Test: May 2022 Weekly Current Affair - 1 - UPSC MCQ

Maharashtra has announced to set up a ‘Gene bank project’, to conserve native and endangered animals, crops, marine and biological species. It will be implemented by the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) and Rs 172.39 crore has been allocated for the next five years.
The project will work on seven themes — marine, crop, veterinary, freshwater, grassland biodiversity, protection and management of forest right areas, and regeneration of forests. The project will focus on mitigating the impact on the food chain due to climate change.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the pilot phase of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
It is a first-of-its-kind initiative globally to pave way for democratising digital commerce to enhance the penetration of digital commerce in the country. The initiative aims to promote an open platform for exchange of goods and services through electronic networks. ONDC would standardise operations, promote inclusion of local suppliers and increase efficiencies in logistics.

According to the RSF 2022 World Press Freedom Index, India’s ranking has fallen down to 150th position from last year’s 142nd place.
This year, Norway (1st) Denmark (2nd) and Sweden (3rd) were ranked at the top positions, while North Korea remained at the bottom of the list of 180 countries and territories. Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) or Reporters without Borders, a global media watch-dog releases the report every year.

The Odisha State ST and SC development department signed an MoU with the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, to set up a tribal health observatory (TriHOb).
This is said to be the first in the country, for ensuring equity in tribal health in Odisha. TriHOb will establish a repository on the health of tribal population of Odisha. Odisha Tribal Family Health Survey was also launched.

The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR).
Last year, 18% of the total rice area in the state was under DSR while the government target was 10 lakh hectares. According to the studies by Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), DSR technique can help save 15% to 20% water and sometimes to 23%. It can also solve labour shortage problem as paddy seeds are sown directly with machine, without paddy nursery and transplantation.

ICICI Bank has launched ‘Open-for-all’ Digital ecosystem for MSMEs. The digital service for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can be used by customers of other banks.
One of the new services it provides is sanction of instant and paperless overdraft facility up to Rs 25 lakh through ‘InstaOD Plus’. The feature enables customers of any bank to avail of an overdraft instantly.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the ‘Report on Currency and Finance (RCF)’ for the year 2021-22.
As per the report, price stability is a necessary precondition for strong and sustainable growth. It also proposed a seven-point blueprint for reforms. The Indian economy may take 12 years to overcome the losses emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, which account to Rs 52 Lakh Crores.

India and Germany recently inked a joint declaration of intent on Indo-German Green Hydrogen Task Force
India and Germany also agreed to work together with focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) startups as well as AI research and its application in sustainability and health care. India’s Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh visited Germany as part of his official tour.

The Reserve Bank hiked the repo rate by 40 basis points (bps) to 4.40 per cent, after an unscheduled meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in May 2022. Next meeting of the MPC is scheduled during June 6-8.
All six members unanimously voted for a rate hike while maintaining the accommodative stance. The decision aimed to contain inflation, which remained above 6 per cent for the last three months. Cash reserve ratio was hiked by 50 bps to 4.5% effective May 21.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya released the National Report of the 5th round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) at the ‘Swasthya Chintan Shivir’ held at Vadodara.
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) which is measured as the average number of children per woman has come down from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level between NFHS-4 and 5. There are only five states in India, which are above the replacement level of fertility of 2.1. This includes Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Manipur.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the ‘Mandate document’ for National Curriculum Framework (NCF).
The National Education Policy 2020 recommended the development of NCF in four areas — school education, early childhood care and education, teacher education and adult education. The development of the NCF is guided by the National Steering Committee (NSC), chaired by Dr K Kasturirangan, and supported by the Mandate Group, along with NCERT.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the government will soon issue a commemorative coin of Rs 100 denomination to mark the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Darda.
Born in 1923, he was a former Congress leader and founder of the Lokmat group of newspapers. The successful businessman and also served as a Minister in Maharashtra for several terms. He passed away in 1997.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the country’s first greenfield grain-based ethanol plant in Purnea.
The 105-crore plant by Eastern India Biofuels is the first one developed since the Centre gave approval to Bihar’s ethanol production and promotion policy-2021. The state government has proposed opening at least 17 ethanol plants over the next two years.

