Weekly Current Affairs 1st October- 8th October 2021

FINANCE AND BANKING

• RBI supersedes boards of SREI Infrastructure Finance, SREI Equipment Finance
  • RBI recently superseded the boards of directors of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL), citing governance concerns and payment defaults.

• RBI opens third cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox
  • The Reserve Bank of India recently announced the opening of third cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox (RS) with MSME Lending as its theme.

• SEBI tweaks trading norms for mutual funds on RFQ platform
  • SEBI recently tweaked the norms pertaining to minimum percentages of monthly trades to be carried out by mutual funds on the Request For Quote (RFQ) platform of stock exchanges.

ECONOMY

• IFSCA Constitutes an Expert panel on Sustainable Finance
  • International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has constituted an Expert Committee to recommend an approach towards the development of the Sustainable Finance Hub at IFSC.
  • The expert committee will be chaired by C.K. Mishra, Former Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.

• Mukesh Ambani tops Hurun India Rich List 2021
  • Reliance Industries Chairman, Mukesh Ambani has topped the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List for the 10th consecutive year.
  • In 2021, his total net worth was recorded at Rs 7,18,000 crore. Meanwhile, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani is in the second spot with a net worth of Rs. 5,05,900 crore. Shiv Nadar & the family of HCL technologies are third in the list with a net worth of Rs 2,36,600 crore.

• Amazon India launched its Global Computer Science Education programme
  • Amazon India has announced the launch of Amazon Future Engineer, its global computer science education programme in India.

NATIONAL

• PM Modi chairs 38th PRAGATI meeting
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 38th PRAGATI meeting, the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) based multi-modal platform for pro-active governance and timely implementation, involving Centre and State governments.

• World's largest Khadi national flag inaugurated in Leh
  • Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur inaugurated in the Union territory national flag made up of Khadi cloth, the largest such national flag in the world, on 152nd birth anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi.

• Jal Jeevan Mission app and Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh launched
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission mobile application- which aims to improve awareness among stakeholders and for greater transparency and accountability of schemes under the initiative.

INTERNATIONAL

• Tunisia Names First Woman Prime Minister
  • Tunisia’s president named Najla Bouden Ramadhane as the country’s first female prime minister.
  • Najla Bouden Ramadhane, a professor at a prestigious engineering school, becomes one of the first women in the Arab world to hold such a senior position.

• Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed sworn in for a second term
  • Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been sworn in for a new five-year term.
  • Abiy took the oath of office, administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice Meaza Ashenafi.

STATES

• Andhra Pradesh Government To Distribute Sanitary Napkins To Adolescent School Girls
  • Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the 'Swechha' programme aimed at the health and hygiene of adolescent girls studying in government schools and colleges by providing quality sanitary napkins at free of cost.

• In a first, e-fish market app ‘Fishwaale’ launched in Assam
  • Assam Fisheries Minister Parimal Suklabaidya launched an application, stated to be India's first e-fish market app.
  • The app – 'Fishwaale' – will provide one-stop solution for aquaculture. It will also help both buyers and sellers to place orders and sell fish, aquaculture equipment and medicine, fish feed and fish seed online.

• Wada Kolam Rice of Maharastra Gets GI Tag
  • A rice variety, Wada Kolam rice, widely grown in Wada in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has got the 'Geographical Indication' (GI) tag.
  • The tag will give the Palghar rice a unique identity as well as wider markets.

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• The State of the World’s Children 2021
  • Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya released UNICEF’s global flagship publication - “The State of the World’s Children 2021; On My Mind: promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health” in New Delhi.
  • The report details the significant impact of COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health.

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

• Himachal Pradesh becomes 1st state to begin organised cultivation of dalchini
  • The CSIR’s Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) has introduced cinnamon cultivation in Himachal Pradesh on a pilot basis.
  • True cinnamon or Cinnamomumverum is grown mainly in Sri Lanka, while minor producing countries include Seychelles, Madagascar, and India.

• Alibaug white onion gets GI tag for health benefits
  • The famed white onion of Alibag in Maharashtra’s Raigad district was given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag bringing worldwide recognition to its unique sweet taste, no-tears factor, as well as its medicinal properties.

DEFENCE

• 'AUSINDEX': India, Australia Participate In 4th Edition Of Biennial Maritime Series
  • India and Australia participated in the fourth iteration of the biennial maritime series 'AUSINDEX'.
  • The maritime exercise is being conducted in the Northern Australia Exercise Area.

• JIMEX-21: India, Japan to conduct fifth edition of maritime exercise
  • The Indian Navy and Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force are all set to mark the fifth edition of India-Japan Maritime Bilateral Exercise, popularly known as JIMEX-21.
  • JIMEX-21 will be held in the Arabian Sea with special focus on maritime security cooperation.

EVENTS

• PM Modi visits Azadi@75 Expo in Lucknow
  • PM Narendra Modi inaugurated 'Azadi@75 - New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' Conference-cum-Expo at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow.
  • The conference-cum-expo is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine 2021
  • The Nobel Prize in the field of Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to US. scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian. They were cited for their discovery of receptors for temperature and touch.
  • The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.

• Nobel Prize in Physics 2021
  • The Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to scientists Syukuro Manabe (Japan) and Klaus Hasselmann (Germany) and Giorgio Parisi (Italy) for work that is essential to understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing, pinpointing the effect of human behavior on those changes and ultimately predicting the impact of global warming.

• Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021
  • The Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2021 has been awarded to Germany's Benjamin List and US-based researcher David MacMillan for their development of a precise new tool for molecular construction: organocatalysis.

SPORTS

• Boxing great Manny Pacquiao announces retirement
  • Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao has announced retirement officially.
  • Pacquiao finished his 26-year, 72-fight career with 62 wins, eight losses and two draws. Of those 62 wins, 39 were by knockout and 23 by decision.
  • He won 12 world titles.

• Asian Table Tennis Championship
  • The Indian men’s table tennis team signed off with a bronze medal in the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2021 after losing to South Korea 0-3 in the semifinals in Doha, Qatar.
  • Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan lead India in semifinals.

• Durand Cup 2021
  • 130th Durand Cup was played at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan aka Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
  • FC Goa became the first Indian Super League (ISL) outfit to win Asia's oldest football tournament, Durand Cup.