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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the government’s Aspirational Block Programme (ABP), to  improve performance of blocks lagging on development parameters.
The Aspirational Blocks Programme is on the lines of the Aspirational District Programme that was launched in 2018, covering 112 districts across the country. The new programme will cover 500 districts across 31 states and Union Territories initially.

Notes:
Cape Verde, a country in West Africa, was a colony of Portuguese. It became the first country to name a stadium after football Legend Pele.
Cape Verde Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva confirmed their Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde would be renamed after Pele. After Pele’s death in December, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino proposed that each nation should name one stadium after Pele.

Notes:
M Pranesh from Tamil Nadu recently became India’s 79th chess Grandmaster, after winning the title in Rilton Cup at Stockholm, the first tournament of the FIDE Circuit.
The 16-year-old Indian seeded 22^nd won eight games and finished a full point ahead of IM Kaan Kucuksari (Sweden) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (Latvia). The tournament saw participation from a total of 136 players from 29 nations.

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:
Indian Bank has received the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulatory approval to hold special rupee vostro accounts of three banks from Sri Lanka.
A vostro account in local currency would allow Sri Lanka to import from India without dipping into its dollar supply, as the country is facing a worst forex crunch.

Notes:
The 108th annual session of ISC will be held at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, which is celebrating its centenary this year.
The focal theme of this year’s ISC is “Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women Empowerment”. Children’s Science Congress, Farmer’s Science Congress and Tribal Science Congress were also held on the sidelines.

Notes:
Sania Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title in 2005. She reached her career-high ranking of world number 27 by 2007.
Recently, the 36-year-old has confirmed her retirement from professional Tennis. She will be playing at her final Grand Slam appearance in women’s doubles at the Australian Open alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina. She will retire at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. Sania Mirza has won six Grand Slam doubles titles, the first for any Indian.

Notes:
Goa organised the Purple Fest, the first Inclusive festival for persons with disabilities. It celebrated the lives and achievements of PwDs and served as a platform to increase awareness towards the inclusion of such persons in the society.
Purple Fest was organized at Panjim, by the Directorate of Social Welfare, Office of the State Commissioner for PwDs (Goa), Goa Tourism Development Corporation, Information & Publicity Department (Goa) and Entertainment Society of Goa.

Notes:
The Ministry of Information and broadcasting has issued an advisory to television channels against reporting incidents of accidents, deaths, and violence including violence against women, children and the elderly.
Ministry observed that the videos are being taken from social media and broadcast without editorial discretion and urged to ensure compliance and consistency with the Programme Code.