Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2023

Notes:
The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 Mission will be launched aboard the ISRO’s PSLV in 2024. Its two satellites will study the Sun’s faint corona and surrounding atmosphere.
The 340-kilogram spacecraft will be deployed by PSLV in a high Earth orbit with an orbital period of 19.7 hours.

Notes:
Russia’s Decree on Spring Conscription was signed by President Vladimir Putin recently. The spring conscription campaign is calling 147,000 Russian citizens up for statutory military service.
Last September Putin signed an order calling up 120,000 people for the autumn campaign.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Researchers have developed a three-dimensional (3D) paper-based portable device that can detect adulteration in milk within 30 seconds.
The test could be even performed at home. It can detect multiple substances commonly used as adulterating agents including Urea, detergents, soap, starch, hydrogen peroxide, sodium-hydrogen-carbonate, and salt, among others.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund’s Extended Fund Facility is intended for countries experiencing serious medium-term BoP issues due to structural weakness that require time to address. It was recently approved for Ukraine to meet the urgent funding requirements amid the war with Russia.

Notes:
The EU members have recently decided to digitize the Schengen Visa to make visa application process more efficient in Schengen area.
The Schengen area is a region comprising of 27 EU countries that have officially abolished all passports and other types of border control at their mutual borders.

Notes:
Sarbat Khalsa is a deliberative assembly of all factions of Sikhs that dates back to the 18th century. It is held twice a year on the occasion of Baisakhi and Diwali.
The last “Sarbat khalsa” was held on February 16, 1986. It was recently announced that the convening of a Sarbat khalsa congregation is the sole prerogative of the Akal Takht chief.

Notes:
An ODF Plus Village is the one that sustains is ODF status and ensures management of solid and liquid wastes while remaining visually clean.
Currently, more than 40 percent of inhabited villages in India have declared themselves ODF plus.

Notes:
To mark the moment of the first Indian Steamship “S.S. LOYALTY”, Mumbai, venturing into international water on her maiden voyage from Mumbai to London (UK) in 1919, April 5 was marked as “National Maritime Day.”
The government is celebrating National Maritime Week from March 30, 2023, to April 5, 2023, paying tribute to the services of seafarers.

Notes:
The government has raised the interest rates across all small savings schemes except the post office savings deposit and the Public Provident Fund (PPF) for the April-June 2023 quarter.
The Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme too will enjoy a higher rate of interest – up from the existing 7.6 percent to 8 percent. The interest rate on the National Savings Certificate (NSC) has been hiked from 7 percent to 7.7 percent for the April – June 2023 quarter.

Notes:
The Himachal Pradesh recently repealed the Loktantra Prahari Samman Act.
The Act provides a monthly pension of Rs 20,000 and Rs 12,000 to the people who lodged in jails during the Emergency from 1975 to 1977. The repeal of the Act shall not affect the previous operations of the said Act.