Test: October 2021 Weekly Current Affair - 4 - UPSC MCQ

The Central government extended the duration of “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP)”, an insurance scheme for health care workers fighting COVID-19, for a further period of 180 days. It was launched to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs. 50 Lakh to 22.12 lakh health care providers.
i. Rs 1.70 Lakh Crore worth of relief package was announced under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana(PMGKY).

The Police Commemoration Day is annually observed across India on October 21st to remember and pay tribute to the police personnel who died in the line of duty. The day is also known as Police Martyrs Day.

GAIL (Formerly known as Gas Authority of India Limited) is all set to build India’s largest green hydrogen-making plant of 10MW (Mega Watt) capacity. The information for the same was provided by GAIL CMD Manoj Jain.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) retained Pakistan in the ‘Grey List’ until it signifies the actions being taken against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar who are listed as global terrorists by the UN.
i. FATF also added Jordan, Mali and Turkey in its grey list.
ii.Mauritius and Botswana have been removed from the Grey List.

The CM of Tamil Nadu Muthuvel Karunanidhi (M K) Stalin launched a web portal named ‘e-munnetram’ to review the progress of all important infrastructure projects in the state. The portal was developed by the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA). Tamil computer software viz. ‘The Keezhadi’ & ‘The Tamizhi’ were also launched.
i. The TNeGA also conceptualized an interacting platform named ‘IT Nanban’, which will enable all IT/ITES companies to interact with the State government over policymaking.

Minister of State (MoS) Devusinh Chauhan chaired the 7th meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Communications Ministers 2021 through video conferencing.
About BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa):
2021 Chair– India
Theme for India’s Chairship– ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus’.

The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) is a yearly renewable term insurance policy launched by the central government of India. In case of the death of the insurance holder, the death benefit of Rs 2 lakh is offered by the PMJJBY to the nominee of the policy.

The Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communication notified ‘Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2021’ to ease the rollout of communications networks by fixing nominal one-time fee at Rs 1,000 per kilometer.
i. It will have a uniform procedure for establishment of Overground Telegraph Line.

The name “United Nations”, coined by United States 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE), launched the second phase of the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) for 2 years, 2021-2023 on October 25, 2021.
i. It is a two-year fellowship to create opportunities for the youth and enhance skill development with IIM’s as academic partners. 8 more IIMs have boarded with IIM Bangalore, taking the total to 9 IIMs.

Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) programme was launched by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in January 2018, to strengthen the skill development mechanism in India. The scheme is planned for a duration of 6-years or till 2023.

The Central Government of India launched a national action plan under the National Rabies Control Programme (NRCP) for dog-mediated rabies elimination by 2030, and also declared rabies a notifiable disease.
• ‘One Health’ network was created which will serve the purpose of strengthening surveillance.
i. Rabies is also classified as one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD).

Former Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ gifted a copy of his book titled ‘AIIMS Mein Ek Jang Ladte Hue’ to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. The book was written by him during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Radio over Internet Protocol (ROIP) System at Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMP, Kolkata), West Bengal was inaugurated for the 1st time in any Major Indian Port. It is being introduced as a marine communication mode covering the entire Hugli River.
i. SMP, Kolkata is the only riverine port in India. The riverine ports are those ports which are located on the riverfront instead of coastal areas.

About Supreme Court of India:
Retirement Age of Supreme Court Judges is 65 years.
CJI – N. V. Ramana (48th CJI)

Establishment – 26 January 1950

Union Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Ministry for Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) launched the ‘’6th Edition of National Formulary of India (NFI) 2021’’. The NFI was published by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC). It will promote rational use of medicines in the country.
i. NFI 2021 will act as a guidance document for all the healthcare professionals such as clinicians, pharmacists, nurses and dentists.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik virtually launched the World’s 1st ever “FIFA Football for School (F4S) Programme” at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar.
i. The 3-day long ‘Capacity Building Workshop – Train the Trainer’ was organised by FIFA at KISS, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

NITI Aayog released a comprehensive 2021 report titled ‘Health Insurance for India’s Missing Middle’ stating the current situation, existing gaps in the health insurance coverage across the Indian population and offers recommendations to increase health insurance coverage.

• 30% of India’s population devoid of health insurance, & termed as the ‘missing middle’.
• Under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, 50% of the population is covered and another 20% are covered through private voluntary health insurance.

Bandula Warnapura, Sri Lanka’s first Test captain and a former coach and administrator, has died aged 68 at a private hospital in Colombo.

• He played 12 ODIs and four Tests in an international career spanning seven years from 1975-1982 and captained the side in each of his Tests and eight ODIs.

HDFC Bank, Mastercard, United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a $100 million credit facility for MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) in India.
About HDFC Bank:
MD & CEO – Sashidhar Jagdishan
Tagline – We understand your world

International Chefs Day is annually celebrated by the World Association of Chefs Societies(Worldchefs) on 20th October to celebrate the profession of culinary arts and to create awareness about the importance of healthy food. The theme of International Chefs Day 2021 is “Healthy Food for the Future”.
i. In 2004, Dr Billy Gallagher, former president of WorldChefs, who was popularly known as “South Africa’s father of fine food” created International Chefs Day.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) partnered with Pine Labs to expand its merchant acquiring and Point of Sale (PoS) services to more merchants and retailers. KMBL is the 1st finance company in India to be converted into a commercial bank.
About Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL):
MD & CEO – Uday Kotak
Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra

South Korea launched its first domestically-developed space rocket – “Nuri”. South Korea would press ahead by being the 10th nation to send a satellite into space on its own technology.
About South Korea:
Capital: Seoul
Official Language: Korean

IRCON International Limited (on behalf of the Government of India) handed over the Jaynagar-Kurtha, a 34.9km-long cross-border rail link, which connects Jaynagar, Bihar to Kurtha, Nepal, to the government of Nepal. This will be the first broad gauge cross border rail link between India and Nepal.
About Nepal:
President– Bidhya Devi Bhandari
PM– Sher Bahadur Deuba

The RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) system is primarily meant for large value transactions. The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is ₹ 2,00,000/- with no upper or maximum ceiling.