Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2023

Notes:
Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development (REWARD) program is a World Bank-assisted initiative that is being implemented from 2021 to 2026.
Its implementation was reviewed recently by Secretary, Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and the World Bank team.

Notes:
XPoSat (X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite) is India’s first polarimetry mission. It is currently being built by ISRO and Raman Research Institute.
According to ISRO, “XPoSat will study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions” and will carry two payloads. It is only the world’s second polarimetry mission to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.

Notes:
The ancient Olmec artefact known as “Gateway to the Underworld” has been returned to Mexico from the US five decades after it was stolen.
The piece, officially known as Monument 9 of Chalcatzingo, is considered Mexico’s most sought-after piece from the ancient Olmec civilization.

Notes:
Karnataka Bank appoints Srikrishnan Harihara Sarma as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD and CEO).
Sarma has nearly four decades of experience spread across Commercial, Retail, and Transactional Banking, Technology and Payments. He was part of the founding management team at HDFC Bank Ltd for over nine years.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia and Canada to restore full diplomatic ties and appoint new ambassadors, bringing an end to a dispute from 2018.
The rift between the two countries began when Canada’s embassy in Riyadh published a tweet in Arabic, calling for the immediate release of women’s rights activists who were detained in Saudi Arabia.

Notes:
China recently launched the Shenzhou-16 mission. As part of this mission, three astronauts lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert in northwest China.
The astronauts aboard Shenzhou-16 spacecraft will stay in the Tiangong space station for the next five months. This is the country’s fifth manned mission to a fully functional space station since 2021.

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:
The Lipizzans are horses that are descendants of long stallion lines crossing Spanish, Arabic and Berber horses.
Lipizzans are famous for their “airs above the ground” classical dressage jumps. The tradition of Lipizzan breeding was recently included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The name derives from Lipica where the horses are found in Slovenia.

Notes:
The WHO member countries have recently accepted a draft resolution on the impact of chemicals, waste and pollution on human health during the 76th WHA.
It urged the healthcare sector to develop a regulatory framework, national human bio-monitoring and surveillance programmes to track chemicals that impact human health.

Notes:
Currency demand paradox happens when currency in circulation rising when digital payments are rising too. This phenomenon is seen in India.
The RBI has explained the ‘currency demand paradox’ in India. In India, while UPI-led retail digital payments grew at a CAGR of 50 per cent and 27 per cent in terms of volume and value, during 2016-17 to 2021-22, the currency in circulation to GDP ratio also peaked at 14.4 per cent in 2020-21.