Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
India for the first time invited bids for 20 critical mineral blocks, including lithium and graphite. This is not only seen to boost economic development but also a part of the nation’s strategy to ensure adequate domestic resources of essential raw materials for powering the green energy transition.
The auction will be held online, using a transparent two-stage ascending forward auction process. Eligible bidders will be chosen based on the highest percentage of the quoted value of dispatched minerals they offer.

Notes:
The Sri Lankan cabinet has given clearance to allow China’s energy major Sinopec to establish a new $4.5 billion petroleum refinery plant at the strategic Hambantota port in the island nation.
The upcoming plant of Sinopec, which entered the Sri Lankan market in July this year, would be the largest foreign direct investment with $4.5 billion for Sri Lanka.

Notes:
The Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh won the right to host the Expo 2030 world fair, in another diplomatic victory for a Gulf country after soccer World Cup.
South Korea’s port city of Busan and Rome in Italy were also in the running to host the five-yearly event that attracts millions of visitors and billions of dollars in investment.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of Fast Track Special Court (FTSCs) as, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) from 01.04.2023 to 31.03.2026 with financial implication of Rs. 1952.23 crore (Rs. 1207.24 crore as Central Share and Rs. 744.99 crore as State share).
The Central Share is to be funded from Nirbhaya Fund. The Fast Track Special Court (FTSCs) Scheme was launched on 02.10.2019.

Notes:
Virgin Atlantic operated Flight100 from London to New York, the first ever transatlantic passenger flight fully powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Boeing 787, with Rolls-Royce engines, aims to demonstrate SAF’s viability as a safe, low-carbon substitute for conventional jet fuel. As the aviation industry faces pressure to reduce emissions and climate impact, SAF has potential as a compatible drop-in replacement requiring no new infrastructure. Flight100 represents an important first step in testing and scaling up commercial use of 100% SAF on long flights. Its completion will help make the case for ramping up SAF production and adoption across more routes. The flight proves such ambition is technologically possible with today’s planes and engines while we continue striving to make SAF affordable and available at scale.

Notes:
Hydropower currently makes up around 11% of India’s energy mix, as per government data. However, experts estimate the country has a total hydroelectric potential of 145 gigawatts (GW), of which only 29% has been utilized so far. Unlike coal power, hydropower offers flexible generation as the units can rapidly adjust output to match demand fluctuations. This ability makes it well-suited to balance the intermittency of renewables like solar and wind.

Notes:
India’s Aditya L1 satellite has begun unravelling solar wind enigmas as two cutting-edge particle spectrometers commenced data gathering in recent months. The SWIS and STEPS instruments on the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment payload have detected protons, Helium ions and energy histograms exhibiting solar wind behavior fluctuations near Sun-Earth Lagrange Point L1.
SWIS’ 360-degree coverage and directional monitoring capacities will significantly further comprehension of solar wind properties, variability and links to space weather influencing Earth. Researchers eagerly anticipate more revelations to address enduring questions about the complex solar wind and corona heating as Aditya L1 nears L1 orbital point for uninterrupted solar observation.

Notes:
Indian activist Safeena Hussain has been awarded the prestigious $500,000 WISE Prize for her work promoting girls’ education across rural India. Her NGO Educate Girls has helped over 1.4 million girls re-enroll in schools in remote villages, drawing global recognition to grassroots education reform. Her interventions that focus on community participation have also boosted learning outcomes. The WISE prize validates the impact of her innovative model that is empowering India’s most marginalized girls to access their right to education.

Notes:
A total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered across India in 2022, up from 4,28,278 in 2021 and 3,71,503 in 2020. The rate of crime against women per lakh population stood at 66.4 while the charge sheeting in such cases was logged at 75.8, showed the data in the annual crime report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
NCRB functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The majority of crimes against women under the Indian Penal Code were of cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.4 per cent) followed by kidnapping and abduction of women (19.2 per cent). Delhi registered the highest rate of crime against women in the country at 144.4, while the country’s average rate was 66.4. Uttar Pradesh (65,743) registered the maximum FIRs in cases of crime against women in 2022.

Notes:
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has announced a seed fund scheme to offer start-ups focusing on urban development and disaster management a financial assistance of up to Rs 1 crore each.
It has launched the scheme in collaboration with ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to provide a leg-up to companies that leverage space technology for societal benefit.  The selected start-ups will receive seed funding for transforming an original idea into a prototype using space technology, ISRO facility support.