Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), released a new mobile application ‘SAMUDRA’ – Smart Access to Marine Users for Ocean Data Resources and Advisories.
It aims to offer comprehensive information on all ocean related services, useful for seafarers and the fishing community.

Notes:
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched the ‘Graphene-Aurora program’ at Kochi, Kerala.
The program shall be implemented by Digital University Kerala with joint funding from Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India and Government of Kerala and Industry partners, with the total budget outlay of Rs 94.85 Crore.

Notes:
In March 2022, astronomers announced the discovery of the farthest known star via an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
They named it Earendel, after the old English name for “morning star”. Recently, James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-infrared Camera (NIRCam) and its NIRSpec spectrometer have taken a look at the same star and revealed that it is a hydrogen-burning star. Compared to the Sun, it’s twice as hot and a million times more luminous.

Notes:
Central Water Commission (CWC) launched the mobile application, “FloodWatch” with the aim of using mobile phones to disseminate information related to the flood situation and forecasts up to 7 days on a real-time basis to the public.
The in-house developed app has readable and audio broadcast and all the information is available in English and Hindi. Key feature of the app includes real-time flood monitoring where users can check up-to-date flood situation throughout the country.

Notes:
Madan Lal Dhingra was an Indian revolutionary who was hanged to death on August 17, 1909, at the age of only 24, for killing British official Curzon Wyllie.
On the 114th anniversary of his execution, a memorial in his name was formally inaugurated in Amritsar’s Golbagh area.

Notes:
To mark the 200th birth anniversary of Arya Samaj founder Dayanand Saraswati this year, the government has formed a high-level committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Among its members are a host of Union ministers, state governors, senior officials from various departments and office-bearers of the Arya Samaj organisation. He was born on 12th February 1824.

Notes:
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu declared the state as a ‘Natural Calamity Affected Area’.
Torrential rains, floods and landslides have killed around 330 people, with over 12,000 houses damaged. The State has suffered a loss of over ₹10,000 crore.

Notes:
A 14-member committee chaired by former NITI Aayog CEO and India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, was constituted to examine stalled real estate projects and recommend ways to complete them.
The committee was set up in March by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. It included officials of Union Finance Ministry, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana state governments, IBBI, NHB and RERA of Haryana and UP. The report has been handed over to Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri.

Notes:
India’s Ministry of development of north eastern region (MDoNER) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) joined hands to enhance and fast track sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the northeastern region.
UNDP will support in monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, support for aspirational districts and blocks, and the deployment of emerging technologies in governance.

Notes:
August 22 is annually celebrated as Madras Day, to commemorate the foundation day of the city of Madras (now Chennai).
It was on this day in 1639 that the town of Madrasapatnam, was purchased by the East India Company (EIC) from local kings. After 1947, the state and the city continued to be referred to as Madras. It was carved out of the Madras presidency that covered parts of other South- Indian states. In 1969, the state was officially renamed Tamil Nadu and in 1996, the capital city of Madras became Chennai.