V. G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI).

‘2021 Africa Food Prize’ was issued to an International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad for improving food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

A Central American country El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a National currency.
i. The country launched the digital wallet called “Chivo” or “Cool” which offered $30 of free Bitcoin for the adaption.

Ed-Tech Unicorn Byju’s had acquired the online exam preparation platform Gradeup to boost the ed tech’s presence in the online competitive exam preparation category. Following the acquisition of Gradeup, it has been rebranded as Byju’s Exam Prep.

‘Bail Pola festival’ or the Festival of cattle, is a thanksgiving festival celebrated by the farmers to recognise the importance of oxen and bulls in agriculture. The Bail Pola is also celebrated as Pola Amavasya.
i. Bail Pola festival 2021 is celebrated on 6th September.

Gujarat initiated ‘Vatan Prem Yojana’ which encourages non-resident Indians (NRIs) from Gujarat or people living anywhere in India with Gujarati origins (Non-Resident Gujarat People) to fund development projects in their native villages.
i. Gujarat will develop public welfare projects worth Rs 1000 crore by December 2022.

CM of Gujarat, Vijaybhai Ramniklalbhai Rupani submitted his resignation to the Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat. He is a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly representing Rajkot West.