Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
A new species of frog known as the Ukaguru spiny-throated reed frog has been discovered in African country Tanzania.
The frog has an uncommon characteristic of being completely silent, unlike other frogs that croak, sing, or ribbit. This frog belongs to the ‘spiny-throated’ group. They are only found in small populations, making them vulnerable to extinction.

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:
Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medallist Tejaswin Shankar won the men’s high jump event at New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 2023 in Boston, USA.
At the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event, Tejaswin Shankar claimed first place with a jump of 2.26 metres. He beat the 38-year-old Donald Thomas of the Bahamas, a 2007 world champion.

Notes:
The US and Brazil, two of the world’s largest biofuels markets, are joining an India-led initiative of International Biofuels Alliance.
The Alliance will aim to boost demand for the lower-emissions energy source. India has also earmarked 350 billion rupees (USD 4.3 billion) in its union budget to promote energy security.

Notes:
North Korea stole more cryptocurrency assets in 2022 than in any other year, as per a recent report by United Nations.
As per the report, most of the money stolen was used to support its ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programmes. North Korea-linked hackers stole virtual assets worth USD 630 million while its cyber currency heist stood at USD 1 billion.

Notes:
Yaya Tso has been recently proposed as Ladakh’s first biodiversity heritage site (BHS) under the Biological Diversity Act.. It is also known as birds’ paradise for its beautiful lake located at an altitude of 4,820 metres.
Yaya Tso is a nesting habitat for bar-headed goose, black-necked crane and brahminy duck and it it also has the distinction of being one of the highest breeding sites of the black-necked crane in India.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of 130 million USD for the implementation of the Himachal Pradesh Subtropical Horticulture, Irrigation, and Value Addition Project.
The purpose of this project is to assist at least 15,000 farm households to make them more resilient to climate change through improved irrigation and water management.

Notes:
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare signed an MoU with Digital Green under a public-private partnership framework to build a ‘National-level digital extension platform’.
The platform will host a digital library of multi-format multi-lingual content and upskill extension workers for agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, livestock and rural livelihood missions through certified online courses.

Notes:
PhonePe recently became the first Indian fintech company to enable payments abroad. It allows international transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
With this, Indian travellers can make UPI transactions to foreign merchants using PhonePe platform. Cross-border transaction facility by PhonePe will support all international outlets in UAE, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan and Mauritius having local QR Code.

Notes:
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is the latest innovation in the field of medicine, to treat cancer.
Rather than relying on drugs, like chemotherapy or immunotherapy, the CAR T cell therapy treatments utilise a patient’s own cells that have been altered in a lab to stimulate T-cells and attack tumour cells. Currently, CAR T-cell therapy has received clearance for treating leukemia and lymphoma types of cancer.