Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
Archaeologists excavating in Keeladi site situated 12 km southeast of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, have discovered a crystal quartz weighing unit from the Sangam period.
Located 175 cm below the surface, this is the first such find since the start of the Keeladi excavations in 2014. The crystal artifact, distinctively designed, boasts a roughly spherical form.

Notes:
The Kerala legislative assembly has recently passed a resolution unanimously, urging the Union government to rename the state as ‘Keralam’ in the constitution and all official records. The resolution was introduced in the state assembly by the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Article 3 in the constitution of India, deals with the formation of new states and the alteration of areas, boundaries, or names of existing states.

Notes:
The Government of Rajasthan, headed by Ashok Gehlot has recently announced a new scheme known as the Indira Gandhi free smartphone Yojana 2023.
Under the scheme, the state Government will provide internet and voice call services with a free mobile phone for all the women in the state of Rajasthan. The state is aiming to distribute a total of 40 Lakh phones in the first round of the scheme.

Notes:
Digital Public Infrastructure provider Protean EGov Technologies, has recently partnered with PayNearby to make credit services more accessible and affordable nationwide by leveraging the ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) network. The partnership aims to create a marketplace for last-mile borrowers and MSMEs in India.
In this partnership, Protean will serve as an ONDC technology service provider that facilitates credit availability through PayNearby’s Distribution as a Service (DaaS) network.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has reduced the timeline for shares to be listed post-IPO closure from six days to three.
This change, voluntary from September 1 and mandatory after December 1, aims to benefit both issuers and investors by providing quicker capital access and earlier investment liquidity.

Notes:
According to Elephant Census-2023, Karnataka leads the country in the total number of elephants. Elephant counts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have experienced a minor rise, while numbers in Kerala have nearly reduced by half, based on the recent Elephant Population Estimates shared by the southern Indian states.
Specialists believe the populations remain stable and in good health, suggesting that the decline is due to migration.

Notes:
The ‘Digital India programme’ was launched on 1st July, 2015 to enable digital delivery of services to citizens. The total outlay is ₹14,903 crores.
The Union Cabinet recently approved the expansion of the Digital India programme. This would enable 6.25 lakh IT professionals will be re-skilled and up-skilled under the FutureSkills Prime Programme; 2.65 lakh persons will be trained in information security under the Information Security Education Awareness Phase (ISEA) Programme; 540 additional services will be available under UMANG app/ platform.

Notes:
The state government of Odisha has recently withdrawn its earlier order issued on August 11, 2023. The earlier order stated that ‘deemed forests’ as a category would cease to exist under the recently amended Forest Conservation Act 2023. The state government has put the decision on hold till issuance of final guidelines by the forest ministry. Deemed forest is land which appears to be a forest but is not notified as forest land by the Centre or the state government.

Notes:
Camp David is a 125-acre country retreat for the President of the United States. US, South Korea, and Japan agreed to deepen military and economic ties. In a landmark summit held at Camp David, leaders of the three nations also made their strongest collective condemnation yet of China’s “dangerous and aggressive behaviour” in the South China Sea.
The meeting was attended by American President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Notes:
Indian Veteran industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons- Ratan Tata was recently conferred with the ‘Udyog Ratna’ award instituted by Maharashtra.
The state’s first ‘Udyog Ratna’ award was presented to Ratan Tata for his outstanding work in the industry sector.