Daily Current Affairs Quiz: July 17, 2023

▪ HDFC Bank launched a UPI QR code interoperable with the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
▪ The interoperable UPI QR code will allow HDFC Bank merchants, who have been onboarded on the bank’s CBDC platform, to accept payments from their customers in the form of Digital Rupee currency, India’s largest private sector bank.
▪ CBDC, is a tokenised digital version of the Indian Rupee issued by the RBI.

HDFC Bank Limited is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai.
It is India’s largest private sector bank by assets and the world’s fourth-largest bank by market capitalisation as of July 2023, following its takeover of parent company HDFC.

HDFC Bank HQ: Mumbai
HDFC Bank MD: Sashidhar Jagdishan

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government is going to install Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) or shock machines at all government buildings, malls, etc., including the Uttar Pradesh Secretariat to provide necessary first aid to the patient in case of cardiac arrest at all these places.
The state government’s new initiative, to be launched on August 1, is in line with its ongoing efforts to improve the health infrastructure and facilities in Uttar Pradesh. Sudden cardiac arrest refers to the sudden cessation of heartbeats.
In India, approximately 7 lakh deaths occur annually due to cardiac arrest.

Uttar Pradesh Capital: Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh Governor: Anandiben Patel

Given the frequent accidents on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway, the state government has decided to deploy air ambulances on the stretch to provide speedy medical assistance to the injured.
The government is also planning to build 16 helipads on the expressway to facilitate the landing and take-off of these air ambulances.
The 701-km-long greenfield expressway is turning into a death trap with a life being lost every third day.
A total of 846 accidents have been reported since December 2022 this year, resulting in 105 casualties over the eight months.

Maharashtra Capital: Mumbai
Maharashtra Governor: Ramesh Bais
Maharashtra CM: Eknath Shinde

▪ One of India’s leading private life insurers, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, won the Insurer Innovation Award 2023 for the APAC region at the World’s Digital Insurance Awards.
▪ Digital Insurer, acknowledges Bajaj Allianz Life’s groundbreaking WhatsApp Conversational Platform empowering customers to digitally services their policies seamlessly.
▪ CEO: Tarun Chugh
▪ HQ: Pune

In a significant milestone for the AI industry, Odisha TV, an Odia-based news station, has unveiled “Lisa,” India’s first regional AI news anchor.
Lisa’s introduction marks a groundbreaking moment in TV broadcasting and journalism, with the potential to revolutionize the industry.
Lisa possesses the remarkable ability to speak multiple languages, including Odia, English, and others.

Sikkim has topped the northeastern states in addressing public complaints, followed by Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The ranking was made in the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) monthly report, released by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) under the Personnel Ministry for states for June 2023.
Lakshadweep has topped the ranking among the Union Territories with a score of 70.41 per cent, followed by the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Ladakh.
Uttar Pradesh topped the ranking among states with more than 17,500 grievances with a score of 63.90 per cent, followed by Jharkhand with 48.95 per cent and Madhya Pradesh with 43.53 per cent.

Telangana, Mukhra (K), a model village in Adilabad district has become the first habitation in the State to have insured by 100 per cent.
Mukhra (K) village bagged many national awards which include the National level Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh award this year and an incentive of 50 lakh rupees.
It also won Swacch Sujal Shakti Samman this year, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Shashaktikaran Purashkar last year for effectively implementing various schemes and the biodiversity award and Swacch Sarvekshan Award for 2020.

Established – 2 June 2014
Capital – Hyderabad
Chief Minister – K. Chandrashekar Rao
Governor – Tamilisai Soundararajan

To reduce the growing human-elephant conflict (HEC) issue, Assam has launched the “Gajahkotha” Campaign, involving over 1,200 individuals.
It aims to educate residents about the behaviour, ecology and cultural significance of elephants in the region, emphasizing the importance of conservation.
• As per Elephant Census (2017), Karnataka has the highest number of elephants (6,049), followed by Assam (5,719) and Kerala (3,054).
• India has 33 Elephant Reserves (ER). Lemur ER (Chhattisgarh), Agsthyamalai ER (Tamil Nadu) and Terai ER (Uttar Pradesh) were notified in 2022.

