Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC) is implementing the Naan Mudhalvan programme.
Under the scheme, around 12,582 faculties from government engineering colleges and 7,835 faculties from arts and science colleges from across the state have been trained in the last one year, to enhance skilling of students.

Notes:
The capital markets regulator – SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has released the guidelines for the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF).
The fund’s purpose is to serve as a backstop facility, facilitating the purchase of investment-grade corporate debt securities during times of market stress, thereby boosting confidence among participants in the corporate debt market.

Notes:
Digital payments across the country registered a growth of 13.24 per cent in a year through March 2023, as per RBI’s index that measures the adoption of online transactions.
RBI’s Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) stood at 395.57 at end-March 2023 compared to 377.46 in September 2022 and 349.30 in March 2022. The index is a base to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.

Notes:
The National Health Authority has introduced the 100 Microsites Project, aiming to expedite the adoption of digital health services nationwide.
These microsites will consist of small and mid-sized health facilities that will be fully aligned with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission standards.

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:
Finland’s Food Authority reported H5N1 on two more fur farms, both housing foxes, raising the number of outbreaks to 14.
Norway reported the virus in a red fox pup while Germany reported the virus on a seal. Similar detections in seals and sea lions have occurred in multiple parts of the world.

Notes:
The second Russia–Africa Summit was held at St. Petersburg, Russia on 27 and 28 July 2023. It was originally scheduled to be held at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
At the commencement of the Summit, President Putin promised to provide free grain shipments to six African countries. Under this commitment, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea will receive 25,000-50,000 tons of grain in the upcoming months.

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:
Taiwanese firm Foxconn Technology Group, a key supplier to Apple Inc., signed a letter of Intent with the Tamil Nadu government to invest ₹1,600 crore to establish a manufacturing facility in Kancheepuram district.
The letter of intent was signed in the presence of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Foxconn Chairman Young Liu. The facility will potentially employ 6,000 people.

Notes:
Pakistan and China ink six agreements to help undertake the second phase of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects under a new model.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng witnessed the signing ceremony to mark 10 years of the CPEC. The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province, is opposed by India as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.