Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2023

Notes:
Madhya Pradesh cabinet has decided to close all the bars operating in the state, and the liquor shops only will be allowed to sell liquor to the customers at the shop.
‘Ahatas’, an area attached to a liquor shop for people to drink and shop bars have been closed under the new excise policy. As per the policy, distance of liquor shops from educational institutions has also been increased from the earlier 50 to 100 meters.

Notes:
The 49th meeting of the GST Council was held recently, under the chairship of the Union Finance Minister.
It was decided to clear all pending dues of pertaining to GST compensation to states. The finance minister also spoke about the GoM report on online gaming and said that the report has been submitted. The chair of the GoM is Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma.

Notes:
Delhi Government’s Feed Back Unit (FBU) was instituted in 2015. It is responsible for gathering ‘relevant information and actionable feedback’ related to the functioning of the government bodies and autonomous institutes in the Delhi government’s jurisdiction.
The FBU is also responsible for conducting sting operations or trap cases. Its personnel are known as intelligence assets and it directly answers to the Chief Minister’s Office. It is being criticized for being extra-judicial body that answers to only one individual.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released draft guidelines on minimum capital requirements for market risk in accordance with Basel III standards.
These guidelines set boundaries between the trading book and banking book of banks, and specify instruments that will be subject to market risk capital requirements and those subject to credit risk capital requirements.

Notes:
First loss default guarantee (FLDG) arrangement allowed fin-tech companies to provide a guarantee to compensate for up to a certain percentage of default in a loan portfolio.
The RBI has banned the FLDG arrangement under its digital lending guidelines due to concerns regarding fin-techs taking on default risks without regulation. Fintech lenders are exploring alternative business models.

Notes:
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement between 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Philippines Senate recently ratified the country’s entry into the RCEP. The RCEP, which was signed in 2020, represents the largest trade bloc in history. RCEP aims to increase economic integration and reduce trade barriers among its member nations.

Notes:
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), India’s largest central armed police force, falls under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The CRPF was established on July 27, 1939. It is planning to organize its 84^th Raising Day event in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. This is the first time that this annual event will be held in Left Wing Extremism-affected area.

Notes:
During an El Nino event, the trade winds that usually blow from east to west across the Pacific weaken, causing warm water to move towards the central and eastern Pacific.
This year is expected to witness the setting in of the El Nino weather. Although El Niño is a natural occurrence, there are concerns that climate change may aggravate its frequency and intensity.

Notes:
The Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) is located in Gurugram.
It is a regional maritime security centre that was launched in 2018. It aims to promote maritime security in the western Indian Ocean. It recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Regional Coordination Operations Centre (RCOC) of Seychelles.

Notes:
Micrometeoroid is a small space rock that weighs less than 1 gram. It is responsible for the coolant leakage of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule.
This prevented the spacecraft from being either used as a refuge or a return vehicle as its cabin temperature cannot be regulated. As per International Astronomical Union (IAU), the term ‘meteoroid’ is used to describe any solid object that is found to be moving in space while being less than 1 meter in size.