Current Affairs Quiz 26th September 2022 : Daily GK Update

Exp. Indian Railways installed ISRO-developed RTIS system

Real-Time Train Information System (RTIS), developed in collaboration with ISRO, is being installed on the locomotives for automatic acquisition of train movement timing at the stations, including that of arrival & departure or run-through.

With this, Train Control will now be able to track the location & speed of RTIS-enabled locomotives /trains more closely, without any manual intervention.

RTIS devices have been installed for 2700 locomotives in 21 electric loco sheds.

As part of Phase-II rollout, 6000 more locomotives across 50 loco sheds shall be covered by utilizing ISRO’s Satcom hub.

Exp. G Kishan Reddy launched Virtual Conference ‘SymphoNE’ to boost Tourism Sector

Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy has launched Virtual Conference ‘SymphoNE’ to boost Tourism Sector in North East India.

North East India is blessed with amazing food, culture, stunning landscapes, heritage and architecture and ranks among the most beautiful places on the earth. But, there are grand opportunities that can be filled to boost Tourism Sector in the Region.

Objective – To create a roadmap to showcase the unexplored beauty of North East India & boost the tourism Sector in North Eastern Region.

SymphoNE aims to develop one-stop solution to eliminate all obstacles that are being faced by the tourists, and the tour operators while carrying out the operations for the visitors while solving logistics & infrastructural facilities, lack of awareness about the locations among the tourist and to spread necessary information among the people, and marketing/promotional activities.

Exp. India and Nepal agree to take forward Sapta Kosi high dam project

India and Nepal agree to take forward Sapta Kosi high dam project. It is a multipurpose project proposed to be constructed on the Sapta Koshi River of Nepal.

It is aimed to control floods in southeast Nepal and northern Bihar and to generate hydropower.

This was decided at the 9th meeting of the Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR).

These meetings comprehensively reviewed the bilateral water-sector cooperation between India and Nepal, including the implementation of the Mahakali Treaty, the Sapta Kosi-Sun Kosi Project and cooperation in areas of flooding and inundation.

The Mahakali Treaty was signed in 1996 over the integrated development of the Mahakali River, including the Sarada Barrage, Tanakpur Barrage, and Pancheshwar project.

About Nepal

Capital- Kathmandu

Currency- Nepalese rupee

President– Bidhya Devi Bhandari

Prime minister– Sher Bahadur Deuba

Exp. Nirmala Sitharaman launched e-learning platform Bharat Vidya

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched Bharat Vidya, an online learning platform for Oriental and South Asian studies in Pune.

This platform is designed and developed by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI).

This is a first-of-its-kind online platform that offers both free and paid courses covering various aspects of Indology about art, architecture, philosophy, language, and science.

To begin with, six courses – Veda Vidya, Bharatiya Darshanshashtra, Sanskrit learning, 18 Parvas of Mahabharata, Fundamentals of Archaeology and Kalidasa, and Bhasha – have been announced.

Many courses have been designed on the lines of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. BORI has collaborated with a few Indian and foreign universities for awarding credits for some of its courses.

Exp. Nagaland government to launch its own health insurance scheme CMHIS

Nagaland Government to launch its own health insurance scheme called the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) on 1st October.

Objective – To reduce out-of-pocket expenditure on hospital care for all bonafide citizens of the state.

The beneficiary families will be entitled to free health insurance coverage of up to five lakh rupees per family per year.

The scheme will cover two beneficiary categories-State government employees and pensioners including legislators/ex-legislators and their dependents, and all the Indigenous and or Permanent residents of the State who are not beneficiaries under AB PM-JAY or any public-funded insurance scheme.

About Nagaland

Capital- Kohima

Chief Minister- Neiphiu Rio

Governor- Jagdish Mukhi (additional charge)

Exp. Adani topped the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List

As per the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022, Gautam Adani has topped the list with an estimated wealth of Rs. 10,94,400 crore.

While Mukesh Ambani has been named as the 2nd richest in India with an estimated wealth of Rs. 7,94,700 crore.

Nykaa Founder & CEO, Falguni Nayar became India’s richest self-made woman, surpassed Biocon chief, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in net worth. She is also the richest female in India, followed by Rekha Jhunjhunwala of Rare Enterprises.

The youngest richest person on the list was also a start-up founder, Kaivalya Vohra, the 19-year-old co-founder of quick grocery delivery app Zepto.

Co-founders of newly minted unicorn PhysicsWallah — Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari — also debuted in the list this year. They were both are ranked at the 399th position with a wealth of ₹4,000 crore

Exp. Government launched Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is going to launch Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan that promotes ranking of 131 cities in the country for implementing City Action Plans prepared as part of the National Clean Air Programme for reducing air pollution up to 40 percent by 2025-26.

For this survey, 131 cities are categorized into three groups based on population.

47 cities are in the first group having population more than 10 lakh.

44 cities are in the second group having population between 3 to 10 lakh.

40 cities having population less than 3 lakh.

Cities are required to do the self-assessment as per the framework provided on PRANA online portal. This assessment is carried out annually.

Cities have to report the implementation of activities and measures taken in respect of solid waste management, road dust management, management of construction and demolition waste, control of vehicular emissions and industrial pollution.

It was established in 2005 following a proposal from renowned river advocate, Mark Angelo.

