Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed recently by the Lok Sabha. It aims to boost ease of doing business and living in India.
It aims to redefine regulations in the country by decriminalizing minor offenses under 42 Acts, thereby reducing compliance. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry presented the proposed legislation in Parliament in December of the previous year.

Notes:
Recently, the Indian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have entered into an agreement, securing a USD 200 million loan as extra funding for the existing Rajasthan Secondary Towns Development Sector Project.
The loan aims to extend water supply and sanitation systems, boost urban resilience, and preserve the heritage in chosen towns.

Notes:
Resource Efficiency Circular Economy Industry Coalition (RECEIC) was launched on the sidelines of the 4th G-20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) and Environment and Climate Ministers meeting in Chennai.
Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav said that this mission of this coalition is to promote greater company-to-company collaboration, build advanced capabilities across sectors, bring learnings from diverse and global experiences of the coalition members among others.

Notes:
Department of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Government of Meghalaya and Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA) has recently facilitated market linkages of over 1.3 tonnes of Pineapples to the Middle East.
The pineapples from Meghalaya are being sold across malls in Dubai, Kuwait and Sharjah.

Notes:
Scorching divide: How extreme heat inflames gender inequalities in health and income report was released recently by the Arsht–Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock).
The report has cautioned that in hot years, extreme temperatures could lead to the deaths of approximately 204,000 women each year in India, Nigeria, and the United States combined by 2050.

Notes:
NASA is using rocks from Scotland’s Isle of Rum to practice testing methods for examining Martian rocks, as they share similarities in geological, mineral, and chemical content.
The igneous rocks from the Isle of Rum exhibit comparable geological, mineral, and chemical characteristics to those discovered on Mars.

Notes:
To improve the collection of sowing data, the government has initiated a pilot project called Digital Crop Survey (DCS) in 12 states starting from the Kharif season of 2023.
The DCS reference application uses technologies like GIS and GPS, and aims to ensure accurate crop area estimation and support farmers with solutions. It has been created as a publicly available open-source and interoperable tool, adhering to open standards.

Notes:
China has initiated a series of new projects under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through Nepal, aiming to enhance collaboration with Southeast and South Asian countries, which may impact India’s strategic interests in the region.
These projects, collectively known as the ‘Silk Roadster’ platform, were launched to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the BRI.

Notes:
A wildfire originating in Washington state, USA, crossed into British Columbia, Canada, prompting evacuation orders.
The fire, initially called ‘Lone Pine Creek’ on the American side, was later renamed ‘Eagle Bluff’ and posed a significant threat, with around 885 hectares (2,200 acres) estimated to be affected on the Canadian side and approximately 2,000 hectares on the U.S. side.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award. He is the 41st recipient of the award.
The Lokmanya Tilak National Award is handed out by the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust. The trust was founded in 1983 in honour of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Other notable recipients include former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh.