Test: February 2022 Weekly Current Affair - 3 - UPSC MCQ

Saint-Gobain India and the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Research Park have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 100 per cent renewable energy, research park.

Indian Army conducted a first-of-its-kind Hackathon, giving yet another shot in the arm for proficiency and expertise in the use of emerging technologies, and to delineate the technological side of the armed force. The event was conducted from 01 October 2021 to 31 December 2021 under the name of “Sainya Ranakshetram”, in collaboration with the Rashtriya Raksha University, Lavad, Gujarat.

Bank of Baroda will acquire Union Bank of Indias 21% stake in IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company, a joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Carmel Point Investments.

Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who took power in a coup in Burkina Faso on January 24, has been declared “president” by the Constitutional Council.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the first colour souvenir coin on Panchtantra on the occasion of 17th foundation day of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has sanctioned 2.26 crore rupees for various activities pertaining to the festival of Medaram Jathara 2022. The Medaram Jathara is the second-largest fair of India, after the Kumbh Mela, celebrated by the second-largest Tribal Community of Telangana – the Koya tribe for four days. This year it is being celebrated from 16th till 19th Feb 2022.

Government has banned 54 Chinese apps posing threat to national security. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued the list of banned apps. These include Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera, Equalizer & Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Chess, Onmyoji Arena, AppLock and Dual Space Lite to name a few.

Bill Gates is optimistic that “COVID-19 can be the last pandemic.” So much so that hes dedicated his next book to it. His new book will be “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” and it will be published in May 2022.

The Centre has sanctioned over Rs 24 crore for dredging in Gomati, a transboundary river between India and Bangladesh, and setting up 10 jetties for a waterway project.

Indian Railways to set up biggest, world-class Wrestling academy at Kishanganj, Delhi. The wrestling academy will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 30.76 crores.

Rajasthan has the maximum households electrified through the solar-based standalone system, while hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had nil beneficiaries under the initiative.

Popularly known as Samanvaya Kavi or the poet of reconciliation, Nadoja Channaveera Kanavi passed away. The Central Sahitya Akademi has honoured him with the Akademi award for his collection of poems Jeevadhwani in 1982.

Bhojpuri singer and BJP MP, Manoj Tiwari will be the brand ambassador of Khadi and other handicrafts of Bihar. Manoj Tiwari will promote the use of Khadi fabric, which was popularized by Mahatma Gandhi during Indias Independence movement.

Jio Platforms has picked up a 25% stake in US-based deep-tech startup company TWO Platforms for $15 million. Two Platforms is an artificial reality company that focuses on building interactive and immersive AI experiences.

The air forces of Bangladesh and the US will conduct a joint air exercise between Feb 20-25. The six day long Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, bilateral tactical airlift exercise Cope South 22 will be conducted at BAF Kurmitola Cantonment, Dhaka, and Operating Location-Alpha, Sylhet, Bangladesh.

India will hold the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023 and the G20 Summit will be held in India in 2023 (18th edition). For its preparation, the government has approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and its reporting structures. The G20 Secretariat will be guided by an Apex Committee headed by Prime Minister.

The Ministry of Tourism signed an MoU with Alliance Air Aviation Limited (AAAL) to boost tourism across India.
Objective: To provide an integrated marketing and promotional strategy and a synergised campaign in association with the AAAL.

• The agreement was signed to achieve the common purpose of joint domestic promotion and to consider the need to synergise the activities of MoT and AAAL in the tourism markets.

About the Ministry of Tourism:
Cabinet Minister- G. Kishan Reddy (Secunderabad, Telangana)
Minister of State- Shripad Yesso Naik (North Goa, Goa), Ajay Bhatt (Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, Uttarakhand).

The Union Cabinet approved for the continuation of the Capacity Development (CD) scheme of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) till 31st March 2026 or further review, whichever is earlier with an outlay of Rs. 3,179 crore approved during 15th Finance Commission.

