Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
India, France, UAE agreed to establish a formal trilateral cooperation, in fields including energy, defence, economy
The three countries said that they will explore the possibility of working with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to pursue actionable projects on clean energy, environment and biodiversity.

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:
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:
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 Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offenses (ITSSO) was launched in 2019 by the Central Government to monitor police investigations of sexual assault cases. It is currently operated by the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau).
Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest disposal rate of 97.6 percent, as it disposed of over 74,000 cases against 75,800 cases registered in relation to crime against women.

Notes:
As per the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) trade database, 28 incidents of Red Sanders confiscation, seizure, and specimen were exported from India.
These consignments were exported to China (53.5%), Hong Kong (25.0%), Singapore (17.8%) and the United States of America (3.5%) from 2016 to 2020. Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) or red sandalwood, is an endemic tree species with distribution restricted to the Eastern Ghats of India and is found in Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
The Union Budget 2023-24 has allocated Rs. 2,516 crore for the computerization of 63,000 PACS over the next 5 years.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) are village-level cooperative credit societies that act as the last link to the 3-tier cooperative credit structure, which is headed by the State Cooperative Bank or SCB. Credit from the SCB is transferred to the district central cooperative banks (DCCBs), which will then transfer the credit to the PACS.

Notes:
Bard is an AI chatbot that is being developed by Google as a competitor for the popular Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.
Bard will use AI to generate answers in text when queries are typed by the users. This chatbot will function based on the AI model called LaMDA, which was introduced by Google in 2021 as a generative language model for dialogue applications.

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 Wetland Ex-Situ Conservation Establishment (WESCE) is a zoo that is being proposed by the state government of Rajasthan.
It is set to be established within the Keoladeo National Park, a World Heritage Site also known as the Bharatpur bird sanctuary. The WESCE will display a range of wetland species like water buffaloes, dolphins, crocodiles, and others.