Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
India’s agricultural and processed food products exports rose by 16 per cent in the first eight months (April-November) of the current financial year 2022-23 on an annual basis.
For the year 2022-23, an export target of $23.56 billion has been fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket. At present, the agricultural exports attained 74 per cent of its annual export target.

Notes:
Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance notifies changes in rates on small savings schemes.
Recently, the government hiked the interest rates on various small savings schemes including senior citizen savings scheme for the January to March quarter. The PPF will continue to earn 7.10%, while Sukanya Samriddhi account scheme will continue to earn 7.6% interest rate.

Notes:
G Kamala Vardhana Rao has taken over the charge as the CEO of food regulator FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India).
The FSSAI is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Prior to this, Rao was serving as the Managing Director of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a Miniratna PSU under the Ministry of Tourism.

Notes:
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated Mega Dairy at Mandya, Karnataka. The mega dairy inaugurated at a cost of Rs 260 crore would process 10 lakh liters of milk per day and capacity to increase it upto 14 lakh liters per day.
To remove malnutrition among children through the Ksheer Bhagya scheme, milk is being provided to 65 lakh children in government schools and 39 lakh children in Anganwadis.

Notes:
North Korea has recently fired three ballistic missiles toward the sea east of the Korean Peninsula, as per the South Korean military.
The three short-range ballistic missiles were fired from North Hwanghae Province, south of the capital Pyongyang. The launches came a day after South Korea successfully conducted a test flight of a solid-propellant space launch vehicle. North Korea has fired around 70 ballistic missiles this year, including about eight intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

Notes:
35-year-old Indian Chess player and former World rapid champion Koneru Humpy won Silver medal at World Blitz Chess Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Savitha Shri, a 15-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu won bronze at the World rapid and blitz chess championship.

Notes:
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that XBB.1.5 has more than doubled its share of the Covid-19 figures each week.
In the Northeast region of the country, XBB.1.5 is causing 75% of new cases. The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants.

Notes:
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation designed and manufactured by SpaceX to provide high-speed internet to people living in remote locations. SpaceX launched the first batch of a new generation of 54 Starlink satellites into orbit aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.
The The touchdown of the Falcon 9 first stage marked a successful end to SpaceX’s 60th launch of SpaceX in 2022, nearly doubling the record of 31 launches made in 2021.

Notes:
Canada has banned most foreigners from buying Homes, to make more homes available to locals facing a housing crunch.
The ban prohibits people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from buying residential properties, and imposes a C$10,000 fine on those who breach it.

Notes:
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has listed around 20 restrictive and discriminatory conditions of procuring agencies under various ministries against local suppliers.
As per DPIIT, the conditions make them non-complaint with the government’s public procurement for Make in India order. It includes additional requirement of bank guarantee for local suppliers, delayed payment terms, excessive past experience requirements etc.