September 2021 Daily News Current Affairs

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Sep 30, 2021

Visits from India (September 2021) -
1. Navy Chief Karambir Singh visited Oman. During the Visit, Indian and Oman Navies signed MoU for exchange of White Shipping Information.
2. Meenakshi Lekhi (Minister of State in Ministry of External Affairs) (MEA) visited europen Nations Portugal and Spain.
  1. During visit, an Agreement on Citizens Recruitment was Signed between India and Portugal.
  2. With this, Portugal became first European country with which India signed a dedicated agreement on labour mobility. This is also first such agreement signed by Portugal outside EU.
Visits to India (Sep 2021) -
1. Denmark’s Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen Visited India. During the Visit, joint Centre of Excellence on Offshore Wind was launched, as part of Green Strategic Partnership.
2. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Visited India.
3. Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of UAE, Visited India.
  1. During the visit, India and UAE Launched Negotiations for India - United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
4. Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan Visited India, for 17th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission Meet. During visit, India and Australia formally launched resumption of negotiations on India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
5. US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry Visited India.
  1. During Visit, India-US Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) was launched, as one of the two main tracks of US-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that US President Joe Biden and Indian PM Narendra Modi announced at Leaders Summit in April 2021.
  2. CAFMD will aim to strengthen India-US bilateral cooperation on climate and environment and help demonstrate how world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development.
RBI issued guidelines regarding Securitisation of Standard Assets, which sets minimum ticket size for the issuance of securitization notes at 1 crore.
1. Securitisation involves transactions where credit risk in assets are redistributed by repackaging them into tradeable securities, with different risk profiles which may give investors access to exposures which otherwise might be unable to access directly.
Book The Battle of Rezang La written by Kulpreet Yadav, has been released. It tells story of 120 Indian soldiers who put up a valiant fight against the 5,000-strong Chinese military troops in the 1962 Indo-China war, preventing a possible occupation of the entire Ladakh region.
India has been elected as external auditor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for 6 years (2022 to 2027). India's comptroller and auditor general GC Murmu will serve as external auditor of IAEA.
Fumio Kishida (Japan’s former Foreign Minister) has been named as New prime minister of Japan. He will succeed Yoshihide Suga, who is stepping down after serving for an year.
Newly approved Geographical Indication (GI) Tags -
1. Nagaland's sweet cucumber, for its sweetness and unique green colour.
2. Judima wine brewed by Dimasa community in Assam. It became first first beverage from north-east to to earn this label.
3. Sojat Mehndi (Henna) from Rajasthan.
Jeel Albena Association for Humanitarian Development, A humanitarian organization from Yemen has been declared as winner of 2021 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award, for its support to Yemenis people displaced during Yemen’s Civil conflict.
Book My Life in Full: Work, Family and our Future, by Former Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi has been released.
Govt extended tenure of Company Law Committee by an year, swhich was constituted back in 2019. It has been mandated for making recommendations on issues related to implementation of Companies Act and Limited Liability Partnership Act. Currently, this 11-member committee is chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Rajesh Verma.

2021 World Archery Championships (Yankton (US) -

Medal Table -


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	South Korea	5	0	2	7
2	Colombia	3	0	0	3
3	United States	1	2	2	5
4	Austria	1	0	1	2
5	India	0	3	0	3

India won 3 Silver Medals -
1. Women's individual - Jyothi Surekha Vennam
2. Women's team - Priya Gurjar, Muskan Kirar, Jyothi Surekha Vennam
3. Mixed team - Abhishek Verma, Jyothi Surekha Vennam

Sep 30 is observed as World Translation Day, marked by UN in 2017 to pay tribute to language professionals.
Sep 30 is observed as World Maritime Day. 2021 theme is Seafarers: at the core of shipping’s future.
1. In India, Apr 5 is observed as National Maritime Day in India, being observed since 1964. On this day in 1919, SS Loyalty, the first ship of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company travelled from Mumbai to United Kingdom (London).
Sameer Sharma has been named chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh.
General Conferences (Sep 21-30, 2021) -
1. Niti Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission in collaboration with ISRO and CBSE has launched ‘Space Challenge’ for school students across India.
2. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) parenered with Cordelia Cruises being operated by Waterways Leisure Tourism, for promotion of first indigenous luxury cruise in India.
3. CISF official Geeta Samota became fastest Indian to summit two peaks located in Africa and Russia. She scaled Mount Elbrus in Russia (highest peak in Europe - 5,642 mts) and Kilimanjaro (5,895 mts) in Tanzania (Africa’s highest peak).
4. As a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Union Minister Jitendra Singh launched AmritGrand Challenge Program titled जनCARE, which aims to identify 75 Start-Up and entrepreneurs, who come out with Innovative Ideas and Solutions for India’s healthcare challenges.
5. South Central Railway's MG Ramachandran Central (DRM) or Chennai Central railway station will get 100 % of energy through Solar Energy, becoming first Indian Railways station with 100 % energy through solar panels.
6. PM Narendra Modi dedicated to Nation 35 crop varieties with special traits, along with dedicating to the nation the newly constructed campus of the National Institute of Biotic Stress Management Raipur.
7. Assam Govt is setting up a tea Park at Chayygaon in Kamrup District, with rail and port connectivity, cargo and warehouse amenities, processing facilities like tea grinding, blending, packaging and other utility services.
8. Uttar Pradesh Govt approved developing an Electronic Park for electronic accessories in Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA. This electronic park is likely to attract an investment of Rs 50,000 crores.
9. Department of Justice launched Ek Pahal campaign, to encourage mass registration under Tele-Law. It will run across country from 17th September till 2nd October.
10. World’s highest electric vehicle charging station has been inaugurated in Kaza village of Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh, set up at a height of 3800 metres from Sea Level.
11. Statue of Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto has been unveiled in Budapest (Hungary), as first such statue across world, to pay homage to creator of Bitcoin digital currency.
12. Home Minister Amit Shah attended first-ever National Cooperative Conference (Sehkarita Sammelan) at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
13. Goa CM Pramod Sawant launched ‘Sarkar Tumachya Dari’ -Government at Your Doorstep campaign.
14. Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Sates, G. Kishan Reddy laid foundation stone for Development of Parshuram Kund Lohit District (Arunachal Pradesh), sanctioned under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD) Scheme of Ministry of Tourism.
15. Minister for Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal inaugurated Centre of Excellence in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at National Institute of Industrial Engineering (Mumbai).
16. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Institute of Petrochemicals Technology (CIPET) at Jaipur.
17. 2 MoUs signed at 4th Indo-US Health Dialogue 2021 -
  1. For cooperation in field of Health and Biomedical sciences.
  2. For cooperation on International Centre for Excellence in Research (ICER).
18. Minister of State (MoS) for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan launched commemorative postal stamp in the honour of Rao Jaimal Rathore, on his 515th birth anniversary in Srinagar. Rathore was a Rajput warrior general of Chittorgarh who put up a defiant resistance against the vast Mughal army during its siege in 1567 to 1568.
19. SAARC Chair Nepal cancelled SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting to be held in New York, after Pakistan demanded participation of Taliban regime.
20. Small landlocked European nation San Marino voted to legalise abortion in a historic referendum, overturning a law dating back to 1865.
21. Taliban announced to temporarily enact provisions from 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan that are not in conflict with Sharia or Islamic law. It may include granting voting rights to women.
22. UN released USD 45 million aid from Central Emergency Response Fund to help prevent healthcare system of Afghanistan from collapsing.
Asian Development Bank Approved $251-million loan for climate-resilient, integrated urban flood protection and management in the Chennai–Kosasthalaiyar basin, to strengthen flood resilience in Chennai city (Tamilnadu).
2021 Yidan prize Winners -
1. Education Research -Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford University)
2. Education Development - Rukmini Banerji (CEO of Pratham Education Foundation).
3. About -
  1. Yidan Prizes consists cash prize of HK$15 million and a project fund of HK$15 million (Approx 2 Million USD) to each of 2 winners.
  2. Yidan Prize was founded in 2016 by Chen Yidan, for contributions to education research and development.
Indian Space Research Organisation signed implementing arrangement on joint development of a small satellite for Bhutan.
Paytm tied-up with cross-border money transfer firm Ria Money, to enable its customers receive money from abroad, making Paytm India’s first platform to accept international remittances directly into a digital wallet.

Sep 29, 2021
1. Sep 29 is observed as World Heart Day, launched in 2000 by the World Heart Federation.
  1. Sep 29 is also observed as UN International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction.
2. Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched 7th edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS), as world’s largest urban cleanliness survey conducted by Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).
  1. Introduced 2016 to rank cities on cleanliness parameters in 73 cities, Swachh Survekshan today has now become world’s largest urban cleanliness survey covering over 4,000 ULBs.
  2. Features Of SS 2022 -
    1. 2 population categories - one under 15,000 and another between 15 to 25,000.
    2. District rankings have been introduced for the first time to further expand the Survekshan footprint.
    3. The scope of the survey has been expanded to now cover 100% wards for sampling, as compared to 40% in previous years.
3. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath launched Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Helpline in state, with tollfree number 1800 2012 6844.
  1. CM Minister Yogi Adityanath also launched Nirbhaya - Ek Pahal programme under Mission Shakti - Phase 3, in Lucknow. Under it, 75000 women will get connected with state banks, get loans at cheaper interest rates & get benefits of state subsidies under PM Mudra Yojana for 3 months.
4. Cabinet Approvals (Sep 29, 2021) -
  1. CCEA -
    1. Approved continuation of National Scheme for PM POSHAN in Schools for 5 year period (2021-22 to 2025-26), with outlay of 54062 crores from Central Government and 31,733 crores from State / UT Governments.
      1. Central Government will also bear additional cost of about 45000 crores on foodgrains.
      2. Central Govt has renamed Mid-Day Meal Scheme in government and aided schools as PM-POSHAN Scheme. It will now also cover the students of balvatikas or pre-primary classes.
      3. Scheme covers about 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20 lakh schools across country.
    2. Approved listing of CPSE Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) through Initial Public Offer (IPO) on Stock Exchange under SEBI Regulations 2018.
      1. ECGC aims at improving competitiveness of exports by providing Credit Risk Insurance and related services for exports.
      2. ECGC intends to increase its maximum liabilities to 2.03 lakh crores from 1.00 lakh crore by 2025-26.
    3. To boost to exports sector, approved capital infusion of 4,400 crores in ECGC (Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India) over a 5 years (2022 to 2025- 2026).
      1. Capital infusion will enable ECGC to expand its coverage to export oriented industry particularly labour-intensive sectors.
      2. Approved amount will increase ECGC's capacity to underwrite risks up to 88,000 crores, enabling it to issue covers that can support additional exports of 5.28 lakh crores over 5 years.
    4. Approved contribution of Grant-in-aid of 1650 Crores to National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) over 5 years (2022 to 2025-2026).
      1. NEIA Trust was established in 2006 to promote project exports from India that are of strategic and national importance.
      2. This Corpus will help Indian Project Exporters to tap potential of project exports in focus marketm by enhancing underwriting capacity of Trust to support project exports worth 33000 Crores at full capacity utilization, which will translate into an estimated output of domestically manufactured goods to tune of 25,000 Crores.
    5. Approved doubling of Nimach-Ratlam railway line, with cost 1096 crores and completion cost 1185 crores. Total length of doubling of line is 132.92 km, to be completed in 4 years.
    6. Approved doubling of Rajkot-Kanalus railway line, with cost 1081 crores and escalated / completion cost 1168 crores. Total length of doubling of line is 111.20 km, to be completed in 4 years.
5. Supreme Court approved electronic system named FASTER (Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records), to be used for transferring e-authenticated copies from courts to prisons.

