Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2024

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh has retained top rank for the third straight year in ensuring extensive usage of the Supreme Court e-committee’s Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), a nationwide platform integrating courts, police, prisons and forensic labs. Over 1.56 crore entries have been logged by U.P. so far through the single window arrangement which enables seamless information exchange at every stage – from FIR registration to imprisonment. Madhya Pradesh and Bihar trail at second and third position respectively. The wide adoption by U.P. police aims to employ ICJS’s data analytics to predict crimes, manage law & order situations better and reduce pendency of cases.

Notes:
Doctors at Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Centre have indigenously developed Prevall, the first chemotherapy drug in India to be available as a syrup formulation. The oral suspension of 6-mercaptopurine can precisely dose children fighting acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Liquid forms were unavailable in developing countries earlier. Prevall effectively tackles challenges like flexibility in pediatric dosing, palatability and tolerability compared to tablets.

Notes:
The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission was launched by the Health Ministry on 1st July 2023 at Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh to screen people across India for sickle cell disease. It aims to screen 7 crore people over 3 years, focusing on tribal populations and other high prevalence areas across 17 states. The mission provides screening, prevention and management of sickle cell anemia. Its goal is to eliminate the disease in India through early detection and intervention.

Notes:
The Free Movement Regime (FMR) is a mutually agreed arrangement between India and Myanmar that allows tribes living along the border to travel up to 16 km inside each other’s territory without a visa. It was implemented in 2018 to improve ties between communities on both sides. However, India plans to end it soon and install fencing across the entire 1,643 km Indo-Myanmar border to stop infiltration and illegal activities.

Notes:
Perihelion refers to the point in Earth’s elliptical orbit when it is closest to the Sun. In 2024, this event known as Perihelion Day will occur on January 3 when Earth comes within 91.4 million miles of the Sun. It occurs around two weeks after the December solstice each year. The opposite point when Earth is farthest from the Sun is called Aphelion which will occur on July 6, 2024.

Notes:
The ‘National Single Window System (NSWS)’ launched by India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is primarily designed to streamline the import of medical devices. Developed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) through Invest India, this unified portal aims to create a centralized platform for investors, thus enhancing the ease of doing business. The NSWS serves as a one-stop-shop for all approvals related to the import of medical devices, facilitating applications for certificates of registration, manufacturing licenses, and import licenses. This initiative represents a significant step towards simplifying and consolidating the regulatory processes in the medical device sector in India.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India issued the SOP for summoning government officials after observing that the constant summoning of officials instead of relying on government lawyers runs contrary to the constitutional scheme. The SOP aims to outline guidelines and restrain the overuse of summons power by courts which often pressurizes the government. It states that officials cannot be summoned just because their stance differs from the court’s view. This move brings much-needed reforms to strengthen executive-judiciary coordination by avoiding unnecessary harassment of government officials.

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NewSpace India Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO, plans to launch communications satellite GSAT-20 in Q2 of 2024 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. It is a demand-driven high throughput satellite ordered by NSIL to meet India’s growing broadband needs.

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State-owned ONGC won seven out of the ten areas awarded for exploration and production in the latest 8th round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) bidding. A Reliance-BP joint venture managed to win one block out of the total ten.

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The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) along with National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) launched ‘SMART 2.0’ to promote clinical studies in priority areas of Ayurveda through mutual collaboration with Ayurveda institutions across India. The objective is to generate evidence on efficacy and safety of Ayurveda interventions using interdisciplinary research methods.