Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
India along with 10 ASEAN Member States (AMS) were represented by 200 participants, at the 4th edition of the annual ASEAN India Grassroots Innovation Forum (AIGIF) that was launched in Langkawi, Malaysia.
The AIGIF is an annual programme focused on fostering a strengthened relationship between India and AMS on the premise of cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). Department of Science & Technology (DST) and National Innovation Foundation (NIF) of India and the Science and Technology Ministry of the host nation, Malaysia collaborated for the event.

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:
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Quarterly Bulletin for July – September 2023
As per the report, the unemployment rate in urban areas of the country decreased from 7.2% in July-September 2022 to 6.6% in July–September 2023.

Notes:
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft recently discovered that an asteroid named Dinkinesh, which it flew past last month, has a tiny “contact binary” moon – two space rocks gently rested against each other. The International Astronomical Union approved the name “Selam” for this moon, meaning “peace” in Ethiopia’s language.
The names Dinkinesh and Selam refer to two famous hominid fossils discovered in Ethiopia. Dinkinesh is the Ethiopian name for the 3.18 million-year-old Lucy fossil that the Lucy mission is named after. Selam was a 3-year-old girl’s fossil found in 2000 in Dikika, belonging to the same species as Lucy and dating over 100,000 years earlier than her.

Notes:
The concept of Special Category States (SCS) emerged in 1969 when the Indian government recognized that certain states faced more developmental challenges than others. The criteria for SCS classification includes hilly terrain, low population density, sizable tribal population, strategic border locations, and economic backwardness.

Initially in 1969, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and Nagaland were granted SCS status. Currently, 11 states hold this status – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

The preferential categorization aims to channel additional funds and incentives to remote, underdeveloped regions facing geographic handicaps. SCS states receive central assistance for programs tailor-made to their unique needs. The classification also enables access to separate Center-State funding mechanisms and industrial promotions to spur growth.

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:
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:
Methotrexate (MTX) is a widely used anti-cancer drug. The MTX value of more than 10 µM in blood plasma is hazardous if it remains in the system for more than 10 hours, resulting in poisoning effects on the lungs, ulcers of the stomach, and heart stroke.
A new highly fluorescent material with exceptional optical properties has been developed using phosphorene, cystine, and gold (Ph-Cys-Au) which can be used as a visual sensing platform for detecting anti-cancer drug MTX overdosage.

Notes:
The researchers at NASA, have been allowed to study the moon samples collected by China, in a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the space agencies of the two countries. The laws by the US have till now kept NASA and its counterpart the China National Space Administration (CNSA) at a distance, but now they have been allowed to work together.
As per the Wolf Amendment which was passed in 2011 by the US Congress, it places a ban on NASA from cooperating with China unless they have been authorised by lawmakers.

Notes:
The third edition of the IIGF is being conducted under the overarching theme “Moving Forward – Calibrating Bharat’s Digital Agenda”.
The India Internet Governance Forum is an initiative associated with the UN Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF). It is a hybrid event and the event is being held at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The event is an effort to focus on issues such as building a secure, trusted and resilient cyberspace for, Enabling Innovation for India’s Developmental Goals etc.