Sep 28, 2021

Sep 28 - UN International Day for Universal Access to Information (commonly called Access to Information Day), being held since 2016. Other Observations on Sep 28 -
1. Sep 28 is also observed as World Rabies Day (Diesease caused by Dog Bites). On this occasion, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched National Action Plan for dog Mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030 (NAPRE).
2. Sep 28 is Birth Anniversary of Legendary Indian Freedom Fighter Sardar Bhagat Singh (Born 1907).
1st Himalayan Film Festival held at Sindhu Sanskriti Kendra in Leh (UT of Ladakh), as part of celebrations of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ commemorating 75 years of India’s Independence.
RBI revoked PCA (Prompt Corrective Action) framework placed on Indian Overseas Bank, which was placed in 2015, following improvement in various parameters. It will remove certain restrictions on bank related to lending and other businesses.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology 2021 winners -
1. These awards are annually announced on foundation day of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Sep 26).
2. CSIR presents these awards to scientists below 45 years of age for their contributions in Various Science Streams, with cash prize 5 lakh.
3. 11 awardees in 2021 -
  1. Biological Sciences -
    1. Amit Singh (IISC Bengaluru)
    2. Arun Kumar Shukla (IIT Kanpur)
  2. Chemical sciences
    1. Kanishka Biswas and T Govindaraju from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (Bengaluru).
  3. Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences category -
    1. Binoy Kumar Saikia (CSIR North East Institute of Science and Technology (Jorhat)
  4. Engineering sciences -
    1. Debdeep Mukhopadhyay (IIT Kharagpur)
  5. Mathematical sciences -
    1. Anish Ghosh (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai))
    2. Saket Saurabh (Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Chennai))
  6. Medical sciences -
    1. Jeemon Panniyammakal (SCTIMST Thiruvananthapuram).
    2. Rohit Srivastava (IIT Bombay)
  7. Physical sciences -
    1. Kanak Saha (Pune’s Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics)
Najla Bouden is named as new Prime Minister of Tunisia (North Africa), making her first female prime minister both in Tunisia and Arab world.
Newly elected Members to Rajya Sabha -
1. Sarbananda Sonowal (BJP) - Assam
2. L Murugan (BJP) - Madhya Pradesh
3. S Selvaganapathy (BJP) - Puducherry
4. Rajani Patil (INC)- Maharashtra
5. Sushmita Dev (TMC)- West Bengal
6. Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu (DMK)-Tamil Nadu
7. KRN Rajeshkumar (DMK)-Tamil Nadu
8. About -
  1. Rajya Sabha Membership is limited to 250 members. Present Rajya Sabha has 245 members.
  2. 233 members are elected by Vidhan Sabha members and 12 are nominated by President for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services.
  3. Members sits for six years term, with one-third of the members retiring every two years.

Mercedes' British F1 Racer Lewis Hamilton won Russian Grand Prix 2021 -

With this, Lewis Hamilton became first F1 driver to win 100 races.

F1 Season 2021 -

Grand Prix	Winner	Race date
Bahrain Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	28 March
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	18 April
Portuguese Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	2 May
Spanish Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	9 May
Monaco Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	23 May
Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Sergio Pérez (Mexico)	6 June
French Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	20 June
Styrian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	27 June
Austrian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	4 July
British Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	18 July
Hungarian Grand Prix	Esteban Ocon (France)	1 August
Belgian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	29 August
Dutch Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	5 September
Italian Grand Prix	Daniel Ricciardo (Australian -Italian)	12 September
Russian Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	26 September
Turkish Grand Prix		10 October
United States Grand Prix		24 October
Mexico City Grand Prix		31 October
São Paulo Grand Prix		7 November
Australian Grand Prix		21 November
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix		5 December
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		12 December

Sep 27, 2021
1. Sep 27 - World Tourism Day, marked in 1970. 2021 Theme is Tourism for inclusive growth. On this occasion -
  1. NIDHI 2.0 (National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry) and ‘India Tourism Statistics – At a Glance, 2021’ were launched.
  2. MoU signed between Ministry of Tourism, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Responsible Tourism Society of India, to actively promote ‘sustainability initiatives’ in tourism sector.
  3. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot launched Mukhyamantri Paryatan Udyog Sambal Yojana-2021, to provide relief to entrepreneurs of tourism and hospitality sector affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
2. PM Narendra Modi launched Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission across Nation, which was earlier implemented on pilot basis in 6 UTs.
  1. Key components include a health ID for every citizen that will also work as their health account, a Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) that will act as a repository of all healthcare providers. This will ensure ease of doing business for doctors/hospitals and healthcare service providers.
  2. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox, created as a part of the Mission, will act as a framework for technology and product testing that will help organizations intending to be a part of National Digital Health Ecosystem.
  3. The Mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent.
3. E.R. Sheikh has been named as 1st Director General of Ordnance Directorate (Co-ordination and Services), the successor organization of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).
4. International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) constituted an Expert Committee to recommend approach towards development of Sustainable Finance Hub and provide road map for the same, chaired by C.K. Mishra (Former Environment Ministry Secretary).
5. National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), Amazon Web Services and Intel partnered to establish a new experience studio at NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) at NITI Aayog’s New Delhi premises.
6. Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav launched DigiSaksham - a digital skills programme to enhance the employability of youth by imparting digital skills that are required in an increasingly technology driven era, as joint initiative with Microsoft.
Sep 26, 2021
1. Gurbirpal Singh has been appointed as new (34th) Director General of National Cadet Corps (NCC).
2. Sep 26 is observed as Military Engineer Services Day, marking raising of MES on Sep 26, 1923.
3. Upgraded version of Akash Missile - Akash Prime, has been successfully flight tested from Integrated Test Range Chandipur (Odisha), with range 40-50 km.
4. Cyclone Gulab made landfall in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, as only third cyclone in 22 years of 21st century, to make landfall in September. Other 2 September cyclones from Bay of Bengal so far have been Cyclone Pyarr (2005) and Cyclonic Storm Daye (2018).
  1. Weakened Gulab Cyclone continued moving westward, re-emerging into Arabian Sea as Cyclone Shaheen, and affecting areas in Pakistan, Iran, Oman and UAE.
5. To support micro food processing units of urban self helps groups (SHGs), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched convergence scheme between PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) schemes.
  1. Also, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under PMFME Scheme, launched Seed Capital Module on DAY-NULM MIS Portal for seed capital assistance up to 40000, to members of urban SHGs in food processing sector.
6. Government launched india’s first Pan-India toll-free helpline - 14567 (Elder Line), which provides free information and guidance on pension issues, legal issues, extends emotional support, and even intervenes on field in cases of abuse, and rescues homeless elderly.
7. Sep 26 is observed as International Day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
  1. Sep 26 is also observed as World Environmental Health Day (WEHD), declared by International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) in 2011.
  2. Sep 26 is also Foundation day of CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), set up in 1942.
8. Sep 26, 2021 is observed as World Rivers Day, observed every year on Fourth Sunday of September, since 2005. 2021 Theme is Waterways in our communities.
Sep 25, 2021
1. Sep 25 is Observed by India as Antyodaya Diwas, announced in 2014. It marks Birth anniversary of noted philosopher Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay.
  1. On this day in 2014, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) had revamped it’s existing skill development program called Aajeevika Skills as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).
  2. On this day in 2017, Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana was launched, to provide electricity to all rural households.
  3. Sep 25 is also observed as World Pharmacist Day, marked by FIP Council in 2009.
2. Punjab Govt Appointed Anirudh Tiwari as new Chief Secretary of Punjab.
3. Odisha government partnered with UNICEF and Centre for Policy Research (CPR), for urban-rural convergence on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) and Plastic Waste Management (PWM).
4. World Health Organisation (WHO) released revised Global Air Quality Guidelines, with more stringent limits for six pollutant categories - particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO).
  1. WHO’s revised guidelines prescribe annual PM2.5 average at 5 ug/m3, bringing it down from 2005 limits set at 10 ug/m3. PM10 annual average is now 15 ug/m3 in comparison to the earlier norm of 20 ug/m3. NO2 levels, which are primarily attributable to vehicular emissions, have been revised to 10 ug/m3, in comparison to 40 ug/m3 in 2005.
5. PM Nardenra Modi Visited USA -
  1. Attended first-ever in-person QUAD ( Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) Leaders’ Summit, at White House in Washington D.C. Quad nation comprises of India, Japan, the US and Australia.
    1. Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga also attended Quad summit, along with Host US President Joe Biden.
  2. Addressed UN 76th General Assembly Session in New York.
    1. Traditionally, Brazil is first speaker at UNGA, for over past six decades.
  3. Attended bilateral meetings with US President, Australia and Japan PMs, and with Vice president Kamala Harris.
  4. Delivered a video address at event ‘Global Citizen Live’.
  5. Attended virtual Global COVID-19 Summit, focused on ending the pandemic and building better health security to prevent and prepare for future biological threats.
  6. US Handed over 157 artefacts & antiquities to PM Narendra Modi, for repatriation to India.
6. Book The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India, authored by Vijay Gokhale (former foreign secretary of India), has been released.
7. City of Accra (Ghana) has been selected as UNESCO World Book Capital for 2023s, After Guadalajara (Mexico) in 2022.
8. US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced to Jointly sponsor a $55 million credit guarantee programme in India, wuich seeks to address economic impact of Covid-19 in India.
9. Haryana government approved implementation of Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima Yojana (MBBY), as an assurance-based scheme to compensate crop losses due to adverse weather and natural calamities for farmers growing horticulture crops.
Sep 24, 2021
1. Govt has set up asset management company named India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL), with paid-up capital 80.5 lakh, and authorized capital 50 crores. IDRCL will work with National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) to clean up bad loans.
2. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced annual Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards 2021, as annual recognition of remarkable individuals taking action to help achieve UN Global Goals by 2030 -
  1. Global Goalkeeper Award - Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (South Africa) (former UN under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women).
  2. Progress Award - Jenifer Colpas (Colombia).
  3. Changemaker Award - Fairooz Faizah Beether (Bangladesh)
  4. Campaign Award - Satta Sheriff (Liberia)
3. Author Chetan Bhagat announced his new novel 400 Days, to be released in October 2021. It is 3rd novel in Keshav-Saurabh series, after ‘The Girl in Room 105’ and ‘One Arranged Murder’.
4. Author Amitav Ghosh’s audiobook Jungle Nama has been released, with music and voice of US-based Ali Sethi.
5. Rajiv Bansal (Air India CMD) has been appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Civil Aviation, to succeed retirement-bound Pradeep Singh Kharola.
6. Book The Fractured Himalaya: How the Past Shadows the Present in India-China Relations, authored by Nirupama Rao has been released.
Sep 23, 2021
1. Sep 23 is observed as International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL), observed first in 2018. It aims to raise awareness of importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of people who are deaf. 2021 theme is We Sign For Human Rights.
  1. Sep 23 is also observed as Ayushman Bharat Diwas in India, day on which Ayushman Bharat Yojana or PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) was launched from Ranchi on Sep 23, 2018.
2. Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has been conferred with SDG Progress Award by UN-sponsored Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), during her visit to US to attend 76th session of UN General Assembly. She has been honored for Bangladesh’s steady progress in achieving UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
3. Karnataka Legislative Assembly announced to have best legislator award for members of Legislative Assembly, from 2021 Onwards, in line with best parliamentarian award given annually in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
  1. Karnataka Legislative Assembly has named former state CM BS Yediyurappa as the best legislator of year 2020-21, as first recepient of this award.
4. Archaeologists discovered Oldest human footprints in North America, believed to be 22800 to 21130 years old.
  1. First footprints were discovered in a dry lake bed in White Sands national park in 2009, covered in layers of soil.
  2. Scientists at US Geological Survey studied seeds stuck in footprints to conculde that they were between 22,800 and 21,130 years old.
5. International Astronomical Union named a crater on South Pole of Moon, after Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, a Person of colour (Black) who in April 1909 claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole.
  1. Henson Crater is located between de Gerlache and Sverdrup craters on South Pole of the Moon, the same region on Moon where NASA Artemis program aims to land its lunar explorers.
6. SC Collegium Recommended Names of Judges to be appointed as Chief Justices in Various State High Courts -
  1. Madhya Pradesh - Ravi Malimath
  2. Gujarat - Aravind Kumar
  3. Uttar Pradesh - Rajesh Bindal
  4. Rajasthan - Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi
  5. Chhattisgarh - Arup Kumar Goswami
  6. Himachal Pradesh - Mohammad Rafiq
  7. Tripura - Indrajit Mahanty
  8. Sikkim - Biswanath Somadder
  9. West Bengal - Prakash Shrivastava
  10. Andhra Pradesh - Prashant Kumar Mishra
  11. Karnataka - Ritu Raj Awasthi
  12. Telangana - Satish Chandra Sharma
  13. Meghalaya -Ranjit V More
7. NASA announced to land its water ice-hunting Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on a region of South Pole of the Moon known as the Nobile Crater, in 2023, under its Artemis mission.
  1. VIPER will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon-Heavy rocket under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
  2. Artemis program is a US-led international human spaceflight program, with primary goal is to return humans to Moon, specifically the lunar south pole, by 2025.
Sep 22, 2021
1. UNESCO designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’, covering 700 kilometres of Mura, Drava and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. It is also called Amazon of Europe.
2. Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy released book Dancing with Dreams, by Adityanath Das (Former AP chief secretary).
3. As per a report by UK’s Department of International Trade, India could become world’s third-largest importer by 2050, With a 5.9 % share of global imports by 2050 (behind China and US).
  1. At present, India occupies 8th spot, with 2.8 % share in global imports.
4. Karnataka Assembly passed Religious Structure (Protection) Bill 2021, aimed at protecting illegal religious structures in state, amid criticism over demolition of a temple in Nanjangud district of Mysuru.
5. NHPC’s 510 MW Teesta-V Power Station (Sikkim), has been conferred with Blue Planet Prize by International Hydropower Association, aLondon based non-profit membership association operating in 120 countries.
6. Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal launched National Single Window System, aimed at becoming one-stop-shop for investors for approvals & clearances
  1. This would held bring Transparency, Accountability & Responsiveness in ecosystem and all information will be available on a single dashboard.
7. Sep 22 is observed as World Rhino Day, as an international ecological observance to raise awareness on protection of 5 existing species of rhinoceros - white rhino, black rhino, Indian rhino, Javan rhino, and Sumatran rhino.
  1. Sep 22 is also observed as World rose day, for welfare of cancer patients.
Sep 21, 2021
1. Sep 21 is observed as UN International Day of Peace. 2021 theme is Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world . It was first observed in 1981.
  1. Sep 21 is also observed as World Alzheimer’s Day, first observed in 2012.
2. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s 3rd State Food Safety Index has been released, to measure performance of States across five parameters of food safety.
  1. Large States - Gujarat (1), Kerala (2), Tamil Nadu (3)
  2. Small States - Goa (1), Meghalaya (2), Manipur (3)
  3. UTs - Jammu and Kashmir (1), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2), New Delhi (3)
3. Book The Three Khans: And the Emergence of New India, authored by Kaveree Bamzai has been released.
4. Iran has been admitted as a full member of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), at 21st SCO leaders summit in Dushanbe (Tajikistan).
  1. Other 8 SCO Member Nations - China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
5. Manipur's Hathei chilli (found in Ukrul district) and Tamenglong mandarin orange, have been granted Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
6. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released book Shining Sikh Youth of India, authored by Prabhleen Singh (Punjabi University).

