Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri. It is a railway station in Siliguri, West Bengal and is considered as the gateway to the northeast.
The Vande Bharat Express covers a distance of 564 km in 7.45 hours, will save three hours of travel time. The Vande Bharat express will be preferred by tea industry executives and tourists travelling to the Himalayas in North Bengal and Sikkim.

Notes:
The Union government spent more than Rs 13,000 crore on cleaning the Ganga since 2014. The Ganga Council recently met in Kolkata and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the meeting through video conference.
Uttar Pradesh received the largest outlay among states at 4,205 crore. Bihar is in second place at 3,516 crores. Bengal (1,302 crore), Delhi (1,253) and Uttarakhand (1,117) are the other regions in the top five states.

Notes:
The Centre has appointed Ajay Kumar Srivastava as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indian Overseas Bank.
Partha Pratim Sengupta has demitted office as MD & CEO of the bank after his superannuation. Sanjay Vinayak Mudaliyar, Chief General Manager at Bank of Baroda is appointed as executive director in IOB. As of 30 September 2022, the Government of India held 96.38% in IOB.

Notes:
Ahead of the ICC Men’s World Cup that takes place in India in October, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has instructed that Yo-Yo and Dexa Tests will be a part of the team selection criteria.
Dexa test or DXA test is Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, which measures bone density using low dose X-rays. The Yo-Yo test is an aerobic endurance fitness test, involving running between markers at increasing speeds.

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:
The second phase of the Sari Festival ‘VIRAASAT’- celebrating 75 hand-woven Saris of India is hosted at Handloom Haat, Janpath, New Delhi.
The Ministry of Textiles is organizing the festival, while the first phase was held in December 2022. Handloom saris drawn from several exotic locations of India including Jamdani, Ikat, Pochampally, Chanderi, Lalitpuri and Patola are on display and sale at the exhibition.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India is set to launch a project, to provide free access to official law reports of its verdicts to law students, lawyers and the general public.
The Electronic Supreme Court Reports (e-SCR) project will be unveiled on the direction of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The project will be rolled out on the Supreme Court’s website and will be made available on the mobile application of Supreme Court of India and Judgment portal of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

Notes:
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has floated draft control orders (QCOs) for 16 products including air coolers, bicycles and bottled water dispensers.
The items under these orders cannot be produced, sold, imported and stocked unless they have the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark. These orders are issued in consonance with the WTO (World Trade Organisation) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

Notes:
India’s Commerce Department has initiated an investigation into dumping allegations on imports of certain printed circuit boards (PCBs) originating from China and Hong Kong.
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), part of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, said the Indian Printed Circuit Association (IPCA) had alleged that domestic PCB industry has been hit by dumping.

Notes:
A 49-year-old Missouri inmate was put to death for a 2003 killing, in the first execution of a transgender person in the United States.
A database on the website for the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center shows that 1,558 people have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the country in mid-1970s.