Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2022

Notes:
A Herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) survey was conducted simultaneously in six protected areas of areas of Munnar wildlife division.
The survey has recorded the presence of 60 species of amphibians and 74 reptiles. This was for the first time a herpetofaunal survey was carried out covering all of the protected areas.

Notes:
Martand Sun Temple is located in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) red-flagged a religious ceremony participated by the Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha.
Recently, a group of Hindu pilgrims entered its premises and held an hour-long prayer session. The site is classified as a ‘non-living’ protected monument, where no ritual can be held unless permitted.

Notes:
Indian Army and Royal Army of Oman have recently started their 13-day joint military exercise in Rajasthan, India.
The 4th edition of India-Oman joint military drill ‘AL NAJAH’ focuses on Counter Terrorism, Regional Security and Peace Keeping Operations.

Notes:
Long March is a flagship series of rockets launched by China. The ‘Long March 5B Rocket’ recently crash-landed near the Indian Ocean.
It was launched in June to deliver the solar-powered Wentian experiment module to China’s Tiangong Space Station. In a statement, NASA said that China did not share specific trajectory information as the Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth.

Notes:
Jeremy Lalrinnunga won a gold medal for India in the men’s 67kg category weight-lifting in the Commonwealth Games.
The 19-year-old athelete from Aizawl in Mizoram also created a new Commonwealth Games record in the snatch event, by picking up 140 kg. This was India’s fifth medal from the weightlifting arena including Mirabai Chanu (gold), Sanket Sargar (silver), Bidyarani Devi (silver) and Gururaj Poojary (bronze).

Notes:
As per researchers, two invasive species, the American bullfrog and brown tree snake have collectively caused USD 16.3bn in global damage between 1986 and 2020.
In addition to ecological harm, the invasive pair have also ruined farm crops and caused costly power outages. The brown tree snake caused damages by spreading uncontrollably across several Pacific islands. These findings will help officials to invest more in pest controls and bio-security measures.

Notes:
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also launched ‘Responsible AI for Youth 2022′ program, which was created by National E-Governance Division (MeitY) in collaboration with Intel India and the Ministry of Education. The program is for school students studying in classes 8-12 across India to foster a deeper understanding of AI-tech.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and IT also inaugurated the event to celebrate ‘8 Years of MyGov’ in New Delhi.

Notes:
India has added 10 more wetlands designated as Ramsar sites to make the total sites in the country to 64, covering an area of 12,50,361 hectares.
The 10 new sites include Six sites in Tamil Nadu including Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary and Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary and One each in Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

Notes:
National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) is an autonomous institution working under Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
NESTS and CBSE in collaboration with TATA trusts and other stake-holders launched Experiential Learning for 21st Century Programme for Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) Principals and Teachers virtually.

Notes:
In the recently released Fortune 500 list, State Bank of India is the only bank to be featured from India in 236^th rank. US retailer Walmart topped the 2022 list.
The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has been named for the first time in the Fortune Global 500 list at rank 98. Reliance Industries jumped 51 places to rank 104 while oil and power PSUs including IOC, ONGC, BPCL were also featured in the list. The list has nine Indian companies – five state-owned, and four from the private sector.