Sep 20, 2021

General Conferences (Sep 11 - 20, 2021) -
1. Nagaland’s first and India’s 61st Software Technology Park of India (STPI) centre has been inaugurated at Kohima, under SANKALP Project.
2. India's largest open air fernery has been inaugurated at Ranikhet (Uttarakhand), developed under Centre's compensatory afforestation scheme CAMPA.
3. Nuakhai Juhar, agrarian festival of Western Odisha, has been celebrated with religious fervour and tradition. It is celebrated 1 day after Ganesh Chaturthi.
4. Tamil Nadu Assembly passed bill that makes encroachment of properties belonging to religious institutions a cognizable and non-bailable offence, amending Tamil Nadu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act 1959. It will protect over 5 lakh acres of properties belonging to over 40000 religious institutions.
5. Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Ministry launched Dashboard for SVAMITVA Scheme, for provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India leveraging property as a financial asset by citizens with accurate land records for rural planning.
6. World Economic Forum announced its next annual meeting, to be held in Davos (Switzerland), in January 2022, under theme Working Together, Restoring Trust.
7. India’s first Indigenously Designed High Ash Coal Gasification Based Methanol Production Plant at BHEL R&D Centre, Hyderabad.
8. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attended Virtual 18th India-US Economic Summit, on theme Bouncing Back – Resilient Recovery Path Post COVID-19, organised by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt Participated in 3rd edition of Bilateral Exercise Samudra Shakti, with Indonesian Navy, at Sunda Strait.
Global Innovation Index 2021 by Released by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) (132 Nations) -
1. Top 5 - Switzerland (1), Sweden (2), US (3), UK (4), South Korea (5)
2. Bottom 3 - Angola (132), Yemen (131), Guinea (130)
3. India ranked 46th.
4. Neighbors - China (12), Pakistan (99), Sri Lanka (95), Bangladesh (116)

73rd annual primetime Emmy Awards Winners, announced in Los Angeles (US) -

Sl. No.	Category	Winner
1.	OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES	The Crown (Netflix)
2.	OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES	Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
3.	LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA	Josh O'Connor – The Crown as Prince Charles (Netflix)
4.	LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA	Olivia Colman – The Crown as Queen Elizabeth II (Netflix)
5.	LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY	Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso as Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
6.	LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY	Jean Smart – Hacks as Deborah Vance (HBO Max)

Sikkim Govt declared Copper Mahseer (locally named ‘Katley’) as State Fish. Its scientific name is Neolissochilus hexagonolepis.
Sahitya Akademi fellowship winners 2021 -
1. M Leelavathy - Malayalam
2. Ruskin Bond - English
3. Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay - Bengali
4. Vinod Kumar Shukla -Hindi
5. Dr Bhalchandra Nemade - Marathi
6. Dr Tejwant Singh Gill - Punjabi
7. Swami Rambhadracharya - Sanskrit
8. Indira Parthasarathy - Tamil
9. About -
  1. Sahitya Akademi Fellowship literary honour is bestowed by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.
  2. It is highest honour conferred by Akademi on a living writer.
  3. Number of fellows at no time exceeding 21.
Nagaland Govt finalized formation of an opposition-less government, to be called United Democratic Alliance (UDA), aiming at resolution of Naga peace process.
Govt announced generating 12-digit unique IDs for farmers as a part of government’s Digital Agriculture Mission to create a unified Farmers Service Interface, to help farmers avail all-farm-related services of various agricultural schemes and credit facilities.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been re-elected, for his 3rd term.
Rajasthan Assembly passed bill amending Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act 2009, that provides for mandatory registration of marriages, including child marriages.
1. Bill mandates information on marriages including child marriages to be furnished by their parents or guardians within 30 days of wedding.
15th India-Nepal military exercise SURYA KIRAN commenced at Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand).

Sep 19, 2021
1. Denmark's Foundation for Environment Education accorded International eco-label Blue Flag certification to 2 Indian beaches - Kovalam (Tamil Nadu) and Eden (Puducherry). With this latest addition, India now has 10 becahes with Blue Flag Certification.
2. Ministry of Education formed a National Steering Committee for development of National Curriculum Frameworks, headed by K Kasturirangan (Former ISRO Chairman).
3. Govt appointed V R Chaudhari as next Chief of Air Staff (Indian Air Force Chief), to succeed RKS Bhadauria, who retired recently.
4. World Bank Group announced to discontinue publication of its Doing Business rankings of country business climates, after a review of data irregularities in 2018 and 2020 reports.
5. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath launched Matra Bhumi Yojana, aiming Aiming to strengthen participatory rural economy and infrastructure.
  1. Under it, every person will get a chance to directly participate in various works of infrastructure development in villages.
  2. Govt will bear 50 % of total cost of project, while remaining 50 % to be contributed by interested people.
6. Central Govt Formed Group of Ministers (GoM) for Implementation of Schemes for SC, ST, OBC, Minorities & Women, Chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
7. Telecom Firm Vi (Earlier Vodafone-Idea) Partnered With Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Agency And Celltick, To Launch India’s First Cell Broadcast Based Public Warning System.
8. Kotak Mahindra Bank and Indian Institute of Science partnered, to set up a Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI-ML) Centre at IISc.
Sep 18, 2021
1. Sep 18 is observed as World Bamboo Day. 2021 Theme is Bamboo Now. Other Observations on Sep 18 -
  1. UN as International Equal Pay Day, observed since 2020.
  2. International Coastal Clean up Day, observed on third Saturday in September.
2. India's Shefali Juneja has been elected as first woman Chairperson of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Aviation Security Committee.
3. BHEL announced to commission India’s largest floating solar photovoltaic plant in Andhra Pradesh, as 25-mega watt floating SPV project, located at NTPC Simhadri.
4. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Indian Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi as new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate.
5. Pulitzer Prize-winning noted Indian writer, Jhumpa Lahiri's new book Translating Myself and Others, will be released in 2022.
Sep 17, 2021
1. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) partnered with Assam government, to set up an innovation fund under Cluster Development Fund, to promote start-ups.
2. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha launched Mission One Gram Panchayat-One DIGI-Pay Sakhi, to promote door to door digital banking and financial services in remote areas.
3. Researchers found an uninhabited and previously unknown island off Greenland, measuring 60×30 meters and peak three meters above sea level. It is now northernmost place on the planet.
  1. Previously, this title was held by Oodaq. New island is located 780 meters northwest of Oodaq.
4. QS World University Rankings 2022 -
  1. Top 5 -
    1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
    2. University of Oxford (UK)
    3. Stanford University (US) & University of Cambridge (UK)
    4. Harvard University (US)
  2. Top 5 Indian Universities in List -
    1. IIT Bombay (177)
    2. IIIT Delhi (185)
    3. IISC Bangalore (186)
    4. IIT Madras (255)
    5. IIT Kanpur (277)
5. PM Narendra Modi virtually attended 21st meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State, hosted in Dushanbe (Tajikistan).
  1. This was 1st first SCO Summit conducted in hybrid mode, and 4th Summit that India participated in as a full-fledged member of SCO.
6. Sep 17 is observed as World Patient Safety Day, being observed since 2019 by World Health Organisation (WHO).
7. Sep 17 is marked as Marathwada Liberation Day, also known as Hyderabad Liberaton Day / Telangana Liberation Day. It marks anniversary of Marathwada's integration with India when Indian military, invaded State of Hyderabad, and defeated Nizam on 17 September 1948, 13 months after Indian independence.
8. Ashwini Vaishnaw (Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology) launched Meghalaya Enterprise Architecture Project (MeghEA).
  1. The project has 6 pillers - Governance, Human Resources, Entrepreneurship, Primary Sector, Infrastructure and Environment, and vision to make Meghalaya a high income state by 2030.
9. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana, a program under aegis of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), to empower youth by providing entry level training in industry relevant skills through Railway training institutes as part of 75 years of Independence Celebrations (Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav).
  1. Training will be provided to 50000 candidates over 3 years, in 4 trades - Electrician, Welder, Machinist and Fitter. Training programs in other trades will be added based on demands and needs assessment.
  2. Training shall be provided free of cost and participants will be selected from applications received online. Candidates who are 10th passed and between 18-35 years shall be eligible to apply.
10. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin announced that birth anniversary of Thanthai Periyar (September 17), will be celebrated as Social Justice Day in state every year.
  1. Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy(revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar), was noted social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam.
Sep 16, 2021
1. Sep 16 - UN International Day for Preservation of the Ozone Layer. 2021 Theme is Montreal Protocol – keeping us, our food and vaccines cool.
  1. Vienna Convention for Protection of Ozone Layer, was signed in 1985, to provide frameworks for international reductions in production of chlorofluorocarbons.
  2. In 1994, UN proclaimed 16 September as International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer, commemorating date of signing, in 1987, of Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Montreal Protocol has been successful in phasing out 99 % of ozone-depleting chemicals.
  3. On this occasion, Environment Ministry MoS Ashwini Kumar Choubey released Action Plan for implementing recommendations of India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) for thematic Area Space Cooling in Buildings.
2. American Car-Maker Ford announced to stop making cars in India, and record roughly $2 billion in restructuring charges. Ford will wind down an assembly plant in Gujarat and engine manufacturing plants in Chennai by end of FY 23.
3. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari launched iRASTE (Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering), an Artificial Intelligence-powered project, aimed at helping reduce road accidents. It has been launched on a pilot basis in Nagpur, aiming to reduce accidents by 50 %.
4. Noted Mathematician Anand Kumar has been conferred with Swami Brahmanand Award 2021 for his contribution through his 'Super 30' initiative, which prepares underprivileged students for IIT entrance exam.
5. RBI announced theme for 3rd Cohort under Regulatory Sandbox (RS) as ‘MSME Lending’, with applications to be open from October 01, 2021 to November 14, 2021.
  1. Regulatory Sandbox (RS) refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
6. Book Human Rights and Terrorism in India, authored by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, has been released.
7. India participated in 6th edition of multi-nation counter-terror Exercise Peaceful Mission, in Orenburg region of Russia, organized under aegis of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
  1. SCO is an eight-member economic and security bloc that has also emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisation. India and Pakistan became a permanent member of SCO in 2017.
8. Civil aviation minister Jyotiradtiya Scindia (MoS) launched first of its kind “Medicine from the Sky” project in Telangana, aimed at transporting vaccines and other essential products to remote areas using drones.
Sep 15, 2021
1. Cabinet Approvals (Sep 15, 2021) -
  1. MOUs -
    1. Italy - Cooperation in field of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.
  2. General -
    1. Approved PLI Scheme for Automobile Industry and Drone Industry, with budgetary outlay of 26058 crores over 5 years, to incentivize high value Advanced Automotive Technology vehicles and products.
      1. PLI Scheme for auto sector will bring fresh investments of over 42,500 crore in five years and incremental production of over 2.3 lakh crores.
      2. PLI Scheme for Drones will bring fresh investments of over 5000 crore in three years and incremental production of over 1,500 crores.
      3. PLI Scheme for Automobile Industry and Drone Industry is part of overall announcement of PLI Schemes for 13 sectors made earlier during Budget 2021-22, with outlay of 1.97 lakh crores. With this, minimum additional production in India is expected to be around 37.5 lakh crore over 5 years and minimum expected additional employment over 5 years is nearly 1 crore.
    2. Approved Government guarantee of 30,600 crore to back Security Receipts (SRs) issued by National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited, for acquiring stressed loan assets, in line with Budget announcement for FY 2021-22.
      1. Government's guarantee shall be for Rs.30,600 crore and shall be valid for five years. Gol's guarantee can be invoked by NARCL for meeting the shortfall between the face value of the SR and the actual realization upon resolution / liquidation.
    3. Approved several reforms in Telecom sector, to boost employment and protect interests of consumers.
      1. Structural Reforms -
        Non-telecom revenue will be excluded on prospective basis from definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
        
