General Tests: Mock Test - 8 - Class 12 MCQ

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.

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.

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%

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

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.

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”.

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.

Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) awarded ‘Most Dependable Public Sector in India award 2022’ to Coal India Limited (CIL), an organization under Ministry of Coal during Energy Meet & Excellence Awards 2022 ceremony in Kolkata, West Bengal.
About The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM): Establishment – 1920
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
President – Vineet Agarwal

Madhya Pradesh (MP) Governor Mangubhai Patel Inaugurated the Week long 48th Khajuraho Dance Festival in Khajuraho, located in Chhatarpur district, MP. The 48th edition of Khajuraho Dance Festival will be held from 20th to 26th February, 2022.

• The Khajuraho Dance Festival is organised annually by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Culture’ Department through Ustad Alauddin Khan Sangeet and Kala Academy, Madhya Pradesh Sanskriti Parishad, Bhopal
• The festival will be presenting artists with the ‘National Kalidas Award’ for dance for the years 2019-20 and 2020-21 and the ‘MP State Rupankar Kala Award’ at this ceremony.
• On the first day, disciples of the late ‘Pandit Birju Maharaj’ will perform which will be the centre of attraction.

CM of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma launched India’s first Night Navigation mobile application (app) for ferry services on the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, Assam.

• It was developed by the State Transport Department in association with K Raju, the principal scientist of IIT Madras.
• The first night journey of the IWT (Inland Water Transport) ferry between Guwahati and North Guwahati was started on 19 February 2022.
• An MoU was also signed between the Common Service Centres (CSCs) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and State Transport Department to provide online services at the panchayat level.

ICICI Bank signed an agreement with Verve Financial Services (VFSPL). The bank has acquired a 9.49% stake for a cash investment of INR 19.99 crore in the equity shares of VFSPL.

• The investment agreement is expected to be completed by the end of March 2022. Later, ICICI Bank will hold a 9.49% stake (on a fully diluted basis) in VFSPL through the acquisition of 2,29,600 equity shares.

About ICICI Bank:
CEO & MD– Sandeep Bakhshi
Headquarters- Vadodara, Gujarat
Founded-1994

JPMorgan Chase & co, the largest financial institution in the United States (US) has become the 1st bank to arrive in the metaverse, a virtual world based on blockchain technology with the opening of a lounge named ‘Onyx’ in blockchain technology-based virtual world Decentraland.
Onyx refers to JPMorgan’s suite of Ethereum-based services and released a report exploring how businesses can find opportunities in the metaverse.
About Metaverse:

• Metaverse is a virtual reality world where users can do multiple activities like games, shopping, and interaction with others just like they do in the real world.
• The metaverse uses Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for interaction and has become an efficiently used technology to enhance user experience.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has acquired 0.085% additional stakes of Capri Global Capital Ltd (CGCL) through market purchase and increased its stake in CGCL from 4.959% to 5.044%.

• CGCL is a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE).
• LIC has acquired 150000 shares (0.085%) carrying voting rights.

The first batch of three MH-60R Multi-Role Helicopters is expected to arrive in India in July 2022 in Kochi, Kerala. These three helicopters were already handed over by the United States (US) in 2021 but Indian pilots were using these helicopters for training purposes in Pensacola, San Diego and Florida of US.

• The MH-60R Multi-Role helicopters will replace Sea King 42/42A helicopters, which were decommissioned in the 1990s.
• These helicopters are expected to be deployed on indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
• In 2020, India signed a USD 2.2 billion deal for MH-60R helicopters built by Lockheed Martin during the visit of former U.S. President Donald Trump. All deliveries will be completed by 2025.

The government of Assam is set to launch a 4-year mentorship programme – “Project Arohan” – to mentor the students of Assam and to hone their skills.

• Himanta Biswa Sarma, CM of Assam, met with Anita Rajan, Chief Executive officer CEO) of Tata STRIVE, the skill development initiative of Tata Trusts, to seek cooperation for Project Arohan.

About Assam:
Governor- Prof. Jagadish Mukhi
National Park- Kaziranga National Park,
Dibru – Saikhowa National Park

New Development Bank (NBD) will become the 1st multilateral agency to open an office in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), Gujarat which will start its operation by the mid of May 2022.

• NDB also expects to partner with the newly launched National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) to support crucial infrastructure projects in India.

Nepal and India have agreed to form a Joint Hydro Development Committee during the 9th meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG, Joint Secretary level) and the Joint Steering Committee (JSC, Secretary level) on bilateral power sector cooperation in Kathmandu, Nepal on 23rd and 24th February 2022.

• The JSC meeting was co-chaired by Alok Kumar, Power Secretary, Government of India and Devendra Karki, Energy Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Government of Nepal.
• The Committee will explore the development of viable hydropower projects in Nepal with a focus on storage. The task force will have a maximum of three members from both countries.

Bharti Airtel Limited, also known as Airtel, has signed an agreement with Vodafone to purchase 4.7% equity interest in Indus Towers. The agreement has been signed on the condition that the amount paid shall be inducted by Vodafone as fresh equity in Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) and simultaneously remitted to Indus Towers to clear VIL’s outstanding dues.

• The deal is expected to be in the range of Rs 3,000 crore.

About Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel):
MD & CEO (India & South Asia)– Gopal Vittal
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi.

Israel successfully test-fired its “C-Dome or Protective Dome” naval defence system based on Iron Dome which was tested against rockets, cruise missiles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The C-Dome was successfully tested for the first time from Saar-6 Corvette INS Magen, Israel’s Naval Warship.
About The “C-Dome or Protective Dome” Missiles:

• The C-Dome is a multilayer missile defence system, alongside the Arrow and David’s Sling systems which is capable of intercepting everything from long-range missiles to short-range rockets.
• Rafael developed the Iron Dome, a mobile all-weather air defence system.
• The C-Dome has a speed of Mach 2.2 (2716.56 kmph).

The 6^th edition of the 5-day bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) namely ‘Eastern Bridge-VI’ commenced at Jodhpur Air Force Station in Rajasthan.
Objective: This exercise is an opportunity to enhance operational capability and interoperability between the two Air Forces.
Participants:

• The Indian Air Force(IAF) has deployed a fleet of Sukhoi-30MKIs, Jaguar and Mirage-2000 fighter jets for the sixth edition of the exercise ‘Eastern Bridge’.
• The Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) has deployed its F-16 jets.

The Government of India(GoI) has nominated Sanjay Malhotra, the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services(DFS), under the Ministry of Finance, as the Director of the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with effect from 16th February 2022 and until further orders.

• He has also been nominated as the Director on the central board of directors of State Bank of India (SBI), with immediate effect and until further order.
• He has served as the Chairman & Managing Director of REC Limited(formerly Rural Electrification Corporation Limited).

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has reconstituted its Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee (AIPAC), which has now 20 members and will be chaired by Infosys co-founder Nagavara Ramarao (NR) Narayana Murthy.

• The committee advises SEBI on a range of issues that impact further development of the Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) industry, and startup ecosystem in India. It also advises SEBI on issues which need to be taken up with other regulators for development of the AIF.

Note- Constituted by SEBI in 2015 with 22 members, the panel has submitted three reports on the AIF.