Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
The Telangana government has decided to join the free rice scheme of the Centre under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
The Central scheme aims to supply five kgs of rice per head per month in a family to 54.44 lakh NFSA cardholders in the State. The State government will extend the scheme to an additional 35.52 lakh cardholders at its own cost.

Notes:
A bird survey was conducted at the Silent Valley National Park, located in the Nilgiri hills in Kerala, in the last week of December.
The survey identified 141 species, of which 17 were new. So far, 175 species of birds have been spotted in Silent Valley. The first survey was held in the National Park in December 1990, 30 years ago.

Notes:
Space Kidz India, a Chennai-based space tech start-up is set to launch their satellite made by 750 girls from government schools aboard an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicle.
A targeted launch date of January 16 has been set for the satellite named AzaadiSAT. Space Kidz India selected 10 girl students from 75 government schools across the country for this mission. The project is also supported by Niti Aayog.

Notes:
Six entities have been allowed to test their fintech products to prevent and mitigate financial fraud as part of the fourth cohort under the RBI’s regulatory sandbox scheme.
The Reserve Bank announced the the fourth cohort under the regulatory sandbox in June 2022 for the prevention and mitigation of financial fraud. The six entities are — Bahwan Cybertek, Crediwatch Information Analytics, enStage Software (Wibmo), HSBC in collaboration with Wibmo, napID Cybersec and Trusting Social.

Notes:
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance commenced a three-week long organ donation initiative. As part of the initiative, a relay marathon called Zindagi Express is organised to tour nearly 5,500 km across the country to raise awareness about organ donation.
For the fourth year in a row, it joined hands with Mohan Foundation, an NGO working in the organ donation landscape.

Notes:
The Industries department of the Kerala government has launched a facility for entrepreneurs to submit their complaints or seek redressals using the WhatsApp platform.
Under this facility, the complaint message will be attended to in 10 minutes and the complaints are expected to be settled within seven days. This is a temporary set-up until the statutory grievance settlement mechanism comes into effect.

Notes:
Kevin McCarthy was elected as the House speaker after days of painstaking negotiations and failed votes.
Earlier, the Republicans in the House of Representatives failed to elect the Speaker amid faction of holdouts continued to not vote for Kevin McCarthy. This was the time since 1923 that a nominee of the majority party in the House wasn’t able to win the first vote for the position of Speaker.

Notes:
The International Kite Festival 2023 recently commenced in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Governor Acharya Devvrat inaugurated the festival at Sabarmati Riverfront.
The festival is being organized by Gujarat Tourism on the G20 theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future. International Kite festival will also be organized in Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Dwarka, Somnath, Dhordo, and Kevadia.

Notes:
Avian flu has been confirmed in many Kerala districts and the Kerala Health Department has directed all districts to be on the alert.
Avian flu was also confirmed in a grama panchayat in the capital city Thiruvananthapuram. The district administration issued orders that all poultry and other pet birds in the affected wards be killed and that all egg, meat, bird fodder, and litter be destroyed.

Notes:
Pakistan is planning to dispatch 159 containers of ammunition including projectiles and primers to Ukraine through a port in Poland.
A vessel named BBC Vesuvius is set to carry 155 mm projectiles, propelling bag charges and other ammunition. Earlier, Pakistan played a crucial role in transfer of arms on behalf of the UK to Ukraine.