ALL EXAM QUIZ 08.11.2023

Explanation:

• The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced the five winners of the 2023 Champions of the Earth award.
• This year's awards honor innovators and initiatives that are helping tackle plastic pollution.
• This year's winners are; Josefina Belmonte, Mayor of Quezon City, Philippines (Policy Leadership category); the United Kingdom's Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Inspiration and Action); China's Blue Circle (Entrepreneurial Vision category), Chile's Jose Manuel Moller (Entrepreneurial Vision category); Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of South Africa (Science and Innovation Category).

Explanation:

• Collins Dictionary has declared “AI” as the Word of the Year for 2023, reflecting the increasing prominence of Artificial Intelligence in our daily lives. According to Collins managing director Alex Beecroft, AI has been the central point of discussion this year, with its usage quadrupling.
• The Word of the Year selection by Collins Dictionary traditionally mirrors the key preoccupations and discussions of a given year. In 2022, it was “permacrisis,” reflecting the constant upheavals in British politics. The year prior, “NFTs” (non-fungible tokens) reached its peak of chatter, while 2020 was overwhelmingly dominated by the term “lockdown” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Explanation:

• Every year on 7th November, National Cancer Awareness Day is observed.
• It is observed to promote awareness about the diagnosis, treatment, and early detection of cancer.
• National Cancer Awareness Day is being celebrated every year on 7 November since 2014 in India.
• It is observed on 7th November coinciding with the birth anniversary of scientist Madame Curie.
• In India, nearly 1.1 million new cases of cancer are reported annually.
• The main reasons for the late detection of 50% of cancers are illiteracy, lack of awareness, fear, and stigma.
• In India, 70% of cancers (40% tobacco related, 20% infection related and 10% others) are caused by potentially modifiable and preventable risk factors.
• World Cancer Day is celebrated on 4 February.

Explanation:

• Give Patel, the famous Indian playwright, poet, painter and physician, passed away at the age of 83.
• Born on 18 August 1940 in Mumbai, Give Patel belonged to a family deeply involved in the medical profession. His father was a dentist, and his mother was a doctor's daughter.
• Patel received his early education at St. Xavier's High School and graduated from Grant Medical College, Mumbai.
• Give Patel was not only a talented artist and poet but also an advocate of the environment.
• He was part of a group of writers who committed themselves to the green movement dedicated to environmental protection.
• His poems reflect deep concerns about nature and the consequences of human cruelty towards it.
• Some of his notable poems include “How Do You Withstand” (1966), “Body” (1976), “Mirrored Mirroring” (1991), and “On Killing a Tree.”

Explanation:

• Rating agency Fitch raised India's gross domestic product (GDP) medium-term growth forecast by 70 basis points to 6.2%, from 5.5% earlier.
• This cut is mainly due to a large reduction in the estimate of China's supply-side growth potential by 0.7 percentage points.
• The agency said in its report that the potential growth of the emerging market has weakened due to China's slow pace.
• China's medium-term growth forecast has been reduced from 5.3% to 4.6%.
• Fitch has said that India's growth rate for 2023-24 is expected to be 6.3%.
• The forecast for Russia has been reduced from 1.6% to 0.8%, for Korea from 2.3% to 2.1% and for South Africa from 1.2% to 1%.

Explanation:

• President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of Heeralal Samariya as Chief Information Commissioner.
• Heeralal Samariya was currently serving as the Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.
• He was appointed as an information commissioner on November 7, 2020. He is a 1985 batch officer of the Telangana cadre.
• Currently, there are two information commissioners while eight information commissioners’ post is vacant.

Explanation:

• Chile has become the 95th member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
• It handed over the instrument of ISA ratification during the meeting of Ambassador Juan Angulo of Chile with the Joint Secretary (Economic Diplomacy) in the Ministry of External Affairs.
• The meeting was held in New Delhi on 06 November 2023.
• International Solar Alliance (ISA) was co-founded by India and France.
• India and France jointly launched the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on 30 November 2015 at COP21 in Paris, France.
• ISA is an intergovernmental organization whose headquarters is located in Gurugram, Haryana.
• Presently, 116 countries are signatories to the ISA Framework Agreement.
• Out of these, 95 countries have submitted the necessary instruments of ratification to become full members of the ISA

Explanation:

• IIT-Kanpur is prepared to use artificial rain to tackle air pollution in the Delhi-NCR.
• It proposes to use artificial rain through cloud seeding to clear pollutants and dust from the air.
• A number of permissions and particular climatic conditions are needed for cloud seeding and producing artificial rain.
• IIT-Kanpur has been working on creating needed conditions for artificial rains for over five years. It carried out successful trials in July.

Explanation:

• Sweden's Saab has become the first foreign company to bag 100% FDI in India's defence projects.
• Currently, India allows only 74% FDI in the defence sector under the automatic route.
• After that, clearance can be obtained on a case-by-case basis. The rules for clearance were relaxed in 2015.
• Saab has set up a new company – Saab FFV India to make the new generation of the Cal-Gustaf M4 system.
• A new facility to manufacture shoulder-fired rockets will be set up by Saab in Haryana.

Explanation:

• Uttarakhand Health and Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat announced that medical institutions in the state will offer MBBS courses in Hindi. After Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand will be the second state in the country to start such a course.
• According to Rawat, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has agreed to formally start the MBBS course in Hindi in medical institutions of Uttarakhand by the end of August.