• State Bank of India is planning to launch a loan product, SAFAL, primarily focussed on organic cotton growers who don't have any credit history.

• The bank is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in a big way for generating business.

• Currently, the bank has more than 40 Machine Learning based models which it uses across the spectrum for business, risk mitigation, fraud management.

• The bank has built a capability which is unmatched in the banking industry.

• Iran’s army conducted an annual three-day naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

• Units from the navy, air force and ground forces participated in the maneuver in the Gulf of Oman.

• Iranian submarines and drones were used during the exercise.

• The annual maneuver dubbed as Zolfaghar-99 was aimed at improving readiness in confronting foreign threats and any possible invasion.

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, has launched the Aatmanirbhar Bharat ARISE-Atal New India Challenges.

• The programme will spur applied research and innovation in Indian MSMEs and startups.

• The initiative will help identify and promote innovations necessary for boosting the MSME sector.

• The programme will be driven by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), four ministries including Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Food Processing Industries; Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs along with associated industries to facilitate innovative solutions to sectoral problems.

• As per the EASE Banking Reforms Index 2.0, Bank of Baroda has been placed at the first spot.

• State Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) got the 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

• The Indian Banking Association (IBA) makes EASE (Enhanced Access and Service Excellence) reform index.

• The aim of this index is to bring fruitful change in the PSBs by brining in healthy competition among these PSBs and by encouraging them to learn from each other.

• The Indian arm of Fitch Ratings, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has projected India’s FY21 GDP growth forecast at -11.8% as against its earlier prediction of -5.3%.

• The rating agency estimates the economic loss in FY21 to be Rs 18.44 lakh crore.

• The rating agency also expects India’s GDP to rebound and grow at 9.9% year-on-year in FY22 primarily due to the weak base of FY21.

• The Indian economy contracted by a record 23.9% in 1st (April-June) quarter of FY21, which is much higher than Ind-Ra’s forecast of 17.0% due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (lockdown).

• The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) observes World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) on 10 September every year.

• The purpose of this day is to raise awareness around the globe that suicide can be prevented.

• The theme for the 2020 World Suicide Prevention Day is ‘Working Together to Prevent Suicide’.

• The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) to host World Suicide Prevention Day with various activities around the world since 2003.

• Sir David Attenborough was conferred with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2019.

• He is an English broadcaster and a historian.

• He is popular for writing and presenting the BBC Natural History Unit.

• He worked to make aware to preserve and protect the biodiversity of the planet.

• The Indira Gandhi Peace Prize award is for peace, disarmament and development.

• It has been named after the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

• It Is being conferred every year since 1986 by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. It consists of a monetary award of Rs 25 lakhs.

• With a focus on enhancing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, India, Australia and France held the first trilateral dialogue where they discussed “economic and geostrategic challenges and cooperation” in the region, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and domestic responses to it.

• The three countries also had an exchange on the priorities, challenges and trends in regional and global multilateral institutions, including the best ways to strengthen and reform multilateralism.

• The trilateral dialogue helped underscore the goal of guaranteeing peace, security and adherence to international law in the Indo-Pacific.

• An American commercial cargo spacecraft bound for the International Space Station has been named after fallen NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the first India-born woman to enter space, for her key contributions to human spaceflight.

• Northrop Grumman, an American global aerospace and defence technology company, announced that its next Cygnus capsule will be named the “S.S. Kalpana Chawla”, in memory of the mission specialist who died with her six crewmates aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

• The S S Kalpana Chawla capsule is scheduled to launch on the NG-14 mission atop a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on September 29. The spacecraft will arrive at and be attached to the space station two days later.

• For the NG-14 mission, the Cygnus spacecraft will deliver approximately 3,629 kg of cargo to the space station.

• Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana on March 17, 1962. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in India in 1982.

• Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami launched a dedicated portal of the state Health and Family Welfare Department to help eye donors.

• He also pledged to donate his eyes as part of the National Eye Donation Fortnight.

• The portal will enable persons who wish to pledge to donate their eyes - www.hmis.tn.gov.in/eye-donor.

• The website was created with the aim of creating awareness on eye donations and the processes involved, among people and to create a registry of eye donors in Tamil Nadu.