Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
Glacial Lake Outburst Floods, or GLOFs, are sudden and powerful releases of water from glacial lakes due to the failure of a dam made of glacial materials.
GLOFs are dangerous in mountainous areas, where they can lead to flash floods, landslides, and other environmental risks. According to a new study, over 3 million individuals in India are at risk from GLOF.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Helicopter Factory at Tumakuru in Karnataka.
The factory is India’s largest helicopter manufacturing facility and will initially produce LUHs. He also unveiled the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). Initially, this factory will produce around 30 helicopters per year and can be enhanced to 60 and then 90 per year in a phased manner.

Notes:
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a union of six Arab states namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Indian Government revealed that around half of India’s migrant population works in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Most of the migrants are semi-skilled or unskilled workers, while 20-23% are white-collar professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects, chartered accountants, and bankers.

Notes:
Scientists have discovered the oldest known stone tools in Kenya, dating back 2.9 million years, known as Oldowan toolkit.
This toolkit included hammer-stones, cores and flakes. It is a critical invention for early human ancestors that expanded across Africa and China. The discovery provides a glimpse of importance of stone technology in adapting to different environments.

Notes:
India signed a MoU with Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Joint Business Council (IMT-GT JBC), to promote adoption of energy efficiency.
The MoU was signed during the Working group meeting of G20 on energy transition at Bengaluru. The MoU aims to further promote the adoption of energy efficiency and sustainable practices. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) signed MoU with IMT-GT JBC coinciding with the India Energy Week celebrations.

Notes:
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, launched a comprehensive campaign plan, ‘Digital Payments Utsav, in New Delhi.
Digital Payments Utsav, has been planned this year to promote Digital Payments across the country and to celebrate the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and G20 Presidency. Digital Payment Sandesh Yatra was also flagged off to make citizens aware of digital payment solutions. DigiDhan awards were presented to banks that perform well in digital payments.

Notes:
Nigeria has recently announced demonetization to address corruption and bring down inflation. Its purpose is to bring back most of the money that is in circulation outside the banking system and to minimize money laundering.
Nigerians are required to turn in their old 1,000, 500 and 200 naira banknotes as part of this initiative in return for new naira notes. With the African country being largely dependent on cash, the shortage of new naira notes is causing chaos in Nigeria.

Notes:
The Indian government announced that retail inflation increased to 6.52% in January from 5.72% in December 2022, mainly due to the rise in food prices.
Retail inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The Reserve Bank of India’s household survey on inflation expectations forecasts that retail inflation will remain elevated in the next year due to a general increase in prices across different sectors.

Notes:
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team has been selected to receive the ‘2023 John L. Jack Swigert, Jr.’ Award for Space Exploration.
It is a prestigious award from the Space Foundation. This annual award honors a space agency, company, or consortium of organizations in the realm of space exploration and discovery.

Notes:
As per YouGov’s latest report, over a third of urban Indians have claimed that their disposable income has decreased in the last 12 months.
Putting money in their savings (33 per cent), paying for health insurance (26 per cent) and investments in stocks and shares (21 per cent) were the top three financial activities done in the past 12 months, as per the report.