Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
The Border Security Force has started an ‘Ops Alert’ exercise to enhance security along the India-Pakistan border.
The ‘Ops Alert’ exercise will continue along the Indo-Pak international border from Sir Creek to the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat and Barmer district of Rajasthan. The exercise was being carried out to tackle ill designs of anti-national elements during the Republic Day celebrations.

Notes:
New Zealand’s former minister for COVID-19, Chris Hipkins has been confirmed as the country’s next prime minister.
Hipkins was the only candidate to replace Jacinda Ardern, who announced she was resigning after more than five years as the Prime Minister. He will have less than nine months before contesting a general election. He was appointed health minister in July 2020 before becoming the COVID response minister at the end of the year.

Notes:
The BharOS is an Android Open Source Project based operating system which is developed by JandK Operations Private Limited.
The start-up is incubated at IIT Madras. Unlike Android, it does not have default Google apps or services. BharOS services are currently being provided to organisations that have stringent privacy and security requirements.

Notes:
Jharkhand government launched a water conservation scheme with an outlay of Rs 467.32 crore to benefit the farmers in the state that experienced drought last year.
Under the programme, 2,133 ponds will be renovated and 2,795 percolation tanks will be constructed in all the blocks of 24 districts of the state.

Notes:
India lost 4-5 to New Zealand in the penalty shoot-out of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup crossover match at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.
Spain defeated Malaysia 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out in the same venue. It will lock horns with Australia in quarters. Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and England have already entered the quarterfinals.

Notes:
As per United Nations (UN) World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report, India’s growth is likely to remain strong at 5.8 per cent.
The growth estimation was slightly lower than the estimated 6.4 per cent in 2022, due to higher interest rates and effect of global slowdown on investment and exports. UN also predicted a worsening outlook in most developing regions amid the fear of a possible recession.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India released a discussion paper on the securitisation of stressed assets framework.
It aims to improve the quality of the sale and resolution of such accounts. In September 2019, a task force for the development of a secondary market for corporate loans suggested the creation of a similar framework for non-performing assets.

Notes:
World Health Organization released a report on global trans-fat elimination 2022. The fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA).
Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population). Best-practice policies to eliminate trans-fatty acids came into effect in India in January 2022.

Notes:
MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Meta have announced the list of 120 startups and innovators for the XR Startup Program.
XR Startup Program is a collaboration between MeitY Startup Hub and Meta to discover, nurture, and accelerate Extended Reality (XR) technology startups and innovators across India. The Accelerator Program supports 40 early-stage start-ups working in XR technologies with a grant of Rs. 20 lakhs each.

Notes:
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways launched the national logistics portal–marine (NLP-M).
It is a single-window platform aimed at bringing all trade stakeholders together and reducing the cost of logistics through real-time mapping and provisioning. The commerce ministry had also launched a similar single window portal for establishing businesses in 2021.