Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2023

Notes:
Sabang port in Indonesia is situated 700 km from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Recently, India and Indonesia completed a joint feasibility study on the development of this port.
The successful development of this port would allow India easier access to the Malacca Straits, a narrow stretch of the sea between Indonesia and Malaysia and one of six chokepoints along the world’s maritime trading routes.

Notes:
A Submarine mud volcano is an underwater geological structure that was formed after the constant expulsion of gas or fluids like methane from the seabed.
Scientists have recently spotted a submarine mud volcano close to Norway’s Bear Island in Barents Sea. Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago.

Notes:
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is the largest public health initiative in history. It was founded in 1988.
Recently Cameroon, Chad and Niger have initiated Africa’s largest polio vaccination campaign since 2020 with the support from WHO via the GPEI.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the first Vande Bharat Express in Northeast India. It will travel from Assam’s Guwahati to West Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri.
The Vande Bharat Express will operate six days a week (except Tuesdays) and will cut down the travel time between Guwahati and New Jalpaiguri  by one hour.

Notes:
Gomphonema rajaguruii is a newly discovered species of oxygen-supplying algae. It is named after a veteran geo-archaeologist, the late Professor S N Rajaguru.
Gomphonema rajaguruii is a freshwater diatom species. The finding is unique because it shows the characteristics of two genus — Gomphonema and Gomphoneis.

Notes:
Pisodonophis kalinga is a newly discovered species of eel found in Palur canal in Odisha’s Ganjam district.
It was found by scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). The new species has been named Pisodonophis kalinga after the name of ancient Odisha. It has a snake-like appearance and has length from 560 millimetres to 7 metres.

Notes:
Kerala government-run Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (Anert) recently launched a new ambitious project aimed at making Thiruvananthapuram the largest solar city in India.
Under this project, every rooftop in the capital city will be turned into a solar energy-producing station.

Notes:
A new Jupiter-size exoplanet ‘TOI 4603b’ with the highest density known till this date and mass 13 times than that of Jupiter, has been discovered by an international team of scientists
ISRO says the discovery of this exoplanet has been made using the indigenously made PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the 1.2 m telescope of PRL at its Gurushikhar Observatory in Mount Abu.

Notes:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently launched “e appeal” scheme announced in the budget.
Its aim is to minimize pendency of appeals related to Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) default issues and tax collection at source (TCS). The scheme empowers the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) for disposing of appeals filed before it or allocated or transferred to it.

Notes:
Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved Bill 490- a new land bill that restricts the new recognition of ancestral land of indigenous people in Brazil.
The bill would strip the environment and Indigenous people ministries of some powers, weakening their oversight of environmental protections and the demarcation of Indigenous lands.