Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 12th & 13th September 2021

Correct Answer: B. BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus

Explanation: Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has chaired the 13th BRICS Summit, through video conferencing. The theme of the India-led Summit was “BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus.” The theme chosen by India reflects the fifteenth anniversary of BRICS, being observed in 2021. PM Modi called for enhanced BRICS cooperation under the motto of ‘Build-back Resiliently, Innovatively, Credibly and Sustainably’.

The Summit concluded with the adoption of the ‘New Delhi Declaration’. This was the third time that India hosted the BRICS Summit. Prior to this India held the Presidency of the BRICS in 2012 and 2016. Also, this is the second time that Prime Minister Modi has chaired the BRICS Summit. He had previously chaired the Goa Summit in 2016.

Apart from this, as the President of BRICS in 2021, India has highlighted four priority areas for this year’s BRICS Summit, which were:

• reform of the multilateral system,
• counter-terrorism cooperation,
• using digital and technological tools to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),
• enhancing people-to-people exchanges

All BRICS Leaders took part virtually in the Summit, including Brazil President-Jair Bolsonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping of China, and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. BRICS is an association of five major emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Correct Answer – D. China

Explanation: China successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite, Gaofen-5 02, into space, aboard a Long March-4C rocket, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north China’s Shanxi Province. The Gaofen-5 02 satellite is the 24th in the series of Gaofen Earth-observation satellites of China, to monitor environmental protection efforts and boost its natural resources surveillance.

About the Gaofen-5 02:

Gaofen-5 02 is a hyperspectral satellite that will be used for comprehensive environmental monitoring, to improve the country’s hyperspectral observation capacity of the atmosphere, water and land.

Important Points:

• China Capital: Beijing;
• China Currency: Renminbi;
• China President: Xi Jinping.

Correct Answer – A. NPCI

Explanation: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in partnership with Fiserv Inc. to launch the plug-and-play RuPay credit card stack, ‘nFiNi’. nFiNi is a ready stack of services required for fintechs and banks to issue RuPay credit cards and will enable fintech to co-create bank-sponsored credit cards. It is a BaaS (banking-as-a-service) programme.

About the platform:

The nFiNi platform will power RuPay cards (including National Common Mobility Card) by offering access to needed services through the NPCI network combined with FirstVisionTM cloud-based open API integrations from Fiserv.This will bring significant efficiencies for banking and fintech institutions at various levels in terms of operations and customer management. The programme will further enable these institutions to expand their market base to new-to-credit customers.

Important Points:

• National Payments Corporation of India MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe.
• National Payments Corporation of India Headquarters: Mumbai.
• National Payments Corporation of India Founded: 2008.

Correct Answer – E. Girish Chandra Murmu

Explanation: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, GC Murmu was elected as the chairman of the assembly of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for a period of three years from 2024 to 2027. Murmu was elected by the 56th governing board of ASOSAI and approval for the same was conveyed by the 15th assembly of ASOSAI. India will host the 16th assembly of ASOSAI in 2024.

The CAG, as the chairman, will be the chief executive of ASOSAI and represent ASOSAI in its dealings with national and international organisations. After the election, the CAG assured the members that during SAI India’s three-year term as chair of the ASOSAI, they will focus on the areas of environmental audit and leveraging emerging technologies for audit.

About the ASOSAI:

The ASOSAI is one of the regional groups of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) which aims to promote understanding and cooperation among member institutions through the exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of public audit.Established in 1979 with 11 members, the membership of the ASOSAI consists of charter members, members and associate members. The membership has since grown to 47 SAIs. The assembly consists of all members of the organisation and meets once in three years.

Correct Answer – C. Uday Bhatia

Explanation: A new book has titled “Bullets Over Bombay: Satya and the Hindi Film Gangster” authored by Uday Bhatia. The Book deals with the testimonies from Ram Gopal Varma, Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Bajpayee, Vishal Bhardwaj, Saurabh Shukla.Uday Bhatia is a film critic with Mint Lounge in Delhi. He has previously worked with Time Out Delhi and The Sunday Guardian. His writing has appeared in The Caravan, GQ, The Indian Quarterly, The Indian Express and The Hindu Business Line.

Correct Answer – B. NIOS

Explanation:  National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), run by the education ministry, has bagged global recognition from UNESCO for its innovative approach towards education.The recognition is for educating differently-abled people through technology-enabled inclusive learning material.The NIOS move has a specific focus on Indian sign language-based content.By awarding NIOS the King Sejong Literacy Prize, the jury has recognized the value of providing for the unique educational and language needs of PwD learners by developing teaching content in sign language through digital mode.

Correct Answer – D. Australia

Explanation: India and Australia began the inaugural two-plus-two dialogue.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held the talks with their Australian counterparts Peter Dutton and Marise Payne.In the ‘two-plus-two’ talks, the two sides vowed to work towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, a region that has been witnessing increasing Chinese assertiveness.India holds such talks with Australia, Japan, USA and Russia.

Correct Answer – A. Jim Lanzone

Explanation: Jim Lanzone has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Yahoo.Currently he is the CEO of Tinder, Lanzone will succeed Guru Gowrappan, who has been named Senior Advisor to Apollo’s private equity business.The move comes around four months after Verizon had announced that it would sell Yahoo to Apollo Management Group for $5 billion.Apollo completed the acquisition of Yahoo, formerly Verizon Media on September 1.Prior to his stint as CEO of the dating app Tinder, Lanzone had led the digital operations of CBS Corporation as Chief Digital Officer and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Interactive.

