Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2023

Notes:
Kongthong, a village situated in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, recently bagged the award at the National Tourism Awards 2023.
These awards were conferred by the Union Tourism Ministry. Meghalaya implements the Homestay Scheme, providing a subsidy of up to 7 lakh rupees per homestay. About 300 homestays were sanctioned in the last year.

Notes:
The Draft Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth Amendment) Regulations, 2023 was released recently by TRAI.
It proposes safeguards against SIM-swap frauds. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) seeks suggestions on connectivity and mobile porting.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh has attained a significant milestone by achieving 100% ODF Plus coverage in the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen, with 95,767 villages declaring themselves ODF+ with solid and liquid waste management systems.
Over 80,000 villages achieved ODF Plus status in the past nine months, coinciding with the nationwide ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign, where 88 lakh people participating in the state.

Notes:
‘Toto Shabda Sangraha’ Dictionary is set to be released to save Toto, a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the tribal Toto people, from extinction.
A language spoken by barely 1,600 people living in parts of West Bengal bordering Bhutan, is written in the Bengali script. Though Dhaniram Toto developed a script as recently as in 2015, most people either write it in Bengali script or write in Bengali language.

Notes:
Recently, a two-day UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime Ministerial Conference was held at Palermo in Italy.
It is organised by the Government of Italy and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNDOC) Secretariat. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai attended the conference to mark the 20th anniversary of United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes (UNTOC).

Notes:
The Conference on ‘Millets for Military Ration & Specific Nutritional Requirements’ was inaugurated recently. It was held in Mysuru, Karnataka.
The conference has been organised by Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), the Mysuru-based laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It will deliberate on adoption of millets-based food for the Services, preservation and storage for sustained nutritional and food security among others.

Notes:
The Law Commission of India’s Report No. 283 on ‘Age of Consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012’ was submitted recently to the Union Law Minister.
It has advised against changing the existing age of consent, which is 18 years under the POCSO Act, to exempt sexual acts among adolescents from criminal law. Instead, it recommends introducing “guided judicial discretion in sentencing” for cases involving those aged 16 to 18 to ensure a balanced approach that safeguards the child’s best interests.

Notes:
A recent study has highlighted that earthworms play an equivalent role in global food production to that of Russia, contributing to around 140 million tonnes of food annually.
If earthworms were considered a country, their food production would make them the fourth-largest global producer, trailing only behind Russia, which produced 150 million tonnes in 2022 and expects to produce 120 million tonnes this year.

Notes:
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) announced the listing of its ‘Social Bonds’ on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The bank had raised ₹1,040 crore through this offering. The funds would be used to refinance the Jal Jeevan Mission (the Union government’s drinking water project) in Telangana.

Notes:
Chief Minister Shri Conrad K Sangma flagged off the cross-country bike expedition by Yashaswini, a group of CRPF women bikers from Shillong.
The CRPF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development is organising this bike rally to celebrate women power in the country.