Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
Raimati Ghiuria, a tribal farmer from Odisha’s Koraput district, has preserved 30 varieties of millets and trained hundreds of women in cultivating rare millets. She was invited to the G20 Summit held to commemorate the ‘International Year of Millets’. At the G20 Summit she was called the ‘Queen of Millet’. She has been recognized as a pioneer in native seed conservation.

Notes:
The 6th edition of the Khelo India Youth Games is scheduled from January 19 to 31, 2024. The previous 5 editions of the Youth Games have been held in Delhi, Pune, Guwahati, Panchkula and Bhopal. The upcoming edition will take place in four cities of Tamil Nadu – Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, and Coimbatore.

Notes:
On December 21, 2023, Angola announced it was leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after 16 years of membership. The move will reduce the number of OPEC members to 12. OPEC was established in 1960 by the five founding members Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Currently, it has 13 members, including Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates. It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Qatar terminated its membership in 2019.
Qatar was once a member of OPEC but decided to leave the organization. The country announced its decision to withdraw from OPEC effective January 2019. This decision was made to focus more on its natural gas production, for which Qatar is one of the world’s leading producers.

Notes:
Wheebox, in collaboration with several entities including the All India Council for Technical Education, Confederation of Indian Industry, and Association of Indian Universities, has unveiled the India Skills Report. As indicated by the India Skills Report 2024, employability in India has shown improvement, with 51.25% of evaluated young individuals deemed employable possessing the necessary skills.
Kerala has emerged as the top choice among states for employment, securing the second position in overall employability within the 18-21 age group, reaffirming its position as a robust talent pool in India.

Notes:
Mission Karmayogi, the government’s capacity building scheme for civil servants was extended with new features. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched My iGOT, Blended Programs and Curated Programs on the digital iGOT Karmayogi platform. My iGOT provides targeted courses matching individual and organizational needs. Blended Programs integrate offline and online learning components. VIKAS is a blended course on developing functional, behavioral and technological competencies among mid-level civil servants. The extensions aim to groom civil servants to be more innovative, progressive and technology-enabled.

Notes:
A new stealth destroyer INS Imphal has been named after the capital city Imphal of the northeastern state of Manipur. The latest warship INS Imphal was commissioned recently in Mumbai, the first naval vessel named after a city from northeast region emphasizing Imphal’s role in national security.

Notes:
The Ministry of Heavy Industries administers the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme. Instituted in 2015, this scheme aims to encourage the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles in the country. The ongoing implementation of FAME India Scheme Phase-II by the Ministry of Heavy Industries spans a five-year period starting from April 1, 2019, with a total budgetary allocation of Rs. 10,000 crore. The initial phase, FAME I, provided purchase incentives across all electric vehicle categories. The subsidy under FAME-2 for electric vehicles is scheduled to conclude on March 31, 2024.

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The Uttar Pradesh Government has approved for the development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) City in the Nadarganj Industrial Area of Lucknow.

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On December 27, 2023, Pakistan’s military successfully conducted a flight test of the indigenously developed guided multi-launch rocket system Fatah-II. Fattah-2, new and improved hypersonic weapon has been launched by Iran in November 2023.

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The new airport in Ayodhya will be named after sage poet Maharishi Valmiki as ‘Maharishi Valmiki International Airport Ayodhya Dham’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly built Ayodhya Airport on December 30, 2023. The news is significant as the airport naming indicates the focus on enhancing Ayodhya’s cultural heritage.