Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
In Nagaland, the third edition of the annual Orange festival 2023 is being celebrated at Rusoma village, in Kohima district.
The Orange festival is conceptualised to recognise and celebrate the hard work of the orange growers while facilitating them the market linkages.

Notes:
The Centre has estimated the millet procurement in the country to move up from current 6-7 lakh tonnes (lt) to 40-50 lt in the next few years.
Nine states including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha have launched their own programmes to procure millets and distribute those nutri-cereals. Rajasthan, the biggest producer of bajra and second-largest in jowar, is asked to start focusing on procurement of the grains.

Notes:
NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research arm of the US Department of Defense, announced plans to test nuclear-powered rockets that would fly humans to Mars.
NASA will partner with DARPA on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, programme. The mission is expected to happen by 2027. The nuclear thermal rocket will allow for a faster transit time and will also reduce the risk for astronauts.

Notes:
As per United Nations (UN) World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report, India’s growth is likely to remain strong at 5.8 per cent.
The growth estimation was slightly lower than the estimated 6.4 per cent in 2022, due to higher interest rates and effect of global slowdown on investment and exports. UN also predicted a worsening outlook in most developing regions amid the fear of a possible recession.

Notes:
India’s Union Power ministry has proposed allowing some power financing companies including Power Finance Corp (PFC), REC Ltd, and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to issue tax-paid green bonds.
The power ministry has proposed PFC as the nodal agency for climate financing to tap cheaper finance from multilateral agencies. The issuer pays for tax-paid bonds, instead of the investors, getting higher returns on investment.

Notes:
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel announced to give monthly allowance to unemployed youth from next financial year (2023-24).
Bhupesh Baghel also announced the formulation of a rural industry policy to boost the cottage industry-based rural economy. He also announced housing assistance scheme for labourers, scheme for women entrepreneurs.

Notes:
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) head Arvind Kejriwal launched 400 “Aam Aadmi clinics” in Amritsar, Punjab.
The first set of 100 Mohalla clinics were opened in Punjab last year and more than 10 lakh people had availed health services in the Mohalla clinics.

Notes:
National Institute of Biologicals was set up in 1992, as an apex autonomous institute under the administrative control of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, virtually inaugurated the National Summit on Quality of Biologicals.

Notes:
Dell Technologies has acquired Israeli startup Cloudify that is known for cloud orchestration and infrastructure automation.
According to reports, Dell spent close to USD 100 million in buying the startup to boost its cloud services business. Cloudify is an open source, multi-cloud orchestration platform.

Notes:
A joint statement released by India and Egypt at the summit meeting said that Egypt plans to allot land to Indian industries in Suez Canal Special Economic Zone and India can arrange the master plan for the proposal.
India has offered to encourage its companies to undertake overseas investments. The current level of bilateral trade is USD 7.26 billion dollars in 2021-22. The Suez Canal, under Egyptian jurisdiction, connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.