Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2023

Notes:
Over 5,000 minors rescued by Mumbai Police so far this year under ‘Operation Muskaan’, a Ministry of Home Affairs project.
It aims to find missing children, and rescue and rehabilitate them. More children were rescued by the Mumbai Police till August of this year than those rescued in the past five years combined.

Notes:
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has reconstituted two of its groups of ministers (GoMs) tasked with identifying necessary System Reforms to curb evasion and analysing the revenue trends from the 6-year-old indirect tax regime.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is back at the helm of the GoM on GST System Reforms, replacing his colleague Devendra Fadnavis.

Notes:
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues for August 2023 have shown a growth of 11 per cent year-on-year as it stands at Rs 1.59 lakh crore.
The increase is due to increased compliance and reduced evasion. In August 2022, the collection from GST was Rs 1,43,612 crore. Out of the Rs 1.59 lakh crore GST collected, CGST accounted for Rs 28,328 crore, SGST for Rs 35,794 crore, IGST for Rs 83,251 crore, and cess for Rs 11,695 crore.

Notes:
Inception, a unit of Abu Dhabi AI company G42, has released ‘Jais’, the world’s most advanced Arabic large language model.
Jais is a bilingual Arabic-English model that has been trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can be used for a variety of tasks, such as machine translation, text summarization, and question answering. It was trained on the Condor Galaxy, the world’s largest AI supercomputer, using 116 billion Arabic tokens and 279 billion English tokens.

Notes:
17-year-old D Gukesh took over as the country’s top-ranked player from Viswanathan Anand in FIDE’s monthly rankings list.
It has been 37 years since anyone other than Anand holding the top position. The five-time World champion is currently ranked ninth, a spot below Gukesh on the world list, is semi-retired from active chess.

Notes:
The Indian Army has launched ‘Project Naman’ to establish facilitation and grievance redressal centers for veterans and the families of personnel who have sacrificed their lives for the nation. The first center will be located in Delhi Cantonment. ‘Naman’ will house a Common Service Centre providing government-to-customer services, including pension account updates on the SPARSH portal. The SPARSH portal, initiated by the Ministry of Defence, is designed to manage pension sanction and disbursement for the Armed Forces, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defence Civilians. This system offers complete transparency to defense pensioners, recording their pension history from its inception to the end of the pension due to the last eligible beneficiary. The Defense Accounts Department, under the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), will oversee this comprehensive system, handling all aspects of the pension cycle, including initiation, sanction, and disbursement, revision, and grievance resolution. ‘Project Naman’ and the SPARSH portal aim to enhance support and services for Indian Army veterans and their families.

Notes:
Eight stump-tailed macaques were recently relocated to the Delhi Zoo from Aizawl Zoological Park in Mizoram. Also known as bear macaques, these monkeys belong to the Old-World monkey species, Macaca arctoides. They are primarily found in the tropical and subtropical evergreen forests of South Asia.
Their natural habitat spans Cambodia, southwest China, northeast India, Laos, Myanmar, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In India, they inhabit regions south of the Brahmaputra River, including Assam, Meghalaya, eastern Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. Stump-tailed macaques sport thick, dark brown fur, short tails (3.2-69 mm), and distinctive pink or red faces that darken as they age. Males are larger than females, with longer canine teeth used for social dominance. Their diet comprises fruits, leaves, seeds, insects, and small animals, often stored in cheek pouches. They move primarily on the ground due to limited tree agility. These macaques are classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and are protected under India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 (Schedule II). Conservation efforts are crucial to safeguard their population.

Notes:
Meghalaya government has adopted AI-enabled robotic technology to safeguard Umiam Lake, a prominent tourist attraction. Umiam Lake, also known as Barapani Lake, is located 15 km north of Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong, surrounded by lush East Khasi hills. Formed in 1965 for hydroelectric power generation, it resulted from the Umiam Umtru Hydroelectric Power Project. The lake primarily draws water from the confluence of Umkhrah and Umshvrpi streams, forming the Wah Ro-ro stream. With a catchment area spanning 220 square km, including Shillong, it offers water sports and adventure activities, making it a favored destination in Meghalaya.

Notes:
The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) has secured three new licensing agreements via the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). Launched in May 2020 with WHO and Costa Rica’s collaboration, backed by 44 Member States, UN agencies, and partners like MPP, C-TAP operates under the Solidarity call to action. Its mission is to facilitate the voluntary sharing of intellectual property, knowledge, and data among developers of COVID-19 treatments, diagnostics, vaccines, and health products. This initiative aims to expedite technological advancements and enhance global production capacity to combat the pandemic.

Notes:
Adopt a Heritage 2.0 Scheme is a government initiative aimed at enhancing amenities at historical monuments in India through corporate involvement and their CSR funds. This program is a revamped version of the 2017 scheme and operates under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act) of 1958. Interested stakeholders can adopt specific monuments or amenities through the dedicated web portal, providing comprehensive information and financial requirements. To promote heritage awareness, an Indian Heritage App will be launched, showing monuments with details, photos, amenities, geotagged locations, and a citizen feedback mechanism. This initiative is collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, and the Archaeological Survey of India.