Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 16, 2023

The National Green Tribunal, Eastern Zone, has directed the Odisha government not to go ahead with ‘illegal’ construction in and around Tampara Lake.
Tampara Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the State of Odisha.
The beautiful lake & the nearby Chilika Lagoon highlight the ecological diversity Odisha is blessed with.
It supports at least 60 species of birds, 46 species of fishes, at least 48 species of phytoplanktons, and more than seven species of terrestrial plants and macrophytes. (an aquatic plant large enough to be seen by the naked eye).
National Green Tribunal: It has been established under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other four places of sitting of the Tribunal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the development of a Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RBI.
Currently, data needed for credit appraisal are available with different entities like Central and State governments, account aggregators, banks, credit information companies, and digital identity authorities.
The Platform would be rolled out as a pilot project on August 17, 2023, in a calibrated fashion, both in terms of access to information providers and use cases.
RBI Governor: Shakti Kant Das
RBI HQ: Mumbai, 1 April 1935

Veeyapuram Chundan (Snake Boat), rowed by the Pallathuruthy Boat Club lifted the 69th edition of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race held on Punnamada Lake in Kerala’s Alappuzha district last evening.

This is the fourth straight win for the Club, which lifted the trophy in 2018, 2019 and 2022. The race was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid 19 pandemic.

Indian Naval Ship Kulish, a guided missile Corvette which is on a four-day visit to Singapore to take part in a multilateral exercise joined the celebration of the 77th Independence Day.
The officers and crew of the ship participated in the 77th Independence Day celebrations at the High Commission of India in Singapore, the Commanding Officer Ashish Delsaria presented a memento to the Acting High Commissioner Pooja Madan Tulli, to commemorate the ship’s visit to the Lion City.
Singapore Capital: Singapore City
Singapore Currency: Singapore dollar
Singapore President: Halimah Yacob

A team of scientists in China recently found microplastics in the human heart for the first time. Microplastics are tiny bits of various types of plastic found in the environment.
They are a result of the fragmentation and degradation of larger plastic items, as well as the direct release of tiny plastic particles, often intentionally added to consumer products like cosmetics and cleaning agents.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has shared an update on its next ambitious mission, Aditya-L1.
It is India’s first space-based observatory to study the Sun.
The mission is scheduled to launch on August 26 aboard a PSLV-XL launch vehicle.

India has handed over ₹45 crore in advance to Sri Lanka to fund its unique digital identity project.
It constitutes 15 per cent of the total funds required for the successful implementation of the project as an advance payment.
The project aims to collect biographic and biometric information, including facial, iris, and fingerprint data, which will be stored in a centralised system.

Sri Lanka Capital: Colombo
Sri Lanka Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee
Sri Lanka President: Ranil Wickremesinghe

India’s first long-range revolver, ‘Prabal’, manufactured by state-owned company Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL), Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh will be launched on August 18.

This lightweight 32-bore revolver can meet its target of up to 50 metres, more than double the range of the other revolvers being manufactured.

Besides, Prabal happens to be the first revolver being manufactured in India which has a side swing cylinder. The company claims that the firing range is the best among revolvers made in the country.

In a first, Goa has become the first Indian state to offer free in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.
The inauguration of this service, alongside assisted reproductive technology (ART) and intrauterine insemination (IUI), was done by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at the Goa Medical College (GMC) in Bambolim.

Depending on the hospital and the kind of IVF treatment, the cost of IVF in India comes between Rs 70,000 to Rs 3 lakh per cycle.

Goa Capital: Panaji
Goa Governor: P. S. Sreedharan Pillai

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced the launch of ‘Abua Awas Yojna’ for Rs 15,000 crore to build homes for the needy in the next two years.
Hoisting the national flag at Ranchi’s Morabadi Ground, Soren said his government was constantly striving to build a strong state and making honest attempts to fulfil the promises made.

Jharkhand Capital: Ranchi
Jharkhand Governor: C. P. Radhakrishnan

Kannauj has become the first district in Uttar Pradesh to introduce an e-office system at its collectorate. E-office is a workflow-based system that extends features of existing manual handling of files in addition to the more efficient electronic system.
State Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said: “E-office is a tool to create a simplified, accountable, effective and transparent work culture in offices. This rids offices of unnecessary paperwork and preserves files electronically in a safer manner.
Uttar Pradesh Capital: Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh CM: Yogi Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Governor: Anandiben Patel

Mohammed Habib, the football maestro of the 1970s, who left an indelible mark by scoring against Pele’s New York Cosmos while donning the Mohun Bagan jersey, passed away at the age of 74.
A notable figure in Indian football history, Habib’s brilliance caught the attention of Pele himself, elevating his game to legendary heights.
Habib battled dementia and Parkinson’s syndrome for the past few years and breathed his last in his hometown of Hyderabad.

Sulabh International founder, Padma Bhushan recipient, Entrepreneur and social worker Bindeshwar Pathak died of a cardiac arrest at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, shortly after he was brought into the hospital. Mr Pathak was 80 years old.
Credited with bringing in the revolutionary Sulabh Complex public toilet system to India, which contributed significantly to reducing open-defecation and manual scavenging, Mr Pathak was closely associated with his non-profit and “worked till the end”, said his associates.

Former Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader Professor M V Rajeev Gowda has been appointed the vice chairperson with cabinet rank of the State Institute For The Transformation of Karnataka (SITK).
The SITK was previously known as the State Planning Board and is Karnataka’s equivalent of the NITI Aayog. The Chief Minister is the chairperson of SITK.
Gowda is a public policy expert, economist and academician. He represented Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha between 2014-20.
He is also the chairman of the Indian National Congress’s Research Department.
He was the convener of its Manifesto Committee for the 2019 elections and is a national spokesperson.

Karnataka Capital: Bengaluru
Karnataka CM: Siddaramaiah
Karnataka Deputy CM: DK Shivkumar

Since May 26, 2014, Narendra Modi is in office and hence hoisted the flag 10 times on independence day (between 2014 to 2023).
Besides this PM Modi also hoisted the flag on 21st Oct 2019 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Azad Hind government formed by freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
So actually PM Modi hoisted the national flag at Red Fort 11 times till now.
Nehru hoisted the flag for the first time at the Red Fort after India became Independent of British rule on August 15, 1947. After unfurling the flag, Nehru delivered his famous speech “Tryst with Destiny”.
Nehru remained in office till May 27, 1964, and hoisted the flag continuously 17 times. Indira Gandhi assumed office from 1966 till March 24, 1977, and again from January 14, 1980, to October 31, 1984.
In her first tenure, Gandhi hoisted the flag at Red Fort continuously for 11 times followed by five times in her second tenure. In the history of independent India, Gulzarilal Nanda and Chandrasekhar are the only two Prime Ministers who did not get a chance to hoist the flag at the ramparts of Red Fort.
After the death of Nehru, Gulzarilal Nanda took over as the Prime Minister on May 27, 1964, but he resigned on June 9 of the same year and was replaced by Lal Bahadur Shastri.
After the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Nanda remained in office from January 11-24, 1966 to be replaced by Indira Gandhi.