Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
New Zealand’s new government will scrap the country’s world-leading law to ban smoking for future generations to help pay for tax cuts.
In 2022 the country passed pioneering legislation which introduced a steadily rising smoking age to stop those born after January 2009 from ever being able to legally buy cigarettes. The law was designed to prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths and save the health system billions of dollars.

Notes:
In an initiative touted at aiming to leverage data for social good, the Foundation for Science Innovation and Development (FSID) within the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) announced the launch of the Centre of Data for Public Good (CDPG).
CDPG will serve as a hub for multidisciplinary research, bringing together experts from academia, industry, and government to harness the power of data to benefit the public.

Notes:
Karnataka government on signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with tech firm Meta to launch two initiatives aimed at raising awareness among students and educators about online safety and digital citizenship.
The state government plans to train 1 lakh teachers and 10 lakh students in digital safety and AR/VR skills by 2025 through this partnership with Meta.

Notes:
India’s Union Ministry of Tourism hosted an industry round-table on developing the country as a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism destination in New Delhi.
During India’s G20 Presidency, more than 200 meetings have been organized in 56 cities across the country.

Notes:
The National Water Mission of Ministry of Jal Shakti is organizing ‘Jal Itihas Utsav’ at Shamsi Talab, Jahaz Mahal situated in Delhi.
It aims to raise public consciousness about safeguarding water heritage sites, creating a sense of ownership among the masses as well as promote tourism and restoration of such heritage structures. The Ministry of Jal Shakti has successfully implemented the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ 2023 with the theme “Source Sustainability for Drinking Water”.

Notes:
The government has approved a five-year extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), its flagship free foodgrain scheme for the poor, beyond December 2023. Launched in 2020 to provide relief during the COVID-19 crisis, the PMGKAY supplies 5 kgs of free ration monthly to over 800 million beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act. The scheme will now continue till 2028 at an estimated expenditure of Rs 1.18 lakh crore annually.

Notes:
A rare case of scrub typhus has been reported in Gujarat’s Narmada district, believed to be transmitted through insect bites. A 51-year-old tribal woman from Dediyapada, displaying symptoms like fever, swelling, headache, recovered after treatment at Surat hospital.
Doctors confirmed scrub typhus infection, which can be fatal without medical care. The disease is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi bacteria from bites of larval mites or ‘chiggers’. Gujarat has prepared guidelines for tackling the disease that sees outbreaks after monsoons in UP, Bihar and Odisha. This first case has highlighted risks of neglecting flu-like symptoms after rural insect bites.

Notes:
China’s regulator wants provinces to come up with their own plans to handle financial risks, according to a report.
‘One Province, One Policy’ comes after officials previously committed to establishing a mechanism to tackle local debt issues. China has struggled for traction this year as a bounce-back from restrictive Covid Zero policies proved to be softer than expected and a property crisis dragged on.

Notes:
On December 5, Cyclone Michaung made landfall over Nellore in Andhra Pradesh as a super-cyclonic storm. A day earlier, the weather system had produced 150-200 mm of rain in north Tamil Nadu.
In 2000, a panel of the World Meteorological Organisation with members of the UN Economic and Social Commission prepared the list of names of tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, to be given from the September 2004 season. The name of each cyclone is picked from this list and cycles through each country’s suggestion. After Michaung (by Myanmar), the next five cyclones will be called ‘Remal’ (Oman), ‘Asna’ (Pakistan), ‘Dana’ (Qatar), ‘Fengal’ (Saudi Arabia), and ‘Shakhti’ (Sri Lanka).

Notes:
The Governor of Punjab Banwarilal Purohit, inaugurated a Deeptech Startup Accelerator Program for innovation in agriculture and water technology called SAMRIDHI (Strategic Acceleration for Market, Research, Innovation & Development: a Holistic Initiative for ICPS Startups) hosted by iHub AwaDH, a Technology and Innovation Hubs set up UNDER National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).
The SAMRIDHI conclave in which five strategic collaborations were formalized, featured five deep-tech innovations. A total of 13 startups shortlisted through rigorous evaluation, presented their ideas while 25 startups showcased their solutions at the exhibition.