Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2023

Notes:
India ranks 42nd among 55 leading global economies in the International Intellectual Property Index report released by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce.
India was at the 40th rank in the year 2021. The report covers patent and copyright laws, ability to monetise IP assets and the ratification of international agreements. Morocco and Thailand at 2.5% each and Vietnam at 2.02% had the largest improvements in their overall score.

Notes:
Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) is an expert body which examines and authorises diversion of forest land for projects.
The Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island Project is being criticised for its adverse impact on the island’s ecology and indigenous tribes. The Environment Ministry has withheld all discussions on forest clearance for the entire project recommended by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).

Notes:
Djokovic has defeated Tomas Machac at the Dubai Championships extends winning streak to 18 matches.
The 35-year-old Serb broke the record for the most time spent at No. 1 in the professional tennis rankings by a man or woman. His 378th week in the ATP’s top spot, surpassed Steffi Graf’s 377 leading the WTA.

Notes:
The Ministry of Culture’s flagship initiative, “Dhara: An Ode to Indian Knowledge Systems,” has completed its first year.
During this year, 10 successful conferences were organized on various themes highlighting India’s civilizational achievements. The next phase of Dhara will focus on metallurgical, agricultural, and ancient economic traditions of India.

Notes:
The recently released annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report for 2021-22 shows that the farm sector employs a significant proportion of the labor force in India, at 45.5%.
Structural transformation in economics is the shift in labor force from agriculture to high-productivity sectors like manufacturing and modern services. It is expected to result in increased productivity and higher incomes.

Notes:
Compensatory afforestation is a program implemented in India to ensure that forest land diversion for non-forest purposes, such as industrial or infrastructure development, is accompanied by afforestation on an equal area of land.
According to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), 45 percent of fund allocated by the Central Government for compulsory afforestation between 2017 and 2022 have not been utilized by Kerala.

Notes:
The SWAMIH Investment Fund is a social impact fund designed to provide debt financing for stalled and RERA-registered residential projects.
Managed by SBICAP Ventures Ltd, the Fund is sponsored by the Union Ministry of Finance. The Fund has provided final approval to nearly 130 projects worth around Rs 12,000 crore, and has raised Rs 15,530 crore to date.

Notes:
Hola Mohalla is a Sikh festival celebrated for three days in March, usually a day after the Hindu festival of Holi.
A fair is organized in Anandpur Sahib on Hola Mohalla. The festival concludes with a long military-style procession near Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, one of the five seats of temporal authority of the Sikhs.

Notes:
Swachhotsav, a 3-week long women-led cleanliness campaign under the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0, has been launched by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
It aims to recognize and celebrate the shift from women in sanitation to women-led sanitation. The Women Icons leading Sanitation & Waste Management (WINS) Challenge-2023 was also announced during the launch event.

Notes:
The H3 rocket recently experienced an engine failure during lift-off from Japan’s JAXA spaceport, prompting JAXA to send a self-destruct signal.
It was carrying the ALOS-3 satellite that included an experimental infrared sensor for detecting North Korean ballistic missile launches. The H3’s main objective is to lift government and commercial satellites into Earth orbit, provide supplies to the International Space Station, and eventually carry cargo to the Gateway lunar space station.