ANSWER: B

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: D

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2022-23 – Series III.

What are Gold Bonds?

• Gold bonds are government securities denominated in grams of gold.
• They are substitutes for holding physical gold. Investors have to pay the issue price in cash and the bonds will be redeemed in cash on maturity.
• The bond is issued by the RBI on behalf of the government.
  • While the tenor of bonds is eight years, it can be redeemed after five years.

Benefits 

• These bonds offer a superior alternative to holding gold in physical form.
• The risks and costs of storage are eliminated.
• Investors are assured of the market value of gold at the time of maturity and periodical interest.
• It’s free from issues like making charges and purity in the case of gold in jewellery form.
• The bonds are held in the books of the RBI or in Demat form eliminating the risk of loss.

ANSWER: B

• The Ministry of Rural Development has organised a Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR Conclave on PPP mode of development of Lighthouse Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) Gram Panchayat.
• Rural Development Secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh on December 20, 2022 inaugurated the CSR conclave in collaboration with Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF).
• It aims to mobilize the resources from CSR, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and other private voluntary sectors.
• SAGY is focused on the holistic development of villages in tune with local potentials and aspirations of people through the convergence of resources allocated under existing Central/ State Government schemes as well as pooling of resources from private voluntary and cooperative organizations.
• Member of Parliaments, Corporates, and other SAGY stakeholders have participated in this conclave to get their support for the rapid transformation of SAGY Gram Panchayats.

About Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

• The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India on 11^th October, 2014 on the birth anniversary of Jai Prakash Narayan.
• Goal
  • Under the Yojana, Members of Parliament (MPs) are responsible for developing the socio-economic and physical infrastructure of three villages each by 2019, and a total of eight villages each by 2024. The first Adarsh Gram (Model Village) was to be developed by 2016, and two more by 2019.
  • From 2019 to 2024, five more Adarsh Grams must be developed by each MP, one each year. This implies that a total of 6,433 Adarsh Grams, of the 2,65,000 gram panchayats, will be created by 2024.

ANSWER: C

• The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has won the Platinum Icon in the Digital India Awards 2022 for their initiative “DataSmart Cities: Empowering Cities through Data”. 
• The award was announced under the ‘Data Sharing and Use for Socio-Economic Development’
• The DataSmart Cities Initiative is a key step in creating a robust data ecosystem that enables evidence-based decision-making in cities. It aims to harness the power of data for better governance in India’s 100 Smart Cities.
• Digital India Awards presents an opportunity to bring to the fore digital initiatives being adopted to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
• It is a prestigious National competition that seeks to encourage and honour innovative digital solutions by government entities in realising the Digital India vision.

ANSWER: C

• The Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM) along with Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative today released the Social Progress Index (SPI) for States and Districts of India as mandated by the EAC-PM.
• Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Goa stand out as the best-performing States in the index. The top three performing districts are Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Solan in Himachal Pradesh, and Aizawl in Mizoram.
• Puducherry has the highest SPI score of 65.99 in the country, attributable to its remarkable performance across components like Personal Freedom and Choice, Shelter, and Water and Sanitation. Lakshadweep scored 65.89 and Goa closely follow with 65.53. Jharkhand and Bihar scored the lowest.
• For the dimension of Basic Human Needs, Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Chandigarh are the top four States with the best performance in Water and Sanitation and Shelter as compared to the other States and Union Territories. Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, and Goa have emerged as the best-performing States for the Foundations of Wellbeing.
• The index assesses States and districts based on 12 components across three critical dimensions of social progress – Basic Human Needs, Foundations of well-being, and Opportunity.
• The index uses an extensive framework comprising 89 indicators at the State level and 49 at the district level.
• SPI is a comprehensive tool that can serve as a holistic measure of a country’s social progress at the national and sub-national levels.

ANSWER: C

• Arnala, the first ship of the ASW SWC Project, being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, GRSE for the Indian Navy was launched on December 20 at Kattupalli, Chennai.
• The Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC)corvettes, are a class anti-submarine warfare vessels currently being built for the Indian Navy, by Cochin Shipyard (CSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE).
• She made her first contact with the water of the Bay of Bengal at 1040 hrs at the launch ceremony graced by Rasika Chaube, Financial Adviser, Ministry of Defence.
• In keeping with the Naval maritime tradition, Ms Chaube launched the ship to the chanting of invocation from Atharva Veda.
• The ship has been named Arnala to signify the strategic maritime importance accorded to the island of Arnala located about 13 Km north of Vasai, Maharashtra by the great Maratha warrior, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
• The contract for building eight ASW SWC ships was signed between Defence Ministry and GRSE, Kolkata in April 2019.
• Arnala class of ships will replace the Abhay class ASW Ships of the Indian Navy and are designed to undertake anti-submarine operations in coastal waters and Low Intensity Maritime Operations including subsurface surveillance in littoral waters.
• The ASW SWC ships will have over 80 per cent indigenous content, ensuring that large-scale defence production is executed by Indian manufacturing units. It will generate employment and capability build up within the country.

ANSWER: C

• Himachal Pradesh has emerged among the nine best-performing states and UTs in the Social Progress Index (SPI),2022 for remarkable performance across components like personal freedom and choice, shelter, water and sanitation.
• Aizawl, Solan and Shimla are the top three social progress districts.
• The categorisation is part of the SPI for states and districts prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative.
• It was released by Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
• The SPI assesses states and districts based on 12 components across three critical dimensions of social progress — basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing and opportunity.
• According to the report, Puducherry has the highest SPI score of 65.99, followed by Lakshadweep (65.89), Goa (65.53), Sikkim (65.10), Mizoram (64.19), Tamil Nadu (63.33), Himachal (63.28), Chandigarh (62.37) and Kerala (62.05). Jharkhand and Bihar scored the lowest, 43.95 and 44.47, respectively.
• Himachal Pradesh has been ranked 7th in the List.
• Mizoram, HP, Ladakh, and Goa emerged top performers for the foundations of wellbeing.

ANSWER: C

• A 10-day food carnival to promote traditional cuisines of the state kicked off in Shimla.
• The self-help groups from all 12 districts of the state are serving their five-six traditional cuisines in the carnival that has been organized by the State Rural Livelihood Mission under the Department of Rural Development.
• Even as the focus is mainly on traditional dishes, some SHGs have experimented a little to attract customers. For instance, an SHG from Kullu is offering dosa of ‘koda’, an old millet found in the state.
• “Koda is very nutritious. We have prepared its dosa as an experiment. It was liked a lot by the people during the Dasehra, and it’s drawing good crowd here as well,” said Mohar Singh, a member of the SHG.
• For the tourists who have come to Shimla for celebrating Christmas and New year, the traditional food carnival has come like an icing on the cake.
• Getting a chance to taste the traditional cuisine of the whole state is awesome. We were enjoying the weather and scenic beauty of the place, getting such wonderful food has added to the joy,” said Akriti, a tourist from Delhi.
• Anil Sharma, Chief Executive Officer at State Rural Livelihood Mission, said the food carnival was the first effort at this level.
• The participants were given a bit of training in presentation and hygiene.

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: C