Correct Answer – D. Writer

Explanation: Noted writer and former secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages Aziz Hajini passed away.Hajini hailed from Hajin Sonawari area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.He held several positions in academic and literary circles, including as secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, and authored several books.

Correct Answer – C. Bhanumati Gheewala

Explanation: A Gujarat-based nurse Bhanumati Gheewala has been selected for Florence Nightingale Award.The nurse works at Sir Sayajirao General Hospital in Vadodara.She has been handling the delivery of COVID-19 positive pregnant women as well as taking care of newborns.The Florence Nightingale Award recognizes exceptional courage and devotion to victims of armed conflict or natural disaster.It also recognizes exemplary service or a pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education.

Correct Answer – D. Walmart

Explanation: Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe has launched PhonePe Pulse. It is India’s first interactive platform with data, insights, and trends on digital payments in the country. PhonePe also launched the Pulse Report, an in-depth study on the evolution of digital payments over the past 5 years.It also has insights about how digital payment adoption across India has evolved since 2016.

Correct Answer – B. Emma Raducanu

Explanation: Britain’s Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to capture a Grand Slam title by defeating Canada’s 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez in the US Open women’s final. Raducanu, ranked 150th, was the first British woman in 44 years to win a Slam crown.Raducanu is the youngest US Open champion since Williams in 1999 and the first US Open women’s champion not to drop a set since Williams in 2014.

Correct Answer – C. RKS Bhadauria

Explanation: Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria attended a three-day-long Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium 2021 in September 2021. The event themed ”Enduring Cooperation towards Regional Stability” was attended by air chiefs from countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Bhadauria was nominated as the Dean for the symposium which was held at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.He also held bilateral and multilateral meetings on defence cooperation and security with air chiefs from eleven other countries.

Correct Answer: D. Amazon India

Explanation: Amazon India has announced the launch of Kisan Store. It is an online platform that will enable farmers across India to get access to more than 8,000 agriculture inputs such as seeds, farm tools and accessories, plant protection, nutrition, and more. Listed by Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) these products will be available at competitive prices on Amazon India.

Farmers can choose to shop on Amazon.in using any of the five Indian languages including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam. Farmers can also visit any one of the 50,000+ Amazon Easy stores across the country and avail assisted shopping facility. The Amazon Easy store owners will help farmers browse the selection, identify a product they like, create their Amazon accounts, place orders and checkout to buy. Farmers can choose from a selection of thousands of agricultural products from over 20+ brands.

Correct Answer: C. Prahlad Singh Patel

Explanation: Union Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated a food processing unit ‘Sahara Frozen Foods’ (SFF) set up in Morena, Madhya Pradesh on 12 September 2021. The inaugural ceremony was part of the government’s celebration of food processing week to commemorate 75 years of India’s independence. SFF has been set up with a central grant of Rs10 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana.The unit will also provide direct and indirect employment to about 700 persons and benefit about 1,000 farmers in the Central Processing Centre (CPC) and Primary Processing Centers (PPC) catchment areas. The facilities of this unit include IQF Pre-Processing Line for F&V – 4 MT/Hr, Deep Freezer/Frozen Store – 4000 MT, Modern Racking System (Stacking)-4000 MT and High Reach Material Handling- 2 Units. The unit provides excellent state-of-the-art facilities such as packing machines, water treatment plants, water storage tanks, subsystems, fittings etc. This processing unit mainly produces frozen peas, mango pieces, frozen cabbage etc.

Correct Answer: C. 2013

Explanation: Eminent writer of Jammu and Kashmir, Aziz Hajini, passed away in September 2021. Aziz Hajini was a Kashmiri writer, poet, critic, and organizer. He served as the first secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Arts, Culture, and Languages. He has also been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013 for his book Tej Pazar and in 2016 for Kitab Aan Khane.

Correct Answer: A. Srinagar

Explanation: An all-womens’ entrepreneurship exhibition was organized at the Kashmir Haat in Srinagar on 11 September 2021. The exhibition was organized by Exceeding Event Expectations (EREIGNIS) in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir handicraft and handloom department. This five-day event is for all women entrepreneurs who have their own startups or are already into business. With this platform, these entrepreneurs will be allowed to exhibit their products and promote their brands.

Jammu and Kashmir:

• Lieutenant Governor – Manoj Sinha.
• Dams – Baglihar Dam (Chenab River), Dulhasti Dam (Chenab River), Uri-II Dam (Jhelum River).
• National Parks – Dachigam National Park, Salim Ali National Park, Kazinag National Park, Kishtwar High Altitude National Park.

Correct Answer: A. Bhupendra Patel

Explanation: Bhupendra Patel was elected as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat on 12 September 2021. He will be sworn in as the new Gujarat Chief Minister on 13 September 2021. He is an MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) from the Ghatlodia seat of Gujarat. Vijay Rupani resigned on 11 September 2021 from the Chief Minister post of Gujarat.

Gujarat:

• Chief Minister – Bhupendra Patel.
• Governor – Acharya Devvrat.
• Number of Districts – 33.
• Lok Sabha seats – 26.
• Rajya Sabha seats – 11

Correct Answer: B. Daniil Medvedev

Explanation: Russia’s Daniil Medvedev was crowned champion of the 2021 US Open after defeating world number one Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles final. He clinched his maiden Grand Slam title with a straight-set victory against the Serbian (6-4, 6-4, 6- 4).Medvedev has become the third Russian after Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin to win a Grand Slam.Britain’s Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to capture a Grand Slam title by defeating Canada’s 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez in the  2021 US Open women’s final.