Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance notifies changes in rates on small savings schemes.
Recently, the government hiked the interest rates on various small savings schemes including senior citizen savings scheme for the January to March quarter. The PPF will continue to earn 7.10%, while Sukanya Samriddhi account scheme will continue to earn 7.6% interest rate.

Notes:
According to a submission made in Parliament by the Ministry of Culture, 50 of India’s 3,693 centrally protected monuments are missing.
The missing monuments include 11 that were in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Delhi and Haryana. The list also included monuments in Assam, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. As per the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), 14 of these monuments have been lost to rapid urbanisation, 12 are submerged by reservoirs or dams, and the locations of remaining 24 are untraceable.

Notes:
The Centre has appointed Ajay Kumar Srivastava as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indian Overseas Bank.
Partha Pratim Sengupta has demitted office as MD & CEO of the bank after his superannuation. Sanjay Vinayak Mudaliyar, Chief General Manager at Bank of Baroda is appointed as executive director in IOB. As of 30 September 2022, the Government of India held 96.38% in IOB.

Notes:
In December, 782 crore transactions in volume terms were done on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform, as per the Department of Financial Services.
UPI payments have touched record high of ₹12.82 lakh crore in December. The platform was launched in 2016. In November, as many as 730 crore transactions worth ₹11.90 lakh crore took place via UPI.

Notes:
The 205th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle was observed recently as lakhs of Ambedkarites from across Maharashtra and the country congregated at the memorial.
The ‘Koregaon Bhima war memorial’ is located in Perne village in Pune. People pay floral tributes to the bravery of the Mahar soldiers who fought against the Peshwa forces in the 1818 battle.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India is set to launch a project, to provide free access to official law reports of its verdicts to law students, lawyers and the general public.
The Electronic Supreme Court Reports (e-SCR) project will be unveiled on the direction of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The project will be rolled out on the Supreme Court’s website and will be made available on the mobile application of Supreme Court of India and Judgment portal of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

Notes:
The Centre has constituted a High Powered Committee to discuss measures to protect Ladakh’s unique culture, language and employment.
A 17 member committee has been set up under the Chairmanship of Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai. Other members include Ladakh Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur, MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, and nominee officials of Home ministry among others.

Notes:
The acting Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, Justice Tashi Rabstan, launched Legal Aid Defense Counsel System in 10 districts of the UT.
The system would be extended to the remaining 10 districts in the coming months to ensure quality legal services.

Notes:
Delhi High Court has directed the city government to ensure free food and medical treatment to HIV-positive persons living below the poverty line.
It also directed the government to strictly comply with the law dealing with the grievances of affected patients.

Notes:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Siyom Bridge in Arunachal Pradesh, constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
It is one among the 28 projects, mostly along the border with China. They include 12 in Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir, five in Arunachal Pradesh, three each in Sikkim, Punjab and Uttarakhand, and two in Rajasthan.