Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
Khelo India Winter Games 2023 will be held in the town of Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir in February 2023.
Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur launched the Mascot, Theme song and Jersey for 3rd edition of Khelo India Winter Games.

Notes:
India and the USA have agreed to constitute task force to boost cooperation in semiconductor industry.
The task force will involve India’s Semiconductor Mission, India Electronics Semiconductor Association and the US Semiconductor Industry Association.  This was announced during the inaugural meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) releases the Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) twice a year, to measure the adoption of online transactions, digital payments across India.
As per the recent data, the digital payments registered a growth of 24.13% in a year through September 2022. RBI-DPI stood at 377.46 in September 2022 against 349.30 in March 2022 and 304.06 in September 2021.

Notes:
Maharashtra tops the list in sales of electric vehicles across all segments which have availed of the FAME II subsidy.
It is followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The top five states collectively account for over 56 per cent of the 0.85 million electric vehicles bought through the scheme, according to government data. Under the FAME II scheme, the government earmarked Rs 10,000 crore as a subsidy to electric vehicles. The scheme has been extended till March-end 2024.

Notes:
World Cancer Day is observed every year on February 4, to unite the world in the fight against cancer.
The first Cancer Day was celebrated in Geneva, Switzerland in the year 1933. It was led by the World Health Organisation. The theme for World Cancer day for the last three years – 2022, 2023 and 2024 is “Close The Care Gap”.

Notes:
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), 300 children in three countries lost lives due to cough syrups made in India.
WHO is investigating whether there is any connection between manufacturers of the contaminated cough syrups. The deaths of children from acute kidney injury began in July 2022 in Gambia, followed by cases in Indonesia and Uzbekistan.

Notes:
The Indian military forces concluded a joint training exercise named ‘Trishakti Prahar, which began in North Bengal.
As per defence sources, the aim of the exercise was to practice battle preparedness of the security forces, using latest weapons and equipment in a networked, integrated environment, involving the Army, the Indian Air Force and CAPFs.

Notes:
The India Energy Week is being organized from February 6 to 8 in India. The objective of this week-long event is to showcase India’s influence as a leader in the energy transition.
While inaugurating the 2023 India Energy Week, Prime Minister Modi launched Indian Oil’s ‘Unbottled’ initiative, which involves using recycled polyester and cotton for creating retail customer attendants and LPG delivery personnel uniforms. Indian Oil’s Indoor Solar Cooking System was also rolled out for commercial purposes.

Notes:
The eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) is a newly established research institute in IIT Madras.
It is India’s research and product innovation centre focusing on extended reality and haptics technology. An MoU was signed recently between ISRO and the IIT Madras to develop a training module for the Indian spaceflight programme at the XTIC. It will be developed using the augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality.

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.