Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Death Penalty in India Report was released by the criminal law reforms advocacy group at the National Law University, Delhi- named Project 39A.
As per the report, the number of prisoners on death row at the end of 2021 stood at 488, the highest in 17 years. This is an increase of nearly 21% from 2020. This is also the highest the death row population has been since 2004 (563).

Notes:
Ace Tennis player Rafael Nadal created history as he won a historic 21st Grand Slam title, defeating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open.
The Spaniard became the first male tennis player to win 21 Grand Slam titles. He went ahead of Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic-both tied at 20 each. Australian retired tennis player Margaret Court won 24 Grand Slam women’s singles titles.

Notes:
The Government of India has done ‘Conversion or Switch operations’ with the Reserve Bank of India, for an amount of ₹1,19,701 crore.
The transaction involved buying back securities maturing in FY 2022-23, FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 from the Reserve Bank and issuing fresh securities for equivalent market value. This conversion will help to reduce the redemption pressure on the Government.

Notes:
Manipur got its first-ever good freight train connectivity post independence, as the first freight train arrived at the Rani Gaidinliu station of the north-eastern state.
Earlier, a passenger train from Silchar in Assam reached the Bongaichungpao railway station in Manipur. This is a part of the 111 km long Jiribam-Imphal new line project, which will connect Imphal with Guwahati.

Notes:
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) celebrated its 46th Raising Day on 1 February 2022. It is the fourth largest Coast Guard in the world with the motto of “Vayam Rakshamah” or “We Protect”.
The Indian Coast Guard was inaugurated with seven surface platforms in 1978. It is set to achieve the targeted force levels of 80 aircraft and 200 surface platforms by the year 2025.

Notes:
The government has set up a National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) to fast-track monetisation of land and non-core assets of public sector entities, as per the Economic Survey.
NLMC is being incorporated as a 100 per cent Government of India owned entity with an initial authorised share capital of Rs 5,000 crore. CPSEs have referred 3,400 acres of land and other non-core assets for monetisation, so far.

Notes:
Ministry of Commerce and Industry notified the second phase of the scheme for enhancement of competitiveness in the capital goods sector.
The scheme was notified with a financial outlay of ₹1,207 crore. It would consist of a budgetary support from the government of ₹975 crore and the rest of ₹232 crore would come through the industry contribution.

Notes:
The Union Budget announced that 2,000 km of the rail network will be brought under ‘Kavach’ technology in 2022-23.
Kavach is an indigenously developed anti-collision device (ACD) network. It is SIL4 certified which means there is a probability of a single error in 10,000 years. 400 new Vande Bharat trains will be introduced, and 100 PM Gati Shakti cargo terminals will be built in the next three years.

Notes:
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has commenced India’s first-of-its-kind project of mixing Hydrogen into Natural gas system at Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
The hydrogen blended natural gas will be supplied to Avantika Gas Limited, one of GAIL’s Joint Venture Company with HPCL, which is operating in Indore. This is a pilot project to establish the feasibility of blending hydrogen in City Gas Distribution (CGD) network.

Notes:
Researchers have recently found skeletal remains of a man buried near a headless horse. The remains have been found in Knittlingen in southern Germany.
Researchers estimate that the man and the horse must have been buried 1400 years ago when the area was ruled by Merovingian dynasty.