        Reduction in Bank Guarantees requirements (80%) against License Fee (LF) and other similar Levies. No requirements for multiple BGs in different Licenced Service Areas (LSAs) regions in country.
        
        Interest rates rationalized/ Penalties removed.
        
        For Auctions held henceforth, no BGs will be required to secure instalment payments.
        
        In future Auctions, tenure of spectrum increased from 20 to 30 years.
        
        Surrender of spectrum will be permitted after 10 years for spectrum acquired in the future auctions.
        
        No Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) for spectrum acquired in future spectrum auctions.
        
        Spectrum sharing encouraged- additional SUC of 0.5% for spectrum sharing removed.
        
        To encourage investment, 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under automatic route permitted in Telecom Sector. All safeguards will apply.
      2. Procedural Reforms -
        Spectrum auctions to be normally held in the last quarter of every financial year.
        
        Cumbersome requirement of licenses under 1953 Customs Notification for wireless equipment removed, Replaced with self-declaration.
        
        Self-KYC permitted. E-KYC rate revised to One Rupee. Shifting from Prepaid to Post-paid and vice-versa will not require fresh KYC.
        
        Paper Customer Acquisition Forms (CAF) will be replaced by digital storage of data.
        
        SACFA clearance for telecom towers eased. DOT will accept data on a portal based on self-declaration basis. Portals of other Agencies (such as Civil Aviation) will be linked with DOT Portal.
2. Sep 15 - UN International Day of Democracy, proclaimed by UN General Assembly in 2007.
  1. On this occasion, Sansad TV has been launched by PM Narendra Modi.
  2. Also, Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma launched MyMeG Program, an initiative to facilitate citizen engagement and participation in the governance process.
3. India participated in Multinational Military Exercise ZAPAD-2021, hosted by Russia at Mulino in Novgorod Region, with participation from 7 countries. Other Nations are Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Sri Lanka.
4. Sep 15 - Engineer's Day in India. It commemorates Mokshagundam Vishweshvaraya (popularly known as Sir MV). In 1955, he was conferred India's highest honour, Bharat Ratna. 15 September is celebrated as Engineer's Day in India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania in his memory.
  1. He was chief engineer responsible for the construction of Krishna Raja Sagara dam in North-West suburb of Mysuru city and chief engineer of flood protection system for city of Hyderabad.
  2. On This occasion, A Customized Stamp on India’s First Anti Satellite Missile (A-SAT) launch has been released by Department of Posts. ASAT test was done successfully in Mar 2019, named Mission Shakti.
  3. Notably, Telangana state celebrates Engineers day on July 11th on birthday of Ali Nawaz Jung Bahadur.
5. RBI and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced to link their respective fast payment systems - Unified Payments Interface (India) and PayNow (Singapore), targeted for operationalisation by July 2022.
  1. It will enable users of each of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other payment system.
6. Jonas Gahr Store has been elected as new Prime Minister of Norway, after his party won Elections for the same.
7. Rebecca Grynspan (Costa Rica) became first woman and Central American Secretary-General of UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
8. PM Narendra Modi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and CEO of Serum Institute of India Adar Poonawalla are named in TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2021. Notably, Taliban government’s Deputy PM Abdul Ghani Baradar (Afghanistan) is also named in list.
9. New defence pact between US, UK and Australia, to be known as AUKUS, has been framed. It will enable sharing of advanced technologies, expertise in artificial intelligence, cyber underwater systems and long-range capabilities.
Sep 14, 2021
1. Sep 14 is observed as Hindi Diwas (Also called Rajbhasha Diwas). It commemorates adoption of Hindi written in Devanagari script as one of the two official languages of the Republic of India by Constituent Assembly of India, in 1949.
2. Ministry of Defence constituted an Expert Committee, under chairmanship of former MP Baijayant Panda, for a comprehensive review of National Cadet Corps (NCC), in order to make it more relevant in changed times.
3. President Ram Nath Kovind conferred National Florence Nightingale Awards 2020 to 51 awardees.
  1. Florence Nightingale awards were instituted in 1973 by Govt, to honor meritorious services rendered by nurses to the society.
4. NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) Jointly launched Shoonya, an initiative to promote zero-pollution delivery vehicles by working with consumers and industry. The campaign aims to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about the benefits of zero-pollution delivery.
5. PM Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh), being established by Uttar Pradesh government in honour of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, noted freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer.

Sep 13, 2021

Mclaren's Australian -Italian F1 racer Daniel Ricciardo won Italian Grand Prix 2021 -

F1 Season 2021 -

Grand Prix	Winner	Race date
Bahrain Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	28 March
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	18 April
Portuguese Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	2 May
Spanish Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	9 May
Monaco Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	23 May
Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Sergio Pérez (Mexico)	6 June
French Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	20 June
Styrian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	27 June
Austrian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	4 July
British Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	18 July
Hungarian Grand Prix	Esteban Ocon (France)	1 August
Belgian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	29 August
Dutch Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	5 September
Italian Grand Prix	Daniel Ricciardo (Australian -Italian)	12 September
Russian Grand Prix		26 September
Japanese Grand Prix		10 October
United States Grand Prix		24 October
Mexico City Grand Prix		31 October
São Paulo Grand Prix		7 November
Australian Grand Prix		21 November
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix		5 December
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		12 December