• The CD scheme is an Ongoing Central Sector Scheme (CSS) of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) with an overall objective to augment infrastructural, technical and manpower resources for enabling availability of credible and timely official statistics.
• The scheme comprises the main scheme, capacity development and two sub-schemes viz. Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS) and Economic Census (EC).

Under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana- ‘Saubhagya’ scheme, Rajasthan has the maximum number of households electrified through the solar-based standalone system. In hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had nil beneficiaries under the initiative.

• Under the Saubhagya scheme, around 1,23,682 households were electrified in Rajasthan, followed by Chhattisgarh (65,373), Uttar Pradesh (53,234), Assam (50,754), Bihar (39,100), Maharashtra (30,538), Odisha (13,735), Madhya Pradesh (12,651).

The report by the State Bank of India’s (SBI) economic research department (ERD), ‘Ecowrap’ has reduced India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projection for FY22 to 8.8% from its earlier forecast of 9.3%.

• With the current projection, the real GDP will be around Rs 2.35 lakh crore/1.6% more than the pre-pandemic FY20 real GDP of Rs 145.69 lakh crore.
• India’s economy expanded by 8.4% in Q2 FY22 but the GDP growth in that period was slower than the 20.1% expansion in Q1 FY22.
• The SBI’s forecasting model forecasts the country’s GDP to grow at 5.8% in Q3 (October-December, 2022) of FY22.
   

The Government has approved the continuation of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme till 31st March 2026 with an expenditure of 12,929.16 crore rupees.

• The new phase of the scheme would support around 1,600 projects.
• The new phase of the scheme has been designed to implement some of the recommendations and aims of the New Education Policy, which will support Gender inclusion, Equity Initiatives, Enhance employability through vocationalisation and skill upgradation.
• The Ministry of Education (MoE), formerly known as the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) is the nodal agency administering RUSA which was launched in 2013.

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated Asia’s biggest Bio-Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN) plant at the cost of Rs 150 crore in Indore, MadhyaPradesh. The principle of the Bio-CNG plant is to implement “waste to wealth”, and “circular economy” to maximise resource recovery.

• The plant produces around 17,000 to 19000 kg of biogas and 100 tonnes of organic compost per day.
• The plant is based on the concept of “zero landfill models”.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar inaugurated India’s and South Asia’s first Biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) containment mobile laboratory in Nashik, Maharashtra. The mobile laboratory, which can commute to various locations, will provide a public health solution.
(i) This is a part of the Government of India(GoI)’s efforts to strengthen healthcare infrastructure through the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission(PM-ABHIM).
About the Mobile Laboratory:

• The mobile laboratory was designed and built by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with Klenzaids, Mumbai based manufacturer of Aseptic, Bioclean and Containment (bio-safety) equipment.
• The laboratory was built at a cost of ~Rs 25 crores.

NHPC Limited (Ltd),has set up a new wholly-owned subsidiary company namely ‘NHPC renewable energy limited (NREL)’, for the development of Renewable Energy, Small Hydro and Green Hydrogen based business of NHPC Ltd.

• As per a BSE, the NREL was registered with the Registrar of Companies, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi & Haryana, on 16th February 2022.
• Currently, NHPC’s total installed generation capacity stands at 7071 megawatt (MW) which includes 100 MW of Solar or Wind energy-based plants. Another 5999 MW of Hydro plants and 105 MW of Solar plants are under construction.

Note- In December 2021 The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management and National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog approved the formation of the separate renewable energy unit.

State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Union Bank of India (UBI), Canara Bank, and Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), has announced the subscription to the shares of India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL).
(i) The Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Public Financial Institutions (FIs) will hold a maximum of 49% stake in IDRCL and the remaining will be with Private sector lenders.
Details of Equity stakes in IDRCL:

• State Bank of India- 12.30%
• Bank of Baroda- 12.30%
• Punjab National Bank- 11.18%
• Union Bank of India- 12.30%
• Canara Bank- 14.90%
• Bank of Maharashtra- 6.21%