Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

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:
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:
PSG superstar Lionel Messi has been crowned the ‘World’s Best Player’ for 2022 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
In 51 official games for club and country, Messi scored 35 goals and laid on 30 assists. Messi was also named the winner of the IFFHS World’s Best International Goal Scorer 2022 Award. Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni was voted as the best coach.

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:
The Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) has announced that it will add a fleet of 10 solar ferries to take the tourists around the town.
The ferries will have a GPS navigation system and a maximum speed of 10 knots. Solar panels will be installed on the roofs of the ferries along with a waterproof lithium battery.

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:
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:
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:
The National Health Authority (NHA) is introducing a new system to measure and grade hospital performance under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
The new initiative will introduce the concept of ‘value- based care’, where payment will be outcome based and providers will be rewarded according to the quality of the treatment delivered. The providers will be rewarded for helping the patients improve their health.

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India announced that a fresh KYC process can be done by visiting a bank branch or remotely through a Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP).
If there is no change in the KYC, a self-declaration from the individual customer is sufficient to complete the re-KYC process