Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
As per recent data, the High street rental prices in the top 8 cities in the world saw a significant rise in 2022.
As per the data, some cities experienced a 50% increase. The rise in rental prices is being attributed to a growing demand for prime retail locations, rise of e-commerce and shift towards online shopping.

Notes:
Finland has invited Indian tech employees to migrate there for work, offering opportunities as global tech companies lay off thousands of employees. Over 10,000 Indians live in Finland for work and education.
Finland aims to double work-based migration and triple study-based migration by 2030. Business Finland, a government organisation for innovation funding and trade, travel and investments signed MoU with the Confederation of Indian Industry for talent mobility, in December 2022.

Notes:
Singapore Chief Justice Sunadresh Menon attends as chief guest of the 73^rd foundation day of the Supreme Court of India.
The Singapore chief justice delivered a lecture on the “Role of judiciary in a changing world” as this year’s event was aired on social media platforms. On January 28, 1950, two days after India became the Sovereign Democratic Republic, the Supreme Court of India was established.

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:
After floating over the US for days, a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon has been shot down by the US Defence officials.
The balloon is said to have a payload the size of several buses. China’s foreign ministry denied that the balloon was used for surveillance, and it said that it was a civilian airship used for meteorological and other scientific research

Notes:
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech that the per capita income in India has more than doubled to ₹ 1.97 lakh over the past nine years.
The EPFO membership has more than doubled to 27 crore. She also announced that the government made cash transfer of ₹2.2 lakh crore under the PM-KISAN scheme.

Notes:
The state government of Punjab notify a policy to meter and charge groundwater extraction by industries and other establishments.
Anyone with an existing bore-well or digging afresh will have to take permission from Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority (PWRDA). There will be exemptions including farmers using water for agriculture purposes, places of worship, drinking and domestic Water Supply Scheme of Government, among others.

Notes:
The 36th Surajkund International Crafts Mela was inaugurated by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar in Faridabad, Haryana.
For this year, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is the participating international entity while eight northeast states, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura, are the theme states. The artists of these states will come together to showcase their art, handicrafts, and cuisines on a single platform.

Notes:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, NABARD and CSC e-Governance Services India Limited.
It aims to enable Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) to provide services offered by Common Service Centers. Over 300 services will be made available to the rural population including 13 crore farmer members of PACS.

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.