Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2024

Notes:
The city of Nashik in Maharashtra has been selected by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India to host the National Youth Festival (NYF) 2024. As per recent announcements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the 5-day youth festival in Nashik on January 12, which will see participation of around 7,500 youths from across India. NYF is held every year to celebrate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on January 12. The selection of Nashik as the host gained attention as preparations are underway to organize this youth-centric national event focused on cultural programmes and competitions.

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The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), India’s longest sea bridge, is set to be inaugurated on 12th January. This engineering marvel spans 22 kilometers, connecting Sewri in south Mumbai to Chirle in the distant outskirts of Navi Mumbai, crossing over Thane Creek. The project, initially planned to take 4.5 years, faced an eight-month delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The MTHL aims to significantly reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, benefiting thousands of daily commuters.

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Rajasthan will host the India-UAE joint military exercise ‘Desert Cyclone 2024’. The inaugural edition of this bilateral drill will be conducted from January 2nd to January 15th, 2024 in Rajasthan. The aim is to enhance interoperability between the Indian Army and UAE forces by exchanging best practices in areas like urban operations. This comes under expanding defense ties between the two nations who are strategic partners.

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‘Aasha’ the female cheetah named by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave birth to a litter of three cubs inside Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. This momentous event marks a major milestone for the cheetah restoration project in India. Authorities are closely monitoring Aasha and the cubs to ensure their healthy growth and development.

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State-owned ONGC won seven out of the ten areas awarded for exploration and production in the latest 8th round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) bidding. A Reliance-BP joint venture managed to win one block out of the total ten.

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The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) along with National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) launched ‘SMART 2.0’ to promote clinical studies in priority areas of Ayurveda through mutual collaboration with Ayurveda institutions across India. The objective is to generate evidence on efficacy and safety of Ayurveda interventions using interdisciplinary research methods.

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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced new rules for Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) regarding the allocation of symbols. These parties are now required to furnish audited accounts of the last three financial years, along with expenditure statements of the last two elections and the signature of an authorized office-bearer, as part of their application for election symbols. This move aims to enhance transparency and accountability among political parties, especially those that are newly registered or have not yet achieved a significant vote share in elections to be recognized as state parties. The new regulations will be effective from January 11.

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S Krishnan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), inaugurated ERNET India’s newly developed integrated web portal designed for educational institutes in India. This event took place at the head office of ERNET India in New Delhi on January 4, 2024. The portal aims to provide various services, including domain registration, DNS, Website as a Service (WaaS), and Learning Management as a Service (LMaaS), leveraging open-source software and emerging technologies like AI/ML. ERNET India, functioning under MeitY, serves as the exclusive domain registrar for educational and research institutes in India and offers a range of other technological services.

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Microsoft is introducing a notable feature in some of the new personal computers running its Windows operating system – the “Copilot key”. This special key is designed to launch Microsoft’s AI chatbot, marking a strategic move by the company to integrate and capitalize on its partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The addition of the Copilot key to PC keyboards is a significant step in making Microsoft a key player in the applications of generative AI technology. This initiative represents Microsoft’s most substantial change to PC keyboards since the introduction of the Windows key in the 1990s.

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The U.N.’s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report forecasts that South Asia will experience significant GDP growth in 2024. It projects that the GDP in this region will increase by 5.2%, driven largely by the robust expansion in India, which remains the fastest-growing large economy in the world. India’s growth is forecast to reach 6.2% this year. This prediction places South Asia ahead of other regions like the European Union, East Asia, and Western Asia in terms of economic growth for the year 2024, reflecting the dynamic economic activities and development in the region.