Exp. Chandigarh airport to be named after Bhagat Singh

PM Modi has announced that the Chandigarh airport will be renamed after Shaheed Bhagat Singh as a tribute to the great freedom fighter.

Punjab & Haryana governments had last month (Aug 2022) agreed to name the airport after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

Earlier in 2017, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha had also passed a resolution to name the airport as Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh International Airport.

The Rs 485-crore airport project is a joint venture of Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the governments of Punjab and Haryana.

List of some important renamed Airport

Deoghar Airport (Jharkhand)-Atal Bihari Vajpayee Airport

Agartala Airport (Tripura)- Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport

Airport in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) – Maryada Purshottam Shriram Airport.

Shivamogga airport (Karnataka ) – BS Yediyurappa Airport

Exp. BPCL signed an MoU with Brazilian oil company Petrobras to diversify crude oil sourcing

State-run oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has signed an MoU with Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras to help it diversify its crude oil sourcing for energy security in India.s

BPCL has a stake in the upstream sector in an ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon block in Brazil, owned & operated by Petrobras.

BPCL imports a large volume of crude oil which is turned into fuel such as petrol and diesel at its three oil refineries at Mumbai, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Kochi in Kerala.

BPCL is the 2nd-largest fuel retailer in India.

About Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)

Founded- 1952

Headquarters- Mumbai

Chairman- Arun Kumar Singh

Recent MoUs

• Sterling and Wilson Solar signed an MoU with Nigerian government for the development, design, construction, and commissioning of solar PV power plants
• India signed an MoU with Iran for smooth movement of seafarers
• India & UAE signed an MoU to establish Cultural Council Forum
• India signed an MoU with Maldives for  cooperation in disaster management
• India signed an MoU with UAE for cooperation in education sector

Exp. UCO Bank becomes first lender to get RBI’s approval for rupee trade

UCO Bank has received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) approval to open a special Vostro account with Gazprombank of Russia for trade settlement in Indian rupees.

Objective – To provide banking services for gas industry enterprises.

The Kolkata-based lender is the first bank to receive regulator’s approval following the RBI’s decision to allow Indian banks to settle trade in Indian currency in July.

Gazprombank of Russia was set up by the world’s largest gas producer and exporter Gazprom.

About United Commercial Bank (UCO) Bank

Founded – 1943

Headquarters – Kolkata

MD & CEO – Soma Shankar Prasad

Tagline – Honours your Trust

Canara Bank merged with UCO Bank, Syndicate Bank, Indian Overseas Bank

Exp. Dilip Asbe re-appointed as MD and CEO of NPCI for five years

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has approved the reappointment of Dilip Asbe as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for a period of five years with effect from January 8, 2023.

He took charge as MD & CEO of NPCI in January 2018.

Previously the chief operating officer of NPCI, Asbe was appointed as the CEO-in-charge in August 2017 following the retirement of former MD and CEO A P Hota.

NPCI is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems and infrastructure.

It manages products such as the RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC FasTag) and Bharat BillPay.

About National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

• Founded – 2008
• Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
• MD & CEO– Dilip Asbe
• Chairman – Biswamohan Mahapatra

Recent Appointment

• Director of AIIMS Delhi – Dr. M Srinivas
• Director General of ICMR – Dr. Rajiv Bahl
• Director General of National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) – Bharat Lal
• President of Hockey India – Dilip Tirkey
• Chairman of Naryara Energy – Prasad K

Exp. Sanjai Kumar appointed as MD and Chairman of RailTel Corp

Sanjai Kumar has been appointed as the Chairman & Managing Director of RailTel.

He was currently working as director of networking, planning & marketing at the company.

He is an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE) with around 30 years of varied experience in Railway functioning, Project Management, and marketing.

RailTel is a “Mini Ratna (Category-I)” Central Public Sector Enterprise is an information and communications technology (ICT) provider.

As on 30 June 2022, the Government of India holds 72.84% stake in the company.

Recent Appointment

• Interim Head of AICTE – Jagadesh Kumar
• CMD of NHPC – Yamuna Kumar Chaubey
• Interim Chairman of ONGC – Rajesh Kumar Srivastava
• Interim chairman at GAIL – M V lyer
• DG of News Services Division of AIR – Vasudha Gupta

Exp. 25 September – World Rivers Day

World Rivers Day is observed every year on the fourth Sunday of September. This year, it falls on September 25.

Objective – To raise awareness regarding water bodies and to promote their conservation.

Theme 2022 – The importance of Rivers to Biodiversity

It was established in 2005 following a proposal from renowned river advocate, Mark Angelo.

Exp. 25 September – Antyodaya Diwas

Antyodaya Diwas is celebrated in India every year on September 25.

It marks the birth anniversary of Indian leader Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and is celebrated in his honour to remember his life and legacy.

He was the co-founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh & an RSS thinker.

The word ‘Antyodaya’ means uplifting the poorest of the poor & this day aims at reaching the last person in society.

This day was first observed in 2014.

Exp. Oscar-winning actress Louise Fletcher passed away

An Oscar-winning actress Louise Fletcher from the USA has passed away at 88 in France.

She was awarded the Oscar in 1976 for her role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).

She was also a recipient of the BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

She was nominated for two Emmy Awards for her roles in the television series Picket Fences (1996) and Joan of Arcadia (2004).

Her final role was as Rosie in the Netflix series Girlboss (2017).