Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
First G20 Sustainable Financial Working Group meeting was recently inaugurated in Guwahati, Assam.
Guest delegates visited several places of importance like Kaziranga National Park, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Gorbhanga Reserve Forest, Brahmaputra’s River Island and Brahmaputra Heritage Centre.

Notes:
NAMASTE is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) as a joint initiative of the MoSJE and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
NAMASTE stands for National Action Plan for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem). This year’s Union Budget has allotted Rs 100 crore to the scheme. Finance Minister announced that the government is looking to enable 100% mechanical de-sludging of septic tanks and sewers in all cities and towns.

Notes:
Ministry of Textiles is implementing ‘Enhancing Circularity and Sustainability’ project in collaboration with United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
The main objective of the project is to minimize the negative environmental impacts of Indian Textile by promoting sustainable practices and mainstreaming knowledge on circular production based practices in the Textiles and Apparel sectors. Government also approved 20 strategic research projects in the areas of Specialty fibres and geo textiles.

Notes:
India will be invited as the theme country at the Madrid International Book Fair in 2025, the Ambassador of Spain to the country Jose Maria Ridao.
Spain is the theme country at the 46th International Kolkata Book Fair, which began recently. As part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, Spain has donated books to five universities in Bengal.

Notes:
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the US has emerged as India’s top destination for merchandise exports during April-December this fiscal at USD 59.7 billion.
The US was followed by UAE (USD 23.31 billion); Netherlands (USD 14.1 billion); China (USD 11 billion); Singapore and Bangladesh (about USD 9 billion each).

Notes:
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is observed on February 6 each year to raise global awareness about the issue concerning the female genital mutilation (FGM).
This day was established in 2003 after the Campaign against Female Genital Mutilation officially declared “Zero Tolerance to FGM” in Africa on February 6.

Notes:
The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) is an Earth-observation satellite jointly developed by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The SUV-size satellite will be shipped to India in a special cargo container flight later this month. It is expected to be launched into outer space in 2024 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. NISAR will provide critical information on Earth’s crust, ice sheets, and ecosystems.

Notes:
India’s first Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2ICE) technology was launched by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for heavy-duty trucks.
It was developed by RIL in collaboration with vehicle partners like Ashok Leyland and others and was launched during the India Energy Week 2023. The H2ICE technology minimizes carbon emissions and delivers better performance when compared with conventional diesel trucks.

Notes:
Operation AAHT was conducted recently by Railway Protection Force (RPF) to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking.
As part of this operation, the RPF makes use of its infrastructure and intelligence to gather analyse clues about victims, source, route, destination, popular trains used for human trafficking and other details. It collaborates with the local police to curb human trafficking.

Notes:
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a union of six Arab states namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Indian Government revealed that around half of India’s migrant population works in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Most of the migrants are semi-skilled or unskilled workers, while 20-23% are white-collar professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects, chartered accountants, and bankers.