Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2023

Notes:
Escrowpay, a Digital Escrow payments platform, has received the first digital escrow regulatory fintech authorization from IFSCA, Gift City.
Recently, the startup has signed a definitive agreement to raise an additional USD 4 Million via issuance of warrants, taking its total fund raise till date to USD 6 Million.

Notes:
India and Switzerland launched the Indo-Swiss Innovation Platform. The platform’s launch included an Indo-Swiss Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Innovation Dialogue in Bengaluru. The platform began with a pilot project on antimicrobial resistance.
The platform’s launch was intended to deepen bilateral collaboration on innovation and make it more strategic. About 50 experts from Switzerland and India came together to discuss innovative ideas.

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:
Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP) aims to connect the seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State, Myanmar by sea. It also includes Inland Water Transport between Sittwe to River Kaladan.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that a cross-border road, part of the ambitious Kaladan Project, which connects South Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district with Myanmar’s Sittwe port, is on track to be completed by November of this year.

Notes:
Recently, the Israeli military announced that it had intercepted a missile fired from the Red Sea region, amidst escalating tensions in the Middle East due to Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza with the help of ‘Arrow’ aerial defence system.
This announcement came after Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels fired drones towards Israel in retaliation for its war against Hamas.

Notes:
The Quality Council of India (QCI), an autonomous organization under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, held the International Convention on Sustainable Trade and Standards (ICSTS) in New Delhi.
This event was organized by the India National Platform on Private Sustainability Standards and hosted by QCI in partnership with the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS).

Notes:
In South Africa, paleontologists have made a finding, challenging the notion that humans created the world’s oldest known burial site.
The research has unveiled the presence of remains belonging to small-brained distant relatives of humans at this burial site. These Stone Age hominids, known for their tree-climbing abilities, were unearthed approximately 100 feet underground in a cave system within the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO world heritage site near Johannesburg.

Notes:
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, Saima Wazed, was nominated as the next Regional Director for the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia region.
Saima Wazed defeats Shambu Acharya, a public health veteran from Nepal, in a vote held during the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia Region.

Notes:
In the year 2022 at the 41st Session of UNESCO’s general Conference, it was decided that November 3 would be celebrated worldwide as the International Day for Biosphere Reserves.
Biosphere Reserves are protected areas, meant for the conservation of plants and animals. Human beings also depend on these protected areas for their livelihood activities. There are 738 biosphere reserves in 134 countries and there are 18 notified biosphere reserves in India.

Notes:
Norway will help fund India’s ‘Hunger Project’ and help strengthen women leaders to protect the environment and promote food security in Uttarakhand.
The duration of the project would be three years, until September 2026 with a budget of ₹44.7 million. The project organizes capacity-building training for elected women representatives and federations, focusing on strengthening van panchayats (forest councils).