ANSWER: B

 ANSWER: C

 ANSWER: C

ANSWER: B

• Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently presented President’s Colour award to Haryana Police in Karnal, Haryana.
• President’s Colour Award is a unique honour conferred by President on armed forces that have rendered exceptional service to country.
• The award serves as recognition of the sacrifices made by police personnel in the line of duty and a tribute to their unwavering commitment to serve and protect people.
• Indian Navy was the first Indian Armed Force, to be awarded the President Colour in 1951.
• It is given to police after a review of 25 years of continuous service and service with valour and dedication.

 ANSWER: A

• Supreme Court issued notices to Centre and five states (Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand) over the failure to elect Deputy Speaker.
• The Deputy Speakers of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies are constitutional offices.
  • As per convention, Deputy Speaker is from the Opposition.
• Article 93 of the Constitution of India establishes the post of the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha.
• Articles 94-96 detail their appointment, removal, and powers.
• In the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speakder serves as the Speaker and wields full powers of the Speaker.
• The election to the post of Deputy Speaker takes place after the Speaker has been elected.
  • There has been no Deputy Speaker in the current Lok Sabha since 2019.
• The Deputy Speaker is not subordinate to the Speaker and is directly responsible to the House.
• Article 178 of the Constitution establishes the post of Deputy Speaker of assemblies and Articles 179-181 deal with their powers and appointment or resignation.

 ANSWER: C

• Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first-ever outbreak of MVD.
• Marburg virus disease is a highly virulent disease that causes haemorrhagic fever, with a fatality ratio of up to 88%. It is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease.
  • Though caused by different viruses, two diseases are clinically similar.
• Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in bats and spreads between people via close contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, or surfaces, like contaminated bed sheets.
• Symptoms– Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
• There are no authorized vaccines or drugs to treat Marburg, but rehydration treatment to alleviate symptoms can improve the chances of survival.
• MVD was initially detected in 1967 in Marburg and Frankfurt (Germany); and in Belgrade (Serbia)

 ANSWER: A

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as many as 85,765 confirmed and 1,382 probable cases of mpox (monkeypox) were reported from 110 countries since 1st January, 2022.
• The United States was the most affected, recording 29,948 confirmed cases.
• WHO assessed the global risk as ‘Moderate’ and also announced that it would prefer to refer to the disease as mpox rather than monkeypox.

About Monkeypox

• Monkeypox is a zoonotic viral disease with symptoms similar to smallpox but is less contagious.
• It was first diagnosed in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa.
• Vaccines used to eradicate smallpox provide protection against mpox.
  • New vaccines against the disease have also been developed and approved.

 ANSWER: A

• The Government of India has launched a mobile app “KhananPrahari” and a web app Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) for reporting unauthorized coal mining activities so that monitoring and taking suitable action on it can be done by the concerned Law & Order enforcing authority.
• The CMSMS has been developed to curb illegal mining and take transparent action as an e-Governance initiative of GoI on the use of Space Technology
• The objective of the development and launching of the CMSMS application was to detect citizens’ participation against illegal mining by receipt of citizen complaints through a mobile app – Khanan Prahari.
• The app will help to monitor and take action on any kind of illegal coal mining activity being carried out within the leasehold boundaries of any Coal Mining Project in the Coalfield Areas.

 ANSWER: C

• The Reserve Bank announced its second global hackathon – ‘HARBINGER 2023 – Innovation for Transformation’ with the theme ‘Inclusive Digital Services’.
• It has received 363 proposals submitted by teams from within India and from 22 other countries including the US, UK, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, and Israel.

The RBI has invited innovative ideas in four segments:

• ‘Innovative, easy-to-use, digital banking services for differently-abled (Divyaang);
• RegTech solutions to facilitate more efficient compliance by Regulated Entities (REs)’;
• Exploring use cases/solutions for CBDC-Retail transactions, including transactions in offline mode’;
• ‘Increasing Transactions Per Second (TPS)/ throughput and scalability of blockchains’.

ANSWER: C

• International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) is observed on February 15 every year. The day was observed by the Childhood Cancer International, an umbrella organisation of various child cancer support groups created by parents.
• The day is dedicated to raising awareness and showing support for children and adolescents suffering from cancer. Despite all the advancements in science, childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among children.
  • An estimated 400 000 children and adolescents develop cancer each year.
• The three-year campaign for International Childhood Cancer Day began in 2021 and will conclude in 2023. The theme for the three-year campaign is ‘Better Survival’.

ANSWER: A

• Eminent Indian painter and late filmmaker Guru Dutt’s sister Lalitha Lajmi passed away at the age of 90.
• She was a self-taught artist with a keen interest in classical dance.
• Over the decades, Lajmi has held several exhibitions at international art galleries in Paris, London and Holland. She also featured in Aamir Khan’s film Taare Zameen Par, which was released in 2007.

ANSWER: C

• Centre govt is planning to include 21 more airports under krishi udan scheme.

About Krishi UDAN scheme

• Krishi UDAN Scheme was launched in August 2020, on international and national routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products so that it improves their value realisation.
• The scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation and associated logistics for all agri-produce.
• Krishi Udan Scheme is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce.
• After the Krishi UDAN success, Krishi Udan 2.0 was launched in 2021 to further boost the vision of the program.
• Under Krishi UDAN 2.0, perishable food items from tribal communities, Northeastern states, and hilly regions would be transported.

Main objectives of Krishi Udan 2.0

• Facilitating and incentivizing movement of agri-produce by air transportation
• Strengthening cargo related infrastructure at airports and off airports
• Concessions sought from other bodies
• Resources-Pooling through establishing Convergence mechanism
• Technological convergence: Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). Platform to be developed facilitate in information dissemination to all the stakeholders.

 ANSWER: B

• The Baba Balak Nath Trust in Hamirpur is poised to provide best facilities to pilgrims visiting the Deotsidh temple during the fair, which is held in ‘Chaitra Mas’ and scheduled to start from March 12.
• A review meeting of the trust regarding preparations and arrangements for the fair was held recently.

ANSWER: D

• The colonies established by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) around Kol Dam in Bilaspur district to settle displaced persons will soon get all basic facilities.
• This was stated by Deputy Commissioner while addressing people after visiting the colonies established in Jamthal, Chamyon, Harnoda and Kasol villages.
  • These colonies were established to rehabilitate villagers who had to vacate their houses for the construction of Kol Dam and its reservoir.
• The Kol dam Hydroelectric Power Plant, owned and operated by India’s biggest power utility National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), is located on the Satluj River in the Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh, India.