Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

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:
A new species of confuciusornithid bird being named ‘Confuciusornis shifan’ has been identified from a complete skeleton found in northeastern China.
The bird lived in present-day China during the Early Cretaceous epoch, some 119 million years ago. Confuciusornithidae is a clade of Early Cretaceous pygostylian birds and represents the earliest known toothless, beaked birds.

Notes:
The government signed a pact with the Pune-based Institute of Veterinary Biological Products (IVBP) for commercial production of ‘Lumpi-ProVac’ vaccine.
It is an indigenously developed vaccine for the control of lumpy skin disease in cattle. At present Goat Pox vaccine is used for controlling Lumpy Skin Disease in animals. ICAR-NRCE, Haryana, in collaboration with ICAR- IVRI, Uttar Pradesh developed the vaccine named Lumpi-ProVac.

Notes:
According to a submission made in Parliament by the Ministry of Culture, 50 of India’s 3,693 centrally protected monuments are missing.
The missing monuments include 11 that were in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Delhi and Haryana. The list also included monuments in Assam, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. As per the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), 14 of these monuments have been lost to rapid urbanisation, 12 are submerged by reservoirs or dams, and the locations of remaining 24 are untraceable.

Notes:
The Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others. It is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy.
The 147th International Convention of the Theosophical Society (TS) was organised at its international headquarters in Adyar. “The theme of this conference is ‘Our Responsibility in the Interconnected World’.

Notes:
Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is working on a new industrial policy.
The draft ‘Statement on Industrial Policy 2022-Make in India for the world’ has been circulated to different ministries for their views and comments. It proposes to increase financing sources for industry and a scheme for promoting Made in India brand.

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:
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:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lists Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) of India, that are too big to fail.
In the recent list, RBI listed the top three Indian lenders – State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank – as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). They attract closer supervision and regulation from RBI.

Notes:
Scientists from South Korea have developed a new water purification system that can efficiently filter out microplastics.
The polymer used is inexpensive with excellent adsorption performance and photo-thermal properties. In a recent experiment, over 99.9 per cent of contaminants were taken out of the water in 10 seconds.