Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2023

Notes:
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. It is also known as the Pacific trash vortex, spans waters from the West Coast of North America to Japan.
Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water. A recent study by Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) shows that this giant collection of plastic trash has also become home to thousands of marine life, creating a new kind of ecosystem.

Notes:
The Agriculture Production Department of Jammu and Kashmir will launch the Kisan Sampark Abhiyan programme, which seeks to ensure the overall welfare of farmers across the Union Territory. The scheme will cover 3565 panchayats in J&K.
To ensure that the programme is successful, nearly 2400 resource persons have been identified and trained for all districts.

Notes:
In 2018, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud read down the law that criminalized homosexuality, citing the idea of indirect discrimination where seemingly neutral laws could disproportionately disadvantage a group.
This marked the first time that indirect discrimination was recognized in the equality jurisprudence by the Supreme Court.

Notes:
The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal to bring in industry-friendly reforms related to Authority Holding Sealed Particulars or AHSP.
Authority Holding Sealed Particulars (AHSP) is responsible for holding of sealed particulars and patterns along with supply of certified copies of drawings & specifications in respect of defence related items.

Notes:
Scientists from the Houston Methodist Academic Institute have recently developed a tiny nanofluidic device named Nanofluidic Drug-Eluting Seed (NDES) that delivers cancer drugs directly to pancreatic tumors.
The Nanofluidic drug-eluting seed (NDES) delivers low-dose immunotherapy via CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) — which encourage the immune system to fight tumor cells — directly to pancreatic tumors to treat the aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.

Notes:
‘Magnaporthe oryzae’ is a fungus that causes ‘wheat blast’. It is currently destroying wheat crops in South America, threatening its food security in a major scale.
Scientists have warned that the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae could spread worldwide. Cases of infection have earlier been reported in Asia in 2016 and Africa in 2018.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet cleared the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which has provisions for harsher punishments for film piracy and the introduction of new age categories for classifying films.
The Bill will be introduced in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, as per the Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur.

Notes:
Gramdan is the expansion of Bhoodan movement that was started in 1951 by Vinoba Bhave. Under this initiative, the entire village will put its land under a common trust.
At present, seven states in India have 3,660 Gramdan villages, the highest being in Odisha (1309).

Notes:
The Indian Government has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for the development of hydrogen valley innovation clusters (HVIC) in the country.
According to the DST guidelines, a hydrogen valley is a specific geographic region where hydrogen serves more than one end sector or application.

Notes:
‘Vote from Home’ Initiative was introduced for the first time in the Karnataka Assembly Elections by the Election Commission of India.
This procedure was chosen by around 8,900 persons who are above 80 years old or people with disabilities in Bengaluru.