Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
The Indian Navy received the warship Imphal from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.  The crest design depicts the Kangla Palace on the left and ‘Kangla-Sa’ on the right. Kangla Palace is an important historical and archaeological site of Manipur and was the traditional seat of the kingdom.
With a dragon’s head and lion’s body, the ‘Kangla-Sa’ is the state emblem of Manipur. Imphal is the third of the four warships sanctioned under an important project called P-15B. INS Visakhapatnam and INS Mormugao have already been commissioned. The ship has an indigenous content of around 75% including its medium range surface-to-air missiles, BrahMos missiles and others.

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:
Zimbabwe announced that it will construct its first utility-scale geothermal energy Independent Power Producer (IPP) and support the reduction of greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the country.
Energy sector is the highest contributor of the emissions in the country. Zimbabwe’s total energy generation in 2021 comprised of 29 per cent from non-renewable sources and 71 per cent from renewable sources, with hydropower (69%) as the largest share.

Notes:
The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for procurement of 16 Upgraded Super Rapid Gun Mount (SRGM) along with associated equipment/ accessories for Indian Navy under Buy (Indian) category at a total cost of ₹2956.89 Cr.
The upgraded SRGM, which will be manufactured by BHEL is a medium caliber anti-missile/anti-aircraft point defence weapon system which provides a sustained rate of fire and high accuracy.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Terms of Reference for the Sixteenth Finance Commission.
The 16th Finance Commission’s recommendations, upon the acceptance by the government, would cover the period of five years commencing April 1, 2026. Article 280(1) of the Constitutions lays down that the modalities for setting up of a Finance Commission. The Fifteenth Finance Commission was constituted in 2017, whose recommendations are valid up to the financial year 2025-26.

Notes:
The common term used for tactics like false scarcity claims, confirm-shaming, forced bundling, and subscription traps in online transactions, which were recently addressed by the Indian government, is “dark patterns.” Government of India has notified guidelines banning online platforms from deploying deceptive designs or ‘dark patterns’ tricking users into certain choices benefitting the company. Any commercial entity systematically offering goods or services in India must refrain from such practices numbered in the rules. With e-commerce expanding, curbs became imperative as exploitative mechanisms undermine consumer autonomy and fair competition. Companies could face penalties for violations. As digital adoption rises, informed consent and transparency in interface flows matter. Hence regulations aim safeguarding web-use.

Notes:
Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has clarified that Brazil is seeking OPEC+ membership to convince member nations to move away from fossil fuels, not to cap its own oil output. Lula said Brazil aims to persuade major oil producers to invest profits into renewable energy development assistance for poorer regions like Africa and Latin America instead.
Brazil seeks a leadership role in rallying OPEC+ oil economies to finance global south’s green transition through proceeds earned from essentially the last fossil fuel boom before inevitable decline. Joining the 23-member group controlling 40% of world’s oil reserves aligns with Lula’s climate justice advocacy, with rainforests protection another priority. Hence Brazil is eyeing OPEC+ as platform for climate action cooperation.

Notes:
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has enabled two-factor authentication for all e-waybill and e-invoice systems to further enhance the security of the goods and services tax systems.
The feature was enabled on December 1 and was rolled out on Monday. Currently the pilot rollout has been done for a state of Haryana and after seamless operation of the same in the state, it is being rolled out for Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Delhi taxpayers in the first phase. In the second phase, it will be rolled out across the country.

Notes:
India saw a rise of 24 per cent in cybercrimes registered in 2022 compared to 2021, whereas other categories of crime – including economic offences (11%), crimes against senior citizens (9%), against women (4%), too recorded an increase, as per the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
According to the report ‘Crime in India’, 65,893 cases were registered under cybercrime, showing an increase of 24.4 per cent compared to 52,974 cases in 2021. According to the NCRB data, a total of 1,93,385 cases were registered under economic offences, showing an increase of 11.1 per cent compared to 1,74,013 cases in 2021.

Notes:
The India Infrastructure Report 2023 on Urban Planning and Development was released by Venkaiah Naidu, former Vice-President of India, along with Amitabh Pant, G20 Sherpa of India and former CEO, NITI Aayog.
The Report has been a collaborative effort of the IDFC Foundation, Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). It contains 25 chapters by prominent names in the urban development and policy ecosystem on the current state of urban development in India. The India Infrastructure Report (IIR) series was initiated by the IDFC Foundation in 2001.