English Author Susanna Clarke won UK's noted Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021, for her novel ‘Piranesi’.
India's first nuclear-missile tracking ship INS Dhruv has been commissioned into naval service, from Visakhapatnam (AP).
1. It is India's first naval vessel that is capable of tracking nuclear missiles at a long-range.
2. Earlier known by code name VC-11184, this 1000 tonnes vessel will play key role in advancing India's presence in Indo-Pacific region.
3. Built by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd in collaboration with DRDO and NTRO.
Web services provider Yahoo named Jim Lanzone as its new chief executive officer (CEO), to replace Guru Gowrappan.
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar released book Haryana Environment and Pollution Code’ compiled by civil servant and poet Dheera Khandelwal.
El Salvador became first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, followed by a law approved by country's parliament Earlier in 2021.
Sameer Sharma has been appointed as new Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh.
Chhattisgarh Govt launched Millet Mission initiative, aimed at becoming millet hub of country by giving farmers right price for small cereal crops, provide input assistance, procurement arrangements etc.
As per Govt Data, Haryana topped among states in terms of installation of off-grid solar pumps under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahaabhiyaan (PM-KUSUM). Haryana installed 14418 pumps against 15000 sanctioned pumps for 2020-21, most in country.
World’s largest plant that can capture carbon dioxide directly from air and deposit it underground, started operating in Iceland, operated by Swiss Firm Climeworks AG and Icelandic carbon storage firm ‘Carbfix’.
1. The plant is named Orca, which means ‘Energy’ in Icelandic Language. It will suck out up to 4,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Sep 12, 2021
1. Sep 12 - UN International Day for South-South Cooperation.
2. US Open Tennis 2021 (141th Edition) Winners -
  1. Men's Singles - Daniil Medvedev (Russia). He defeated Novak Djokovic (Serbia).
    1. It is 1st Grand Slam Title for Daniil Medvedev.
  2. Women's Singles - Emma Raducanu (United Kingdom). She defeated Leylah Fernandez (Canada).
    1. It is 1st Grand Slam Title for Emma Raducanu.
  3. Men's Doubles - Rajeev Ram (US) AND Joe Salisbury (UK)
  4. Women's Doubles -Samantha Stosur (Australia) AND Zhang Shuai (China)
  5. Mixed Doubles - Desirae Krawczyk (US) AND Joe Salisbury (UK)
3. India's Tejaus Chauhan has been appointed Regional Director for South Asia in International Court of Arbitration of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
4. Najib Mikati has been named new Prime Minister of Lebanon, for his 3rd term.
5. Morocco King Mohammed VI appointed Aziz Akhannouch as new Prime Minister of Morocco.
Sep 11, 2021
1. Tamil Nadu government announced to commemorate death anniversary of Subramania Bharathi, noted poet & freedom fighter, as Mahakavi Day. 2021 marks 100th death anniversary of the poet.
2. 1st Indo-Australian 2+2 Dialogue has been held in New Delhi, attended by Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton.
  1. On India's Behalf, it was attended by External affairs minister S Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh.
3. Ministry of Finance has exempted 165 District Mineral Foundation Trusts (DMF) from Paying Income Tax.
  1. Through amendment in Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) (MMDR) Act, in 2015, Government has made provision for establishment of District Mineral Foundation in all districts affected by mining. DMFs work for benefit of persons, and areas affected by mining related operations.
  2. Ministry of Finance has so far notified 316 DMF Trusts as ‘Class of Authority’.
4. BJP's Bhupendrabhai Patel has been named as New (17th) Chief Minister of Gujarat, replacing Vijay Rupani.
5. India and USA launched Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD).
  1. It is one of 2 tracks of India-U.S. Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership launched at Leaders' Summit on Climate in April 2021, by PM Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden.
  2. CAFMD will aim to strengthen India-US bilateral cooperation on climate and environment and help demonstrate how world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development.
6. Sep 11 is observed in India as National Forest Martyrs Day, observed by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
  1. Sep 11, 2021 is also observed as World First Aid Day, observed every year on 2nd saturday of september.
Sep 10, 2021
1. 4th edition of Joint Indo-Australian Navy Exercise AUSINDEX-21 hosted by Australia.
2. Sep 10 - World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD). 2021 theme is Creating Hope Through Action.
3. Misc. MOUs (September 2021) -
  1. All India Institute of Ayurveda signed MoU in coordination with NICM Western Sydney University Australia, to appoint an Academic Chair in Ayurveda.
  2. NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in signed Statement of Intent (SoI) with Dassault Systèmes (France), to support various current and future initiatives of AIM programs and AIM beneficiaries in India, including Atal Tinkering Labs, AIM incubators, Atal Community Innovation Centres, grantees under Atal New India Challenge (ANIC), and Atal Research & Innovation for Small Enterprise (ARISE).
  3. MOU has been signed between Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H) and American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, for strengthening quality of Ayurvedic and other Indian Traditional Medicine products globally.
  4. UN Development Programme, HDFC Bank and Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority signed pact to set up a facility to manage dry waste.
  5. TRIFED signed collaborative project with IIT Delhi Unit Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FIIT), and Rusicaa Beverages, to commercialize production of Mahua Nutra beverage Heritage Drink in Jharkhand.
  6. Zoological Survey of India and Natural History Museum (London) signed MOU for working together on mutually beneficial projects focused on study of fauna of India.
  7. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed MoU, to work together on sustainably improving India’s livestock sector to support nation’s food and nutritional security.
  8. UN World Food Programme and Hyderabad bassed International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) signed MOU on programmes and research to strengthen food, nutrition security, and livelihoods in India.
4. Assam govt renamed Rajiv Gandhi National Park, also a Tiger reserve, as Orang National Park.
  1. It Covers area of 79.28 sq km. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1985, and a national park in 1999.
5. General Conferences (Sep 1-10, 2021) -
  1. Arunachal govt inaugurated a Centre for Conservation and Propagation of Wild Orchids of Arunachal Pradesh at Hapoli in Lower Subansiri District.
  2. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced 100-day plan for India’s civil aviation sector that includes policy measures and the development of airports as well as heliports.
  3. As a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of AYUSH launched campaign AYUSH AAPKE DWAR, aiming to distribute medicinal plant saplings to 75 lakh households in one year.
  4. Solung festival of Adi Tribe observed in Arunachal Pradesh, as harvest festival performed after sowing of seeds and transplantation.
  5. UN Security Council under India’s Presidency, adopted a new resolution on Afghanistan, demanding that territory must not be used to shelter terrorists, asking Taliban to adhere to commitments regarding safe departure of Afghans and foreign nationals.
  6. Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani inaugurated NUTRI GARDEN, to mark beginning of Poshan Maah 2021 at All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA).
  7. Chhattisgarh govt will issue domicile certificates to students studying outside state, to help claim ration card and obtain admissions in educational institutions.
  8. Manipur Govt launched e-ILP platform for effective regulation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in state, to better regulate entry, exit and tracking of visitors who are overstaying beyond permitted duration.
  9. Defence Expo 2022 will be hosted by Gujarat, in March 2022.
  10. Chandigarh Railway Stationhas been awarded a 5 star ‘Eat Right Station’ certification by FSSAI, for providing high-quality, nutritious food to passengers. It is part of Eat Right India movement, by FSSAI to transform India’s food system to ensure healthy and sustainable food for all.
  11. Govt entered into a ceasefire agreement with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) Khaplang (K) led by Nikki Sumi, applicable for 1 year.
  12. China announced aid of USD 31 million for Taliban-led Afghanistan and endorsed new caretaker government Islamic Emirate of Taliban.
  13. Minister of State for Power and Heavy Industries, Krishan Pal Gurjar chaired BRICS Energy Ministers meet, under Chairship of India.
  14. 11th India-United Kingdom Economic and Financial Dialogue held virtually, chaired by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and UK Treasury Chancellor Rishi Sunak. During it, Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership was launched, to accelerate efforts to mobilise capital into India.
  15. Ministry of Housing and urban Affairs and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology launched pilot drive Main Bhi Digital 3.0, Campaign for Digital Onboarding and Training for street vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme across 223 cities.
  16. 1st India–Japan High Level Policy Dialogue held virtually, attended by Bhupender Yadav (Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change).
6. 5th edition off India - Kazakhstan joint military exercise KAZIND-21 held at Training Node Aisha Bibi (Kazakhstan).
7. Book Gita Govinda: Jaydeva’s Divine Odyssey, authored by Utpal K. Banerjee, has been released. It is first-ever fully-rhymed translation of book Geeta Govindam by noted 12th-century poet Jayadeva.
8. Hyderabad - based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been awarded Africa Food Prize 2021 for improving food security across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
9. Delhi govt launched 'Business Blasters programme, which aims at developing young entrepreneurs at school-level by providing students seed money to start a business, under Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum.
Sep 09, 2021
1. Book Bullets Over Bombay by Uday Bhatia, has been released.
2. Central banks in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa announced to conduct a cross border payments trial using different central bank digital currencies (CBDC), to assess ease of settlement of transactions, under Project Dunbar.
3. Mumbai became first city in South Asia to launch its own Climate Action Plan, to check Climate Change.
4. Competition Commission of India Approvals (September 2021) -
  1. Approved acquisition of ONGC Tripura Power Company Limited by GAIL (India). It relates to acquisition of 26% equity of ONGC Tripura by GAIL.
  2. Approved acquisition of Indiabulls Asset Management Company and Indiabulls Trustee Company by Nextbillion Technology Private Limited.
  3. Approved acquisition of 10.4% of equity shareholding of Gangavaram Port by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (APSEZ), from Government of Andhra Pradesh.
5. NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission launched ATL Space Challenge 2021 for all school students across country, in collaboration with ISRO and CBSE.
  1. This is to ensure that students of classes 6 to 12 are given an open platform where they can innovate and enable themselves to solve digital age space technology problems.
  2. ATL Space Challenge 2021 aligns with the World Space Week 2021 (observed between 4 - 10 October globally).
6. 1st deliverable Firing Unit (FU) of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) System has been handed over to Indian Air Force (IAF) by DRDO.
  1. MRSAM is an advanced network centric combat Air Defence System developed jointly by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
  2. MRSAM provides point and area air defence for ground assets against a wide range of threats. It is capable of engaging multiple targets at ranges up to 70 kms.
7. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released 6th edition India Rankings 2021 of Higher Education Institutes. In 2021, Research category has been introduced for the first time bringing the total tally to 11 categories.
  1. Overall -
    1. IIT Madras
    2. IISC Bengaluru
    3. IIT Bombay
    4. IIT Delhi
    5. IIT Kanpur
  2. University -
    1. IISC Bengaluru
    2. JNU New Delhi
    3. BHU Varanasi
  3. Engineering
    1. IIT Madras
    2. IIT Delhi
    3. IIT Bombay
  4. Management -
    1. IIM Ahmedabad
    2. IIM Bangalore
    3. IIM Calcutta
  5. Colleges -
    1. Miranda House Delhi
    2. Lady Shri Ram College for Women New Delhi
    3. Loyola College
  6. Pharmacy -
    1. Jamia Hamdard New Delhi
    2. Panjab University Chandigarh
    3. Birla Institute of Technology & Science -Pilani
  7. Medical -
    1. AIIMS New Delhi
    2. PGIMER Chandigarh
    3. Christian Medical College Vellore
  8. Architecture
    1. IIT Roorkee
    2. National Institute of Technology Calicut
    3. IIT Kharagpur
  9. Law -
    1. National Law School of India University Bengaluru
    2. National Law University New Delhi
    3. Nalsar University of Law Hyderabad
  10. Dental -
    1. Manipal College of Dental Sciences Udupi
    2. Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune
    3. Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences Chennai
  11. Research -
    1. IISC Bengaluru
    2. IIT Madras
    3. IIT Bombay
8. Uttarakhand Govt observed Sep 9 as Himalaya Day, being observed since 2015. 2021 Theme is Contribution of Himalayas and our responsibilities.
  1. Sep 09 is also obsered by UN as International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
9. Food Processing Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras inaugurated 7 food processing projects at Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
  1. Total cost of 7 projects is 164.46 crores and grant in aid of 27.99 crores. 3100 people will get direct and indirect employment from these projects.
10. Prahlad Patel (Minister of State (Jal Shakti)) launched Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2021, under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase -2.
  1. Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) had commissioned Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG) earlier in 2018 and 2019.
  2. Focus areas of Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2021 Solid and Liquid Waste Management, Menstrual Hygiene Management, ODF sustainability and ODF Plus implementation.
11. New State Governors Appointed -
  1. Banwarilal Purohit - Punjab
  2. R. N. Ravi - Tamil Nadu
  3. Gurmit Singh - Uttarakhand
  4. Jagdish Mukhi - Additional Charge as Governor of Nagaland, along with discharging duties as Governor of Assam.
12. India Chaired 13th BRICS Summit held virtually, with theme BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus.
  1. Notable developments during India's BRICS Chairship in 2021 include first BRICS Digital Health Summit, first BRICS Ministerial Joint Statement on multilateral reforms, BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan, Agreement on cooperation in field of remote-sensing satellites, Virtual BRICS vaccine Research & Development Centre and BRICS Alliance on Green Tourism.
13. Govt. formed a new committee to frame new laws for cosmetics, drugs, and medical devices, headed by Drug Controller General of India V.G. Somani.
  1. Panel will review 1940 Drugs and Cosmetics Act and suggest new legislation to regulate drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices.
14. India will host G-20 summit for first time in 2023, after taking G-20 Presidency of from December 1, 2022.
  1. 2021 G20 Summit will be held under Italian presidency, in Oct'21. Piyush Goyal replaced Suresh Prabhu as India’s G20 Sherpa.
15. Railways announced to shut down its green fuel vertical Indian Railways Organization of Alternate Fuel (IROAF).
  1. IROAF had recently invited bids for hydrogen fuel cell-based technology for trains. Railways has transferred IROAF's work to Northern Railways and Railway Board.
16. As per TN Govt report, Porunai river civilization has been claimed to be 3200 years old.
  1. It has been stated after AMS carbon dating of paddy and soil that came out of an urn unearthed during an excavation in Sivakalai in Tuticorin district (Tamil Nadu).
17. 12-year-old Ayaan Shankta from Mumbai, has been named among 25 winners of 2021 International Young Eco-Hero award, for efforts to solve environmental problems. He ranked 3rd in 8 - 14 years age group category for his project ‘Conservation and Rehabilitation of Powai Lake'.
18. September 9 is observed as World EV Day.

Sep 08, 2021

Cabinet Approvals (Sep 08, 2021) -

MOUs -
1. MOU between Institute of Chartered Accountants of India & Chamber of Auditors of the Republic of Azerbaijan (CAAR).
2. MoU on cooperation in field of Geosciences between Russia's Rosgeologia (ROSGEO) and Geological Survey of India.
3. Approved signing of agreement on recruitment of Indian citizens to work in Portugal.
General -
1. Approved PLI Scheme for Textiles for MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and 10 segments/ products of Technical Textiles with a budgetary outlay of 10683 crores.
  1. It is expected to result in fresh investment of above 19000 crores and additional production turnover of over Rs.3 lakh crore in five years.
  2. It is part of announcement of PLI Schemes for 13 sectors made during Budget 2021-22, with outlay of 1.97 lakh crores. With announcement of PLI Schemes for 13 sectors, minimum production is expected to be 37.5 lakh crores over 5 years and minimum expected employment over 5 years is nearly 1 crore.
2. Approved IAF project worth 10990 crores to build 6 AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) aircraft to bolster surveillance capability of Indian Air Force (IAF) along borders, regarded as eyes in the sky project.

CCEA Approvals -

Approved increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all mandated Rabi crops for Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23 -

MSPs for all Rabi crops for marketing season 2022-23 (In Rs./quintal)

Crops	MSP for RMS 2021-22	MSP for RMS 2022-23	*Cost of production 2022-23**	Increase in MSP (Absolute)	Return over cost (in per cent)
Wheat	1975	2015	1008	40	100
Barley	1600	1635	1019	35	60
Gram	5100	5230	3004	130	74
Lentil (Masur)	5100	5500	3079	400	79
Rapeseed & Mustard	4650	5050	2523	400	100
Safflower	5327	5441	3627	114	50

Expected returns to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of wheat and rapeseed & mustard (100% each), followed by lentil (79%); gram (74%); barley (60%); safflower (50%).

