Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the Union Budget 2023-24 that the Centre will work in mission mode to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047.
This programme will include awareness creation and universal screening of 7 crore people in 0 – 40 years age group in affected tribal areas and counselling through collaboration of central ministries and state governments.

Notes:
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), issued the E-Waste (Management) Amendment Rules, 2023.
It seeks to amend the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, by adding Cadmium and lead in Solar panels, solar Photovoltaic panels among others. They will come into force from April 01, 2023.

Notes:
The Indian Railways has been allocated a capital outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore in the Union Budget 2023-24.
This is the highest ever allocation to the national transporter. Last year, a gross budgetary support of Rs 1.37 lakh crore was allotted in fiscal 2022-23.It is estimated that there is a need to lay 1 lakh kilometres of tracks over the coming 25 years as more goods movement shifts from roads to railways.

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:
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:
Google has invested nearly USD 400 million in artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic AI. The two companies announced a partnership that will see the AI start-up use Google’s cloud computing services.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced that they would use Google Cloud to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems and to create a robust AI platform.

Notes:
Ministry of Heavy Industries implements the ‘FAME (faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles) scheme’.
The government has nearly doubled its budgetary allocation for the FAME scheme to subsidise the purchase of electric vehicles. As per the budget, the subsidy under FAME scheme for fiscal 2024 is projected at Rs 5,172 crore, compared to the revised estimate of Rs 2,897 crore in the current fiscal year. This is the highest allocation under the scheme since its launch in 2020.

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:
A set of new family laws, referred to as ‘Federal Personal Status Laws’, for non-Muslims residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) came into force.
These laws will apply to non-Muslim expatriates or foreigners living in UAE and cover various aspects of family law like marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, wills, and paternity. The new reforms to UAE’s judicial systems originate from Abu Dhabi’s Civil Family Court System, which allows non-Muslim couples to divorce or marry without following the Sharia laws.

Notes:
The United States and the Philippines announced plans to expand America’s military presence in the Southeast Asian nation.
The countries decided to accelerate full implementation of their ‘Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)’. As part of the agreement, the U.S. has allocated $82 million toward infrastructure improvements at five current EDCA sites. This will provide access to four more bases to the US.