Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
In the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement 2021 award list released, IIT Madras was named the most innovative educational institute of India in the technical category.
IIT-M has retained the top rank for three years in a row. Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, College of Engineering, Pune and PSG College of Technology topped in their respective categories. Under ‘non-technical institutions’, the top central universities were IGNOU and IIM, Kozhikode.

Notes:
United Nations Women recently released a new report titled ‘Women and girls left behind: Glaring gaps in pandemic responses’.
As per the report, women were less likely to receive COVID-19 relief from government. At least 29 per cent of working mothers living with children lost their jobs compared to 20 per cent of working men living with children. Single women living with children were left behind more, as per the report.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Government recently unveiled “New Policy for Women 2021”, which includes features such as compulsory martial arts training for school and college females.
It also proposes 50 additional person-days under MGNREGS for all single and women-headed households, and 33.3 percent representation in registered parties. The policy also seeks to make all modes of transportation women-friendly.

Notes:
The Indian Army has set up a ‘Quantum computing laboratory and a Centre for artificial intelligence (AI)’ at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.
The centres will carry out research in developing transformative technologies to be used by the armed forces. It has been established by the Indian Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

Notes:
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, will likely ratify its membership of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
China-backed RCEP, the world’s biggest trade association, entered into force on January 1, 2022. Seven nations in Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea ratified the pact earlier this year.

Notes:
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced concession of Rs 25 per litre on petrol and diesel prices for two-wheelers owned by the poor.
The concession will be given for 10 litres of petrol for every month. An amount of Rs 25 per litre would be transferred to the bank account of poor ration card holders.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India appointed the technical committee to look into the Pegasus malware issue.
The technical committee issued a public notice asking citizens to contact the panel if they suspected that their mobile devices are infected by Pegasus malware. The committee would request the person to allow examination of the device, if reasonable.

Notes:
Jammu and Kashmir is set to become the first Union Territory to have a district-level Good Governance Index.
The Department of administrative reforms and public grievances will carry out this task in association with the Jammu and Kashmir government. The framework will have 58 indicators to assess different aspects of development and district administration such as agriculture, commerce and industry, public safety, public health among others.

Notes:
Trinamool Congress MP Sushmita Dev is the only woman in the 31-member parliamentary panel assigned to examine the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill.
The seeks to raise the legal age of marriage for women to 21. At present, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 and for women is 18. The proposal to increase the marriage age of women was recommended by the NITI Aayog.task force headed by Jaya Jaitley.

Notes:
India is the world’s second biggest consumer country of Gold. India had a record 55.7 billion on gold imports in 2021. India bought over double the previous year’s imports The 2021 gold import bill doubled the 22 billion spent in 2020, and surpassed the previous high of 2011, of $53.9 billion. In volume terms, India imported 1,050 tonnes of gold in 2021, over 430 tonnes imported in 2020.