Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
As part of the Government’s e-governance initiative, an online Invitation Management Portal was launched
The Aamantran portal can be used to extend e-Invitations to dignitaries/guests and Online Sale of Tickets to general public for witnessing Republic day and Independence day events.

Notes:
Union Commerce minister Piyush Goyal is visiting New York and Washington DC to participate in India-US Trade Policy Forum.
After roundtable meetings with business leaders and think tanks in New York, he will attend the 13th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting in Washington DC.  The 12th TPF Ministerial meeting was held on 23 November 2021 after a gap of four years in New Delhi.

Notes:
The UN agency, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has published its latest Food Price Index (FFPI) which tracks the monthly international prices of cereals, vegetable oil, dairy, meat and sugar.
The FFPI averaged to 132.4 points in December, which is one per cent lower than the previous December.   The FFPI was notably higher in 2022 than in 2021.

Notes:
Delhi government is set to launch a new mobility card for commuters to pay fares electronically on both buses and the metro.
Delhi Transport department issued a notice inviting a tender for the project. The cards are part of the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), which enables passengers from any part of the country to use NCMC-compliant RuPay debit card for travel.

Notes:
One 97 Communications is the parent entity of the leading Indian mobile payments and financial services company Paytm , headquartered in Noida.
Paytm Payments Bank appointed Surinder Chawla as Managing Director and CEO, after banking regulator RBI’s approval. However, the RBI continues to bar Paytm Payments Bank from on-boarding new customers.

Notes:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled a 120-feet-tall statue of a polo player riding a pony at Marjing Polo Complex in Imphal, Manipur
Manipur is considered the birthplace of the game and it reached the British before 1850.  In November last year, the first Chief Minister’s Sagol Kangjei Championship was held during the Sangai festival to promote the indigenous game. The ponies in Manipur are becoming vulnerable due to lack of grazing grounds.

Notes:
Kumarakom in Kottayam and Beypore in Kozhikode from Kerala have been selected for development under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0 Scheme.
The two places are among 34 other destinations from 19 states and Union Territories selected under the scheme of the Ministry of Tourism. Kerala has many places declared under eco circuit, spiritual circuit, rural circuit, as part of the Swadesh Darshan scheme 1.0.

Notes:
The UK attempted its first orbital space launch from UK soil, making it the privately-owned Virgin Orbit’s first international launch.
The repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named ‘Cosmic Girl’ took off from Cornwall, UK. However, the mission dubbed ‘Start Me Up’ failed due to an anomaly in a satellite launch. The rocket was carrying nine small satellites.

Notes:
The billionaire founder of Ant Group, Jack Ma, announced to give up control of the Chinese fintech giant after a regulatory crackdown.
Ant Group runs Alipay, the main online payment system in China. Jack Ma founded e-commerce giant Alibaba and controls more than 50% of Ant Group. After the changes in governance structure, he will possess just over 6% of the company.

Notes:
The ‘Year of Enterprises’ project of Kerala has been regarded as the best practice model in the second Chief Secretaries National Conference.
It was selected in the ‘Thrust on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)’ category. The project by Kerala Government was started in the current fiscal year with the aim to create one lakh enterprises in a year, while the state achieved the goal in eight months.