Approved procurement of 56 C-295MW transport aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space (Spain) for Indian Air Force.
1. C-295MW aircraft is a transport aircraft of 5-10 Tonne capacity with contemporary technology that will replace the ageing Avro aircraft of IAF.
2. 16 aircraft will be delivered from Spain within 48 months, and 40 will be manufactured in India by TATA Consortium within 10 years. This is first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company.

Sep 8 is observed as UN International Literacy Day, proclaimned by UNESCO in 1966. 2021 theme is Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide. On this occasion, UNESCO honored 2021 Laureates of UNESCO Literacy Prizes -
1. UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize awards for mother-tongue literacy education and training, sponsored by South Korea. Each of 3 King Sejong prize winners receive a medal, a diploma and US$20.000. Awardees -
  1. Limitless Horizons Ixil (Guatemala) for its 'Broadcasting Bilingual Stories: Promoting Interactive Literacy Programming in Rural Guatemala' programme.
  2. National Institute of Open Schooling (India) for its ‘Enabling education of persons with disabilities through technology enabled inclusive learning material, with specific focus on Indian sign language based content' programme.
  3. Puku Children's Literature Foundation (South Africa) for its 'Using digital technologies to promote children's literature in South Africa's indigenous languages' programme.
2. UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy (Supported by China) . Each of 3 Confucius prizewinners receives a medal, a diploma and US$30.000.
  1. ONG GA-TIC (Côte d'Ivoire) for its 'Functional literacy for traders in Abidjan through the use of ICT' programme.
  2. Ain-Shams University (Egypt) for its 'experience in organizing online literacy classes for rural areas in Egypt' programme.
  3. Construyendo y Creciendo (Mexico) for its 'Building & Growing' programme.
COVID-19 Pandemic Updates (September 2021) -
1. Cuba started vaccinating children above 2 years with COVID-19 vaccine jabs, making it first country in world to start vaccinating children below the age of six.
2. Manipur govt launched COVID-19 Affected Livelihood Support Scheme to provide assistance (INR 2500) to those who had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. India on September 17, 2021, administered a record number of over 2.50 cores COVID-19 vaccine doses.
RBI removed UCO Bank from its Prompt Corrective Action Framework (PCAF), subject to continuous monitoring.
1. Kolkata-based UCO bank came out of PCA restrictions after more than four years, which were put in May 2017, amid high NPAs and negative return on assets.
RBI announced enhancements to extant framework on card tokenisation services -
1. From January 1 2022, no entity in card transaction or payment chain other than the card issuer and card network will be able to store the actual card data of customers. Any such data stored previously shall be purged.
2. For transaction tracking and/or reconciliation purposes, entities can store limited data (last four digits of actual card number and card issuer’s name).
International Monetary Fund (IMF) made an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 12.57 billion (equivalent to around USD 17.86 billion at latest exchange rate) to India, taking total SDR holdings of India to SDR 13.66 billion (equivalent to USD 19.41 billion).
1. SDR holdings is one of components of Oreign Exchange Reserves of a country. IMF makes general SDR allocation to its members in proportion to their existing quotas in Fund.
2. IMF had approved a general allocation of about SDR 456 billion earlier, of which share of India is SDR 12.57 billion.
Writer Namita Gokhale has been chosen as recipient of 7th Yamin Hazarika Woman of Substance Award.
1. The annual award honours Yamin Hazarika, the first woman from Northeast India to be selected for DANIPS, a federal police service that administered Delhi and Union Territories in 1977.
Govt named Harsha Bhupendra Bangari as new Managing Director (MD) of the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank), to succeed David Rasquinha.
Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) announced to set up an Atmanirbhar Bharat corner in 75 Indian Missions/ Embassies across world, in 3 months. First such Atma Nirbhar Bharat corner was inaugurated at Indian Embassy in Bangkok (Thailand), on August 15, 2021.
Book Back to the Roots, co-authored by Actress Tamannaah Bhatia and lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho, has been released.
Govt named S.L.Tripathy as CMD of United India Insurance Company Limited.

Sep 07, 2021
1. WHO Hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence, an international initiative to be better prepared for global disease threats, has been inaugurated in Berlin (Germany).
  1. Germany will invest $100 million initially in the hub, which will involve multiple disciplines and technology, to link data, tools and communities so that actionable intelligence is shared for the common good.
  2. Chikwe Ihekweazu (Nigeria) will lead the new WHO hub.
2. Book The Murderer, The Monarch And The Fakir, Authored by Appu Esthose Suresh & Priyanka Kotamraju, has been released.
3. RBI’s account aggregator framework went live with 8 major banks joining it, enabling customers to easily access and share their financial data. These banks include SBI, ICICI, Axis, IDFC First, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Federal Bank.
  1. Neo bank Fi has also joined the account aggregator network and is one of the first fintechs to join the ecosystem.
4. Goa became first state to supply water free of cost to its citizens, under Save Water to Get Free Water scheme. Under it, households will not be charged for consumption up to 16000 litres of water.
5. Alar Karis has been named new President of Estonia (Northern Europe).
6. India offered $100 million credit line to Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, through Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank). It will help develop critical infrastructure required for revival of Africa’s economies in wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
7. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed 50 million USD loan agreement with India's Northern Arc Capital (NAC), to fund non-bank financial entities that provide financial services to women, through co-financing with United States International Development Finance Corporation (USDFC).
8. Nigeria announced to launch its own cryptocurrency, eNaira, with Bitt Inc as technical partner. Nigeria recently barred banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies.
9. Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $300 million loan as additional financing to scale up improvement of rural connectivity to help boost rural economy in the state of Maharashtra, under Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project .
  1. Ongoing project with $200 million financing, approved in August 2019, is improving condition of 2100 km of rural roads across state.
10. Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $112 million loan to develop water supply infrastructure and strengthen capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) for improved service delivery in four towns in Jharkhand.
11. Ministry of Coal Constituted a Task Force and Expert Committee to Prepare Road Map for Coal based Hydrogen Production, under Chairmanship of Vinod Kumar Tiwari (Additional Secretary Coal).
  1. Its mandate includes monitoring of activities towards achieving coal-based hydrogen production and usage and coordination with Coal Gasification Mission and NITI Aayog.
12. Andhra Pradesh Government appointed former SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar as its economic advisor.
13. Noted Indian biologist Shailendra Singh won Behler Turtle Conservation Award, for bringing three critically endangered turtle conservation species back from the brink of extinction.
  1. As per report, for species such as Northern River Terrapin (Batagur Baska), Red-crowned roofed turtle (Batagur Kachuga) and Black Softshell Turtle (Nilssonia nigricans), Shailendra Singh and his team are the last hope for their wild survival in India.
14. Sep 07 is observed as UN International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, observed since 2020. 2021 theme is Healthy Air, Healthy Planet.
  1. On this occasion, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav launched first functional Smog Tower of India, at Anand Vihar (New Delhi).
  2. He also Launched PRANA (Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in Non-Attainment cities) portal for tracking of physical as well as financial status of city air action plan implementation for 132 cities.
  3. Also, India’s tallest air purification tower (24 metre) inaugurated in Chandigarh, covering area of 500-metre radius.
15. Sep 1 - 7 is observed annually as National Nutrition Week. Also, September is obbserved as Nutrition Month.
Sep 6, 2021
1. United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a new ‘green visa’ scheme which allows foreigners to work in UAE, without need for sponsorship by an employer.
  1. Foreigners in UAE were so far generally given limited visas tied to their employment, with long-term residency very difficult to obtain.
  2. Holders of new green visa will be able to work without company sponsorship, and can sponsor their parents / children up to 25 years age.
2. India became first Asian country to launch a Plastics Pact, as a new platform to promote a circular system for plastics, launched during 16th Sustainability Summit hosted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
3. Mamady Doumbouya has been named interim president of Guinea (West Africa), after long-serving president Alpha Conde was ousted from power during a military coup.
4. Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved $150 million loan for a sustainable housing project for urban poor in Tamil Nadu.
5. President Ram Nath Kovind awaded President’s Colour to Indian Naval Aviation, at ceremonial parade at INS Hansa (Goa).
  1. President’s Colour is the highest honour bestowed on a military unit in recognition of its exceptional service to the nation.
  2. Indian Naval Aviation came into being with acquisition of the first Sealand aircraft on 13 Jan 1951 and commissioning of INS Garuda, the first Naval Air Station, on 11 May 1953.
  3. Indian Navy was first amongst the Indian Armed Forces to be awarded President’s Colour on 27 May 1951 by Dr Rajendra Prasad (First President of India).
6. Tamil Nadu govt will set up India’s first Dugong (sea cow) Conservation Reserve in the Palk Bay on the southeast coast of state. Dugong is an endangered marine mammal that is facing extinction due to habitat loss, sea pollution, and loss of seagrass.
7. Misc. Corporate News / Events (September 2021) -
  1. Life insurer HDFC Life acquired 100 % stake in Exide Life Insurance, for 6687 crores.
  2. Branchless banking and digital payments network PayNearby associated with Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India (RASCI), to launch NeoDukaan, to digitally upgrade its retail partners.
  3. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and LIC Housing Finance partnered for providing home loan products to over 4.5 crore customers of IPPB.
  4. Bank of Baroda launched its digital banking platform 'bob World', aimed at providing all banking services under one app.
  5. Karnataka Bank launched all-in-one Point-of-Sales (POS) swiping machine dubbed as ‘WisePOSGo’, for its merchant customers.
  6. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in partnership with Fiserv Inc., launched plug-and-play RuPay credit card stack, ‘nFiNi’.
  7. Govt enhanced scope of Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme for specified agriculture products by including dairy products under its purview and increasing rates of assistance. Scheme has been extended till March 31, 2022.
  8. PSU NBFC Power Finance Corporation (PFC) issued its maiden Euro 300 million 7-year Euro Bond issuance, with pricing of 1.841%, which is lowest yield locked in by an Indian Issuer in Euro markets. It is the first ever Euro denominated Green bond issuance from India.
  9. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) declared Kushinagar Airport (Uttar Pradesh) as a Customs notified airport, which will also facilitate international passenger movements including that of Buddhist pilgrims.
  10. IT Firm Infosys launched Equinox, to help enterprises securely deliver hyper-segmented, personalized omnichannel commerce experiences for B2B and B2C buyers.
  11. DBS Bank launched real-time online tracking for cross-border payments for its corporate clients, in partnership with SWIFT Global Payments Innovation (GPI). DBS is first bank in India and Asia-Pacific to offer this service to corporate clients, at no additional cost.
    1. Also, DBS has been named World's Best Bank for fourth straight year, in Euromoney rankings.
  12. HSBC India launched UniTransact, a digital proposition aimed at simplifying cross-border transactions.
  13. TCS became 2nd Indian Firm after Reliance Industries, to cross $200 billion market capitalisation.
  14. Amazon India launched Kisan Store, launched by Agri Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. With this, farmers will have availability of agriculture inputs like seeds, farm tools & accessories etc, with added convenience of doorstep deliveries.
  15. LIC launched mobile app PRAGATI (Performance Review Application, Growth And Trend Indicator), for exclusive use by its Development Officers.
  16. ZEE Entertainment approved its merger with Sony Pictures Networks India. Zee Entertainment will hold 47.07 % stake in merged entity, while Sony India holding 52.93 %.
  17. As per Data presented at 2nd Global Fintech Fest-2021 Held Virtually, India's FinTech adoption rate is best in world, at 87 % (against global average of 64%).
  18. NTPC Subsidiary NTPC Renewable Energy ltd signed its first Green Term Loan agreement of 500 crores, with a tenor of 15 years with Bank of India, for its 470 MW Solar Projects in Rajasthan & 200 MW Solar Project in Gujarat.
  19. HDFC Bank has been named Overall Most Outstanding Company in India, as per Asia’s Outstanding Companies Poll conducted by publication Asiamoney.
  20. RBI permitted transfer of loans that have been classified as fraud by lenders to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), paving way for resolution of such accounts.
  21. RBI allowed loan exposures classified as fraud to be transferred to Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs), amid banks reporting frauds worth 3.95-lakh crores between FY19 and FY21.
  22. RBI has set limit for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for second half of FY 2021-22, at 50,000 crores.
  23. Amazon extended its computer science program Future Engineer, to India, making India fifth market where Amazon offers the childhood-to-career community program.
  24. J&K Bank received 500 Crores capital from Government of J&K, to acquire over 16.7 crore shares.
  25. Indian IT services Firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been selected by German commercial bank NORD/LB, as its strategic partner for 5 years IT transformation project.
  26. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar Launched Samarpan Portal, for People to Offer Voluntary Service.
8. As per Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022 -
  1. Top 5 -
    1. University of Oxford (UK)
    2. California Institute of Technology (US)
    3. Harvard University (US)
    4. Stanford University (US)
    5. University of Cambridge (UK)
  2. Top Indian universities in list -
    1. Indian Institute of Science (Global rank 301 - 350)
    2. IIT Ropar (351-400)
    3. JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (351 - 400)
    4. IIT Indore (401 - 500)
    5. Alagappa University (501 - 600)