Assam Capital: Dispur
Assam CM: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Assam Governor: Gulab Chand Kataria

▪ To support new businesses, the GST Council exempted satellite launch services provided by ISRO, Antrix Corporation Limited, and New Space India Limited (NSIL) from GST.
▪ This may also be extended to similar services provided by private sector firms.
▪ This decision will enable companies to provide competitive prices to launch satellites.
▪ According to the Indian Space Association-EY research, the space launch market was anticipated to increase significantly by 2025 at a rate of 13% annually.

▪ The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index numbers is -4.12% for June 2023 against -3.48% recorded in May 2023.
▪ The decline in the rate of inflation in June 2023 is primarily due to a fall in prices of mineral oils, food products, basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas and textiles.
▪ This is the lowest level since October 2015. ▪ The Office of the Economic Adviser in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry release this data.
▪ The base year for the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in India is 2011-12.

North Korea tested its latest Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the country’s state media reported. This ICBM is the first to use solid propellants.
“As part of the efforts to bolster the legitimate right to self-defence to reliably defend the security of our state and regional peace from the disaster of nuclear war and thoroughly deter the dangerous military moves of the hostile forces, the General Missile Bureau conducted the test-fire of new-type ICBM Hwasongpho-18, the core weapon system of the strategic force of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

About PBW RS1:

It contains high amylose starch content.
Resistant starch (RS) won’t cause an immediate and rapid rise in glucose levels.
The high amylose and resistant starch, instead, ensure that glucose is released more slowly into the bloodstream.
Amylose starch content is known to reduce the risks of type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Food prepared from whole grain flour also has a lower glycemic index.
What is Type 2 Diabetes?

It is a condition in which the human body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels.
It develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults (but more and more in children, teens, and young adults).
What is the glycemic index?

It is a rating system for foods containing carbohydrates.
It shows how quickly each food affects your blood sugar (glucose) level when that food is eaten on its own.

As many as 41.5 crore (415 million) people moved out of poverty in India during the 15 years between 2005-06 and 2019-21, according to an update to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released Tuesday.
The report was originally released in 2022.
Improvement in the poverty index for India has significantly contributed to the decline in poverty in South Asia, the report says, and it is for the first time that it is not the region with the highest number of poor people. While South Asia was found to have 38.5 crore poor people, the number was 57.9 crore for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr P Veera Muthuvel, a scientist from Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu, has played a key role in the development of Chandrayaan-3 which will be launched on July 14, 2023, at 2:35 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
He has served as the project director of the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft.

full launch of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 at Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi on July 14, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI
Scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru will fire the onboard thrusters attached to Chandrayaan-3 from July 15 onwards, taking the spacecraft further away from Earth on a crucial 41-day phase to make a soft-landing at the south pole of the Moon on August 23.
Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on July 15, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre S Unnikrishnan Nair said the launch vehicle has performed “extremely well” and initial conditions required for Chandrayaan-3 have been provided “very precisely”.

On July 14, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 on board an LVM3-M4 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. And 17 minutes after lift-off at 2.35 p.m., the satellite was precisely injected into the intended orbit.

During the 3rd Culture Working Group Meeting of G20 held in Hampi, the Ministry of Culture’s Culture Working Group achieved a Guinness World Record for organizing the largest display of Lambani items. In line with their ‘Culture Unites All’ campaign, a special exhibition showcasing Lambani embroidery patches was officially opened at the Yeduru Basavanna complex in Hampi.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Prahlad Joshi, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs & Coal and Mines.

Marketa Vondrousova becomes Wimbledon champion, the first unseeded player to do so in the Open Era.
She beats last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Marketa Vonddrousova is the first unseeded player to do so in the Open Era.
Marketa Vondrousova becomes the Wimbledon Championship 2023 by beating last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 in the finals.
Jabeur held the break of serve lead twice in the opening set of the women’s singles final or Centre Court before the unseeded Marketa Vondrousova bounced back to win 16 of the last 18 points, and four straight games, to grab the opening set 6-4.
The Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is regarded by many as the most prestigious.
It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is played on outdoor grass courts, with retractable roofs over the two main courts since 2019.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open.
Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass, the traditional tennis playing surface.

Wimbledon Founded: 1877, London