Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2023

Notes:
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has made ‘penny drop’ verification mandatory for the withdrawal of funds by subscribers of the National Pension System (NPS), Atal Pension Yojana and NPS Lite as well as modifications in bank account details.
Under the process, Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRA) check the active status of the savings bank account and match the name in the bank account number with the name in the PRAN or according to the documents submitted.

Notes:
A vision document aimed at making India a developed country is in its final stages and a draft is expected to be ready by December, as per NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam.
NITI Aayog was tasked with the consolidation of the ten sectoral thematic visions in July this year including infrastructure, welfare, commerce and industry, technology, and governance. NITI Aayog has also forecasted that India’s economy will be worth $30 trillion in 2047, with a per capita GDP of $17,590.

Notes:
National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) is a premier Research and Development organization under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. It is located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand.
A new township in Ayodhya will have a lake filled with water from the holy Saryu River. The lake will be 430 acres and will be connected to the river. The National Institute of Hydrology in Roorkee will build the lake. The lake project has been named the blue and green corridor of the new Ayodhya township.

Notes:
Two ancient temple caves were discovered near Rajapur, Ratnagiri, in the state of Maharashtra. The caves are believed to have been created in the 5th or 6th century CE.
They are older than the Elephanta caves. Ratnagiri is also home to the Ratnagiri Caves, a Buddhist center. The Buddhist monuments were constructed from the 5th century CE onwards, with the last work in the 13th century.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina together inaugurated the Agartala-Akhaura cross-border rail link project.
This railway connection is expected to enhance cross-border trade and substantially decrease the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India announced the launch of ‘Inflation Expectations Survey of Households’ and ‘Consumer Confidence Survey’ which will provide key inputs for the bi-monthly monetary policy scheduled in December 2023.
The surveys are conducted across 19 cities, including Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, and Delhi.

Notes:
The draft State Energy Efficiency Action Plan for Kerala suggests that the state has the potential to achieve significant energy savings by the year 2030.
This can be accomplished through various measures such as increasing the adoption of electric vehicles, promoting green buildings, and enhancing energy efficiency in households and industries.

Notes:
India and Sri Lanka have resumed negotiations for the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) after a five-year hiatus.
The 12th round of negotiations took place in Sri Lanka recently, signalling renewed efforts to advance economic and technological cooperation between the two countries.

Notes:
The report, titled ‘Hunger Hotspots’ for the period between November 2023 and April 2024, was published recently.
The new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) indicates that acute food insecurity is expected to deteriorate in 18 hunger hotspots until April 2024. These hotspots encompass 22 countries or territories, including two regional clusters.

Notes:
Moroccan archaeologists recently unearthed a Roman-era site in Rabat, Morocco that dates back to the second century. The site includes a port district, a bath, and a cemetery. The site’s proximity to water made it a key trading hub for the import of Italian marble and export of African ivory.
The archaeologists also discovered a statue of a woman, possibly a deity or empress, draped in cloth. Morocco was conquered by the Romans, but they left little or no evidence of their reign. The Arabs and Islam had a significant impact on the region.