Sep 5, 2021

Red Bull's Belgian-Dutch F1 racer Max Verstappen won Dutch Grand Prix 2021 -

F1 Season 2021 -

Grand Prix	Winner	Race date
Bahrain Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	28 March
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	18 April
Portuguese Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	2 May
Spanish Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	9 May
Monaco Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	23 May
Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Sergio Pérez (Mexico)	6 June
French Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	20 June
Styrian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	27 June
Austrian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	4 July
British Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	18 July
Hungarian Grand Prix	Esteban Ocon (France)	1 August
Belgian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	29 August
Dutch Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	5 September
Italian Grand Prix		12 September
Russian Grand Prix		26 September
Japanese Grand Prix		10 October
United States Grand Prix		24 October
Mexico City Grand Prix		31 October
São Paulo Grand Prix		7 November
Australian Grand Prix		21 November
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix		5 December
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		12 December

Sep 5 - National Teachers' Day in India. It commemorates Birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, first Vice President and second President of India. On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind presented National Award to Teachers to 44 Teachers from across nation.
Sep 5 - UN International Day of Charity. It was declared in 2012 and commemorates anniversary of passing away of Mother Teresa (on Sep 5, 1997).
1. Also, Canadian city of Burnaby declared September 5 as “Gauri Lankesh Day”, as a tribute to the journalist on her death anniversary. Gauri Lankesh, a left-leaning journalist, was shot dead on September 5, 2017, allegedly for her anti-Hindutva stand.

Tokyo (Japan) Summer Paralympic Games 2020 (24 August - 5 September 2021, postponed from 2020 due to Covid-19 Pandemic) -

Stats -
1. It was 16th edition of Paralympic Games, continuing since 1960.
2. Motto of Tokyo Paralympics 2020 - United by Emotion.
3. Someity is official mascot of 2020 Summer Paralympics.
  1. Note that Miraitowa was official mascot of 2020 Summer Olympics.
4. 4403 Athletes participated in 539 Events of 22 sports with 162 Nations participating.
5. New Sports included in Paralympics in T0kyo 2020 Edition - badminton, taekwondo. They replaced football 7-a-side and sailing.

India at 2020 Tokyo Paralympics -

India finished Tokyo Paralympics 2020 with an all-time high of 19 medals (5 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze), as best ever paralympic tally for India. India was ranked at 24th among 162 nations.

Indian Medalists at 2020 Summer Tokyo Paralympics -

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Avani Lekhara	Shooting	Women's R2 10 metre air rifle standing SH1
Gold	Sumit Antil	Athletics	Men's javelin throw F64
Gold	Manish Narwal	Shooting	Mixed P4 50 metre pistol SH1
Gold	Pramod Bhagat	Badminton	Men's singles SL3
Gold	Krishna Nagar	Badminton	Men's singles SH6
Silver	Bhavina Patel	Table tennis	Women's individual class 4
Silver	Nishad Kumar	Athletics	Men's high jump T47
Silver	Yogesh Kathuniya	Athletics	Men's discus throw F56
Silver	Devendra Jhajharia	Athletics	Men's javelin throw F46
Silver	Mariyappan Thangavelu	Athletics	Men's high jump T63
Silver	Praveen Kumar	Athletics	Men's high jump T64
Silver	Singhraj Adhana	Shooting	Mixed P4 50 metre pistol SH1
Silver	Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj	Badminton	Men's singles SL4
Bronze	Sundar Singh Gurjar	Athletics	Men's javelin throw F46
Bronze	Singhraj Adhana	Shooting	Men's P1 10 metre air pistol SH1
Bronze	Sharad Kumar	Athletics	Men's high jump T63
Bronze	Avani Lekhara	Shooting	Women's R8 50 metre Rifle 3 positions SH1
Bronze	Harvinder Singh	Archery	Men's individual recurve open
Bronze	Manoj Sarkar	Badminton	Men's singles SL3

Notably, Avani Lekhara become first Indian woman to win 2 medals at Same Edition of Paralympics. She won bronze in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 event and also won gold in 10m air rifle standing SH1 event.
Also, Noida District Magistrate Suhas LY became 1st IAS officer to win a silver medal at Paralympics Games. He won a silver medal in men’s singles SL4 category in Badminton, at Tokyo 2020 paralympics games.

Overall Medal Table -

Rank	NPC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	96	60	51	207
2	Great Britain	41	38	45	124
3	United States	37	36	31	104
4	RPC	36	33	49	118
5	Netherlands	25	17	17	59
6	Ukraine	24	47	27	98
7	Brazil	22	20	30	72
8	Australia	21	29	30	80
9	Italy	14	29	26	69
10	Azerbaijan	14	1	4	19

Russia competed under a different name, known as RPC (Russian Paralympics Committee) in 2020 Summer Paralympics.

