Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
Lake Ohrid is a lake which spans the border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe’s deepest and oldest lakes.
Scientists have uncovered what may be one of Europe’s earliest sedentary communities. Dating back 8,000 years, the homes built on stilts could be the oldest lakeside settlement ever found in Europe. Radiocarbon dating from the site puts it at between 6000 and 5800 BC.

Notes:
The Government of Germany has recently approved a draft law which permits individuals to purchase and possess cannabis for recreational use. Under the draft law, adults can possess up to 25 grams (0.9 ounces) of cannabis and grow up to three plants for personal use.
The draft further states that people will also be allowed to join non-profit “cannabis clubs” of up to 500 members where the drug can be legally cultivated and purchased.

Notes:
India, China and Iran have set up pavilions at the ongoing Army 2023, the 9th International Military-Technical Forum organised by Russia.
The India pavilion, which has stalls by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and three Defence Public Sector Undertakings including Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).

Notes:
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that 79 per cent of people in Afghanistan lack sufficient access to water for essential needs like drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing.
The water crisis in Afghanistan is further enhanced by various challenges, particularly the most severe drought in 30 years, a deepening economic turmoil, and the enduring effects of forty years of warfare.

Notes:
To prevent death of elephants due to train hits, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has decided to install intrusion detection systems (IDS) at sensitive locations of elephant passing zones and elephant corridors in Odisha.
IDS is based on artificial intelligence (AI) and existing optical fibres will be used as sensors to identify movements of elephants at locations and alert control offices, station masters, gatemen and loco pilots.

Notes:
The Technology Development Board (TDB), operating under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), announced its strategic partnership with Chemlife Innovations headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
This collaboration marks a significant stride in advancing the project titled “Commercialization and Manufacturing of Bio-Trace Minerals used in Feed for Animals”.

Notes:
Uttarakhand government is set to conduct a comprehensive survey of disaster-prone cities and towns.
Uttarakhand Landslide Mitigation and Management Centre announced that Geophysical and geo-mapping investigation of cities will be part of the survey. In January this year, the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath grabbed national attention.

Notes:
A large number of megalithic hat stones were found from a single site during a recent excavation at Kuttippuram, in Malappuram, Kerala.
The excavation was conducted by the State Archaeology Department at Nagaparamba in Kuttippuram village, near Tirunavaya. Hat stones, popularly called Thoppikkallu in Malayalam, are hemispherical laterite stones used as lid on burial urns during the megalithic period.

Notes:
The Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) recently chaired an online session in from India, during the World Water Week. The session was titled ‘Peer Networking for Integrated River Basin Planning and Management’ having a discussion on the adoption of the river basin management approach.
The World Water Week 2023 (from 20-24 August 2023) is an annual event held online and at Stockholm (Sweden) with the theme ‘Seeds of Change: Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World’.

Notes:
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin laid the foundation stone for a new desalination plant to come up at Perur on East Coast Road at a cost of ₹4,276.44 crore.
It has a capacity to treat 400 million litres of seawater per day. Once set up, the plant will be the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia. The project has funding support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will be completed by December 2026.