Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
Sri Lanka marked its 75th independence anniversary on 4^th February 2023. Several activists, Buddhists and Christian clergy announced a boycott of the celebration in the capital.
A group of activists began a silent protest in the capital, condemning government’s independence celebration and failure to ease the economic burden. University students also attempted a protest march.

Notes:
For the next fiscal year 2023-24, the Union Budget has pegged disinvestment revenue at Rs 51,000 crore.
The government has also scaled down the disinvestment target for the current fiscal to Rs 50,000 crore, from Rs 65,000 crore budgeted last year. The Government expects divestment processes initiated in the current fiscal to be closed by the next fiscal year, including IDBI, Shipping Corporation of India and NMDC Steel.

Notes:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new initiative for empowering the Vishwakarma community.
The PM VIKAS (Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman) yojana will provide support by providing skills training to artisans and craftsmen people engaged in traditional and skilled professions. The special package will help integrate them with MSME value chain.

Notes:
According to a recent gazette notification, the government has revised the definition of broadband connectivity, specifying a higher minimum download speed of 2 megabits per second.
Earlier, the definition notified by the Telecom Department in 2013 had benchmarked it to 512 kbps (kilobits per second) as minimum download speed. As of November 30, 2022, India had about 825.4 million broadband subscribers, of which 793.5 million were wireless broadband users.

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:
Australia’s central bank said that its new USD 5 bill would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III.
The King is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The bank will consult with Indigenous groups in designing the USD 5 note.

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:
Guru Ravidass Jayanti is celebrated to mark the birth of Guru Ravidas, a mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement during the 15th century.
The poet was a contemporary of Kabir Das and he taught monotheistic spirituality and message of equality and liberation from Indian caste system. His teachings are widely followed in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, among others.

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.