Sep 4, 2021
1. 28th edition of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise SIMBEX-2021 has been conducted, in southern fringes of South China Sea.
2. As per Hurun India Future Unicorn List 2021-
  1. India is now third-largest Unicorn (startup valued over 1 Billion USD) ecosystem, after USA (1) and China (2).
  2. India has 51 unicorns according to the list, while USA at top with 396 and China 2nd with 277 unicorns.
  3. Among Indian Cities, Bengaluru is at top with 31 Unicorns headquartered in city, followed by Mumbai (12).
3. Dorje Angchuk, an Engineer at Indian Astronomical Observatory of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) at Hanle (Ladakh), has been included as an Honorary Member of International Astronomical Union (IAU).
  1. Angchuk is the first and only Indian to bag the position in IAU.
4. Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency as food crisis worsened after private banks ran out of foreign exchange to finance imports. Emergency regulations aim at countering hoarding of sugar, rice and other essential foods.
5. JB Mohapatra has been named as new chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
  1. Earlier in June 2021, JB Mohapatra was given additional charge as chairman of CBDT, upon completion of Pramod Chandra Mody's tenure.
6. Pankaj Kumar Singh has taken charge as new Director General (DG) of Border Security Force (BSF).
7. PPK Ramacharyulu has been named as secretary general in Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
8. Ladakh UT declared snow leopard (Panther unica) as new state animal and black-necked crane (Grus nicricollis) as new state bird.
  1. In erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (Before its partition into UTs of J&K and Ladakh), black-necked crane and Kashmir stag (Hangul) were state bird and animal respectively.
9. Maharashtra Gov announced to set up a world-class science city near Pune, under a Central scheme to inculcate the scientific spirit among students and prepare future scientists. Proposed complex will be named "Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Science Innovation City".
Sep 3, 2021
1. Gujarat Govt announced to undertake public welfare projects worth 1000 crores jointly with non-resident Gujaratis by December 2022, under its Vatan Prem Yojana.
2. PM Narendra Modi virtually attended 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) hosted in Vladivostok (Russia).
  1. Notably, Indian PM was Chief Guest for 5th EEF in 2019, the first by an Indian Prime Minister.
3. Misc. Sports Events (September 2021) -
  1. South African cricketer Dale Steyn announced retirement from all forms of cricket.
  2. Indian chess player P Iniyan won Noisiel International Open 2021 Chess.
  3. Former Australian Fast Bowler Shaun Tait has been named as bowling coach of Puducherry cricket team.
  4. 101-member contingent of Indian Army participated in International Army Games 2021 in Russia.
  5. India won 39 medals (including 14 gold), in 2021 ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships (Dubai).
  6. Guinness world records recognized Portuguese Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for most goals scored in men’s international football, after he surpassed Iranian striker Ali Daei’s record of 109 international goals by scoring against Ireland in a World Cup Qualifier.
  7. Noted Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh become first golfer globally, to receive 10-year Dubai Golden Visa, in recognition of his sporting achievements.
  8. International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended North Korea, until end of 2022, which will make it miss out on Beijing Winter Games 2022. This was decided after North Korea failed to send a team to Tokyo Olympics.
  9. Zimbabwe Cricketer Brendan Taylor announced retirement from international cricket.
  10. Sri Lankan Cricketer Lasith Malinga announced retirement from all forms of International cricket.
  11. 8 medal events and two demonstration games have been included in 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou (China) in September 2022, marking debut of Esports in Continental Games.
  12. Harmilan Kaur Bains of Punjab created new national record in the women’s 1500m race, by clocking 4:05.39 at 60th National Open Athletics Championships in Telangana.
  13. India's Pankaj Advani won Asian Snooker Championship 2021 by defeating Amir Sarkhosh (Iran), in Doha (Qatar).
  14. Odisha will host Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2021 at Kalinga Stadium, during November 24 - December 5, 2021.
  15. Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics unveiled its official motto, Together for a Shared Future.
  16. India’s D Gukesh won Norway Chess Open 2021 Masters section.
  17. India's three-time World Cup gold medalist compound archer Abhishek Verma has been elected to World Archery's athletes' committee, for 4 year term.
  18. England Cricketer Moeen Ali announced his retirement from Test cricket.
  19. India’s Sania Mirza and Zhang Shuai (China) won women’s doubles title in Ostrava Open (Czech Republic).
  20. US Won 2021 Ryder Cup Golf Title, with largest margin of victory in Ryder Cup history since 28-point format came about.
4. Noted Journalist Vir Sanghvi's memoir A Rude Life, has been released.
5. Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie announced her upcoming book Know Your Rights and Claim Them: A Guide for Youth.
6. PhonePe launched platform named Pulse, as India’s first interactive platform with data insights and trends on digital payments. It also has insights about how digital payment adoption across India has evolved since 2016 and includes detailed geographical and category-specific trends.
7. LIC bought 3.9 % stake in Bank of India through open market acquisition, raising its stake in Bank of India to 7.05 %.
Sep 2, 2021
1. Sep 2 is observed as World Coconut Day Globally, declared by UN-ESCAP, to commemorate foundation day of the International Coconut Community (ICC).
2. BRICS Nations' New Development Bank (NDB) admitted United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh as its new members.
  1. Bank was set up by nations under BRICS Bloc - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
3. Misc. Appointments (September 2021) -
  1. Hibatullah Akhundzada has been named as head of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, to head taliban govt formed after fall of previous US Assisted Govt.
  2. Vartika Shukla has been named as first female CMD of PSU Engineers India Ltd (EIL).
  3. Ashoka Buildcon MD Satish Parekh has been named as president of India Chapter of International Road Federation.
  4. Notable Brand Ambassador Appointments -
    1. Equitas Small Finance Bank (ESFB) named Indian women hockey player Rani Rampal and cricketer Smriti Mandhana as brand ambassadors.
    2. Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Boxer Lovlina Borgohain has been named brand ambassador for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) of Assam.
    3. Financial Firm Mastercard named Noted Norweign Chess Player Magnus Carlsen as its global brand ambassador.
  5. Bar Association Of India President Prashant Kumar has been Elected To International Legal Assistance Consortium's (ILAC) Board Of Directors.
  6. Sardar Iqbal Singh Lalpura has been named as Chairman of National Commission for Minorities.
  7. RBI approved re-appointment of V. Vaidyanathan as MD & CEO of IDFC First Bank.
  8. PSU National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) named Nirlep Singh Rai as new CMD.
  9. Govt appointed G.S. Pannu as President of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
  10. India's CAG G C Murmu has been elected as chairman of Assembly of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for 2024-27.
  11. Former Mahindra & Mahindra MD Pawan Kumar Goenka is named as chairperson of Indian National Space Promotion Authorization Centre (In-SPACe), under Department of Space.
  12. India’s Former Shooting Player Raja Randhir Singh has been named as acting president of Olympic Council of Asia.
  13. M. Venugopal has been named as new Acting Chairperson of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), making it 3rd time in a row that an Acting Chairperson is to head NCLAT, after retirement of permanent Chairperson S J . Mukhopadhaya in March 2020.
  14. WHO appointed Gordon Brown (former UK PM) as WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing.
  15. Ministry of Defence appointed Virendra Singh Pathania as Additional Director General of Indian Coast Guard.
  16. Nimaben Acharya became first woman Speaker of Gujarat Assembly.
  17. Debabrata Mukherjee (United Breweries) has been named chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations for 2021-2022.
  18. American Basketball league National Basketball Association (NBA) named Actor Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador for India.
  19. CavinKare CMD CK Ranganathan has been named president of All India Management Association (AIMA) for 2021-22.
  20. Aveek Sarkar (ABP News) has been elected Chairman of Press Trust of India, the country's premier news agency.
4. J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha launched Rural Enterprises Acceleration Programme titled Saath, for Self-Help Group women, which will do stress mentoring and market linkages of the products created by women associated with Self Help Groups.
5. RBI has set up a five-member committee to review applications and give recommendations on new umbrella entity (NUE) licences, chaired by RBI chief general manager P Vasudevan.
  1. New Umbrella Entities will set up their own payment infrastructure to compete with National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI).
6. Ramon Magsaysay Award 2021 Awardees (63rd edition) -
  1. Firdausi Qadri - Vaccine scientist from Bangladesh
  2. Muhammad Amjad Saqib -Microfinance pioneer from Pakistan
  3. Roberto Ballon - Filipino fisher and community environmentalist
  4. Steven Muncy - Humanitarian worker from US
  5. Watchdoc- Indonesian torch bearer for investigative journalism
  6. About -
    1. Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.
    2. Prize was established in April 1957 by trustees of Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City,with concurrence of Philippine government.
Sep 1, 2021
1. Karbi Anglong Agreement has been signed in New Delhi, to end decades old crisis ensuring Assam’s territorial integrity.
  1. With this, over 1000 armed cadres abjured violence and joined mainstream society.
  2. A Special Development Package of Rs. 1000 crores over five years will be given by State and Central Govt, to undertake specific projects for development of Karbi areas.
  3. Features Include -
    1. This Memorandum of Settlement will ensure greater devolution of autonomy to Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, protection of identity, language, culture, etc. of Karbi people and focussed development of Council area, without affecting the territorial and administrative integrity of Assam.
    2. Karbi armed groups agreed to abjure violence and join the peaceful democratic process, also providing for rehabilitation of cadres of the armed groups.
    3. Government of Assam shall set up a Karbi Welfare Council for focussed development of Karbi people living outside KAAC area.
    4. Settlement proposes to give more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers to KAAC.
2. Industrial Awards (September 2021) -
  1. SJVN has been conferred with Dun & Bradstreet – Corporate Award 2021, in category of Best Growth Performance-Power, during conference India’s Top 500 Companies 2021. SJVN aims at 5000 MW installed capacity by 2023, 12000 MW by 2030 and 25000 MW by 2040.
  2. Maharatna PSU Power Grid Corporation (POWERGRID) has been awarded coveted Association for Talent Development (ATD) 2021 BEST Award, securing 8th rank across globe.
  3. Indian Origin neurosurgeon Basant Kumar Misra has been conferred American Association of Neurological Surgeons’ ‘International Lifetime Achievement Award in Neurosurgery’, becoming first Indian physician to receive AANS honor.
  4. Indian advertising industrialist Ramesh Narayan has been inducted into Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) Hall of Fame at AdAsia 2021, to be held in December 2021.
  5. Meghalaya’s Kongthong (Whistling village), Ladhpura Khas (Madhya Pradesh) and Pochampally (Telangana), have been nominated by Ministry of Tourism for UNWTO (World Tourism Organisation) ‘Best Tourism Villages’ award.
  6. Southern Railways’ Golden Rock Railway Workshop (GOC) in Tiruchchirappalli, won 22nd National Award for Excellence in Energy Management from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
  7. Quality Council of India (QCI) launched Prof. S.K. Joshi Laboratory Excellence Award, as India's first-of-its- kind Laboratory Excellence Award. It honors S.K. Joshi, who made significant contribution in improving scientific research in India by serving as President-INSA, DG-CSIR, Director-NPL and Chairman-NABL.
  8. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL)'s TOLIC (Town Official Language Implementation Committee), won Rajbhasha Keerti Puraskar - FIRST PRIZE for effective implementation of Official Language Hindi for 2020-21.
  9. India's Government e Marketplace (GeM) has been named winner in Best Use of Digital Technology category at CIPS Excellence in Procurement Awards 2021 (CIPS Awards), in UK.
3. Misc. Science News / Events (September 2021) -
  1. IIT Ropar,IIT Kanpur and Delhi University Researchers developed a living-plant based air purifier called Ubreathe Life, that amplifies air purification process in indoor spaces, as World’s first ‘Plant based’ smart air-purifier.
  2. India’s first building made of bio-bricks from agro-waste has been inaugurated at IIT Hyderabad, as part of Bold Unique Idea Lead Development (BUILD) project.
  3. China launched Earth observation satellite, Gaofen-5 02, to improve hyperspectral observation capacity of atmosphere, water and land.
  4. Oregon State University (US) will lead an exploration to discover Antarctica’s oldest ice and learn more about how the earth’s climate has changed over past several million years. Also, Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) will be set up to bring together experts to generate knowledge about earth’s climate system.
  5. ISRO's INSPIRESat-1 CubeSat, developed under International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRE), is ready for launch. Small satellite that weighs under 10 kg will be launched by ISRO, as collaborative effort of India's IIST, University of Colorado Boulder (US), National Central University (Taiwan) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore).
  6. In a rare discovery, teeth of new species of hybodontshark of Jurassic age have been reported for first time from Rajasthan's Jaisalmer.
    1. Hybodonts, an extinct group of sharks, was a dominant group of fishes in both marine and fluvial environments during the Triassic and early Jurassic time.
    2. Newly discovered crushing teeth from Jaisalmer represents a new species named by researchers as Strophodusjaisalmerensis. Genus Strophodus has been identified for first time from Indian subcontinent and 3rd such from Asia (other being from Japan and Thailand).
  7. Tata Steel commissioned India’s first carbon capture plant that extracts CO2 directly from blast furnace gas, at its Jamshedpur Works Site. It can capture 5 tonnes of CO2 per day (5-tonne per day (TPD)).
  8. IIT Bombay launched Project Udaan, a language translator, to help break language barrier in education. It can translate scientific and technical content across all Indian languages.
  9. Hyderabad-based Space-tech startup Skyroot Aerospace became first private company to formally enter into an agreement with ISRO, which will allow it to undertake tests and access facilities at various ISRO centres.
  10. SpaceX Launched its first private space flight, with two contest winners (Chris Sembroski, Sian Proctor), a healthcare worker (Hayley Arceneaux) and their rich sponsor (Jared Isaacman) on board. It is SpaceX’s first entry in competition for space tourism.
  11. Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak launched a new space start-up called Privateer Space.
  12. Tata Steel commissioned a 5-tonne per day (TPD) carbon capture plant at its Jamshedpur Unit, making it India's first steel company to adopt such a carbon capture technology that extracts CO2 directly from blast furnace gas.
4. Obituaries (September 2021) -
  1. Chandan Mitra - Former Rajya Sabha MP and noted journalist.
  2. Sidharth Shukla - Noted Television actor, also noted as Former Big Boss winner.
  3. Keshav Desiraju - Former Union Health Secretary.
  4. Jean-Pierre Adams - Former France footballer. In 1982, Adams slipped into a coma following a medical error.
  5. Vasudeo Paranjape - Former Indian cricketer and coach.
  6. Oscar Fernandes - Former Union Minister for Transport, Road and Highways and Labour and Employment.
  7. Yuriy Sedykh - Ukrainian world hammer throw record holder and two-times Olympic champion. His 86.74 metre throw at 1986 European Championships is still a world record.
  8. Aziz Hajini - Noted writer from J&K.
  9. Bhabani Roy - Former Indian footballer and Mohun Bagan captain.
  10. Manorama Mohapatra - Noted Odia-language writer.
  11. Thanu Padmanabhan -Noted theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and a Padma Shri awardee.
  12. Jimmy Greaves - Noted English Footballer.
  13. Yudhvir Singh Dadwal - Former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and Commissioner of Delhi Police.
  14. Kamla Bhasin - Noted Women rights activist and author.
5. Sep 1, 2021 Marks 125th Birth Anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as Hare Krishna movement.
  1. PM Narendra Modi released special commemorative coin of 125, on this occasion.
6. Misc. Defence News (September 2021) -
  1. Ministry of Defence and US Department of Defence signed Project Agreement for Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) under Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
    1. PA for ALUAV falls under Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) Memorandum of Agreement signed by India-US in 2006 and renewed in 2015, to deepen defence tech collaboration through co-development of defence equipment.
  2. Indian Army signed contract worth 100 crores with Bengaluru-based Alpha Design-led joint venture (JV) involving Israeli firm Elbit Security Sysy Systems (ELSEC), to procure 100 drones called 'SkyStrikers', capable of carrying ammunition and conduct strikes at far-off targets.
  3. Chandigarh administration signed MoU with Indian Air Force, for setting up a vintage aircraft museum, to showcase its vintage aircraft, armaments and memorabilia from different wars.
  4. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved Delegation of Financial Powers to Defence Services (DFPDS) 2021, to provide enhanced delegation of revenue procurement powers to Armed Forces, and empower field formations, focus on operational preparedness and enhance jointness.
  5. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated Emergency Landing Facility on Satta-Gandhav stretch of National Highway (NH) 925A in Barmer (Rajasthan). For first time, a National Highway will be used for the emergency landing of aircraft of Indian Air Force (IAF).
  6. India will institutionalise India-Africa Defence Dialogue, to be held on sidelines of biennial every DefExpo military exhibition.
    1. 1st India-Africa Defence Ministers Conclave (IADMC) was held at DefExpo in February 2020 in Lucknow (UP).
  7. Ministry of Defence signed contract with Airbus Defence and Space (Spain), for acquisition of 56 C-295MW transport aircraft for Indian Air Force, worth approx 21000 Crores.
  8. To commemorate landmark event of 50 years of liberation of Bangladesh and India's victory over Pakistan in 1971 Indo-Pak War (on 16 December 2021), Bijoya Sanskritik Mahotsav has been organised by Eastern Command of Indian Army at Kolkata, to showcase cultural linkages between India and Bangladesh during war.
  9. Ministry of Defence placed an order with Heavy Vehicles Factory Avadi (Chennai), for supply of 118 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) Arjun Mk-1A for Indian Army, worth 7523 crores.
  10. Defence Acquisition Council headed by Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh approved Capital Acquisitions proposals worth approx 13165 crores, with approx 87 % from domestic sources. It Notably Includes procurement of 25 HAL ALH Mark III helicopters, Terminally Guided Munition and HEPF/RHE Rocket Ammunition.
  11. Greece signed multibillion-euro military deal with France, to buy 3 French Warships. Recently, France lost a submarine deal with Australia, – after Aukus defence pact between Australia, UK and US.
  12. North Korea test fired hypersonic missile Hwasong-8, with operational range 3000 - 6000 KM.
  13. US space agency NASA successfully launched Landsat 9 Satellite, onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. It will monitor land surface of Earth and help study climate change.
7. As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to commemorate 75th Year of Independence, Govt launched Y-Break mobile application.
  1. The 5-minute Yoga Break Protocol consists of a very useful Yoga practices devised to de-stress, refresh and re-focus on work to increase the productivity of individuals at workplace.
8. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting constituted a ten member Committee headed by Ashok Kumar Tandon (Noted Journalist and Member, Prasar Bharati) to take a look at the existing guidelines of Journalists Welfare Scheme of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and make appropriate recommendations for changes therein.
9. GST revenue collected in August 2021 remained 1.12 Lakh crores (CGST 20522 crores, SGST 26605 crores, IGST 56247 crores and Cess 8646 crores.

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