Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
The government has achieved the target of starting 1.5 lakh Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres across the country, as per the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
Under Ayushman Bharat, the government had set a target of transforming existing 1.5 lakh Sub-Health Centres (SHCs) and rural and urban Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country as AB-HWCs by December 2022.

Notes:
Sweden has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first six months of the year, on January 1, 2023,
It followed Czech Republic, which headed the Council in the second half of 2022. This is the third time that Sweden has taken over the Presidency of the Council. The EU Council Presidency rotates every six months between the Member States of the EU.

Notes:
A new species of confuciusornithid bird being named ‘Confuciusornis shifan’ has been identified from a complete skeleton found in northeastern China.
The bird lived in present-day China during the Early Cretaceous epoch, some 119 million years ago. Confuciusornithidae is a clade of Early Cretaceous pygostylian birds and represents the earliest known toothless, beaked birds.

Notes:
The Defence Ministry has started the process for procurement of 100 more K9-Vajra tracked self-propelled howitzers which are built in India by Larsen & Toubro (L&T).
The howitzers are built using technology transferred from South Korean defence major Hanwha Defense. The K9-Vajra is a 155 mm, 52-calibre tracked self-propelled howitzer.

Notes:
The Union Railways Ministry has rolled out a five-pronged energy efficiency plan to become carbon-neutral by 2030.
The policy is broadly focuses on five action points namely sustainable buildings, cloud-based data monitoring and management portal, energy efficiency in equipment and appliances, power quality and restoration, and capacity building and awareness.

Notes:
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that XBB.1.5 has more than doubled its share of the Covid-19 figures each week.
In the Northeast region of the country, XBB.1.5 is causing 75% of new cases. The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is operating ‘DRDO Industry Academia- Ramanujan Centre of Excellence’.
Initially it was established by DRDO while IIT Madras has converted into a ‘Centre of Excellence,’ an interdisciplinary research group that brings in faculty and researchers. This centre conducts direct research in advanced technologies for defence and security.

Notes:
India’s unemployment rate reached a 16-month high of 8.3 percent in December 2022 according to a report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
CMIE added that the increase was partly due to the increase in labour participation rate.  The urban unemployment rate increased to 10.09 percent in December while the rural unemployment rate was marginally lower at 7.44 percent. At 37.4 percent, Haryana reported the highest unemployment rate among states, followed by Rajasthan at 28.5 percent and Delhi at 20.8 percent.

Notes:
Scientists from South Korea have developed a new water purification system that can efficiently filter out microplastics.
The polymer used is inexpensive with excellent adsorption performance and photo-thermal properties. In a recent experiment, over 99.9 per cent of contaminants were taken out of the water in 10 seconds.

Notes:
President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the 18th National Scout and Guide Jamboree, at Rohat in the Pali district of Rajasthan.
The First National Jamboree of the Bharat Scouts and Guides was organized at Hyderabad in the year 1953. Rajasthan hosted the Jamboree after 66 years. Over 35,000 scouts and guides from all over the country participated in the 7-day-event.