The Indian Coast Guard commissioned its second Air Squadron ‘845 Squadron (CG)’ at the Coast Guard Air Enclave at Nedumbassery in Kochi.
The new Air Squadron is equipped with the indigenously developed Advanced Mark III (ALH Mark III) helicopters. As of now, four helicopters have been positioned in Kochi to cover the coast of Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep.

The Delimitation Commission, which redrew the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir, was headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, a retired judge of the Supreme Court. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and state election commissioner K K Sharma are its ex-officio members.
The Delimitation Commission released its final report, with 47 seats assigned for Kashmir and 43 for Jammu. There will be five parliamentary constituencies, each with an equal number of 18 Assembly seats while 9 seats were reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Additional seats in the assembly for Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Kashmir were recommended.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Semicon India Conference-2022 in Bengaluru. The consumption of semiconductors is expected to cross USD 110 billion by 2030 and India has the world’s fastest growing start-up ecosystem.
The Government of India recently launched ‘Production Linked Incentives’ (PLI) schemes that offer incentives of over 26 Billion Dollars in 14 key sectors.

The Madras High Court has invoked the “parens patriae jurisdiction” to declare Mother Nature as a Living Being with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person.
The order was spelt while responding to the petition from an official who sought to quash the proceedings against him for allegedly granting land deed for government land classified as ‘Forest Land’. The court said indiscriminate destruction of nature will endanger the existence of flora and fauna.

State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) Report is a flagship publication of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
As per the 2022 edition of the report, released during the World Forestry Congress, the world has lost 420 million hectares (mha), approximately 10.34 per cent of its total forest area in the last 30 years. It also warned that 15 per cent of 250 emerging infectious diseases have been linked to forests.

India’s first Flow Chemistry Technology Hub (FCT Hub) has been set up at Dr Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences (DRILS) at Hyderabad.
The Government of Telangana supported the establishment of this Centre of Excellence in partnership with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Laurus Labs. The hub has state-of-the-art flow chemistry equipment to provide hands-on training ensure greater incorporation of flow chemistry techniques during R&D.

The Delhi Cabinet had passed an ambitious Delhi Startup Policy which aims to turn the capital into an international startup hub.
The vision is to enable Delhi to emerge as a “Global Innovation Hub and the most preferred destination for Startups by 2030”. The government intends to encourage, facilitate and support 15,000 startups by 2030. A Startup Policy Monitoring Committee will be formed to oversee the Policy. It will be headed by the Finance Minister of the Delhi Government.

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has launched the ‘National Behaviour Change Communication Framework for Garbage Free Cities’.
It aims to serve as a guiding document and blueprint for States and Cities to undertake large scale multimedia campaigns along with inter-personal communication campaigns. SBM Urban 2.0 is implemented by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) launched M15 petrol on a pilot basis in Assam’s Tinsukia district. It has a 15 per cent blend of methanol with petrol.
Methanol is being manufactured by Assam Petrochemical Ltd near the Digboi refinery. The government had earlier extended the timeline for the disbursement of loans and completion of projects related to ethanol. The Government also provides financial assistance in the form of interest subvention.

The Maharashtra Department of Prisons has launched first kind of credit scheme for prisoners in jails across the state.
The loan scheme titled Jivhala is offered by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank for inmates who are undergoing a prison sentence of more than three years. The pilot was introduced at Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, and will be extended to nearly 60 prisons. Inmates can use the loans for education of their children, medical treatment of family members, legal fees, or other expenses.

Open, a neo-banking fin-tech portal recently raised capital to push up its value over a billlion dollars and became India’s 100th unicorn.
Open, a five-year-old Bengaluru-based neo-bank, raised USD 50 mn recently. Earlier, Google, Temasek, Visa, and Japan’s SoftBank invested USD 100 million in the startup. 14 Indian Startups entered the Unicorn Club In 2022 while 42 startups and 2 listed companies touched the billion-dollar valuation in 2021.

Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), received the 2022 World Food Prize from the World Food Prize Foundation.
World Food Prize is a prestigious award conceived as the ‘Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture’. Rosenzweig was selected for the award for her research to understand the relationship between climate and food systems and forecast how they will change in the future.