Current Affairs Quiz - April 2022

Notes:
Australia’s Victoria state will host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the multi-sport gathering for mostly former British colonies.
The four of the last five editions were held in Australia or Britain. The 2026 Games will be spread across four regional hubs in the state, in the cities of Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland. The English city of Birmingham will host the 2022 edition from July 28.

Notes:
The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced that students will now be able to pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode.
The guidelines will apply to all the programmes available across the country. Students can either choose a combination of a diploma programme and an undergraduate (UG) degree, two master’s programmes, or two bachelor’s programmes. Earlier, the UGC regulations did not allow students to pursue two full-time programmes.

Notes:
Amid growing global criticism over its zero-Covid policy, China defended its strict coronavirus measures that have resulted in hardship in several Chinese cities.
The global financial hub Shanghai is claimed to be worse hit by the strict measures. Earlier, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said Covid lockdowns have caused significant disruptions for many companies.

Notes:
The World Bank has cut India’s GDP forecast for fiscal year 2022-23 to 8% from 8.7% predicted earlier, citing worsening supply bottlenecks and rising inflation risks caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The World Bank lowered its growth estimate by a full percentage point for South Asia, excluding Afghanistan, to 6.6%. Asian Development Bank Outlook 2022 earlier said that India is estimated to have a growth rate of 7.5% for 2022-23.

Notes:
Egypt, one of the top importers of wheat from Russia and Ukraine, has approved India as a wheat supplier, as per Commerce Ministry.
This comes amid a dip in global wheat production because of the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly one-third of global wheat exports. Before the war, Egypt imported wheat worth nearly USD 2 billion from Russia and USD 611 million from Ukraine every year. Egypt imported about 1 million tonne of wheat from India.

Notes:
Vivek Johri, Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), presented a set of Time Release Studies (TRS) conducted by the department.
TRS is a performance measurement tool for assessing the cargo clearance process of the international trade, as recommended by the World Trade Organization (WTO) under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).

Notes:
Veteran economist Prabhat Patnaik has been selected for the 2022 Malcom Adiseshiah Award. The award is annually given by the Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust to an exemplary social scientist.
Prabhat Patnaik, who was born in Odisha, has taught at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. He has also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board.

 

Notes:
Alliance Air’s made-in-India Dornier 228 aircraft has taken its first commercial flight on Dibrugarh-Pasighat route.
The Dornier 228 is based on Do-228 being operated by the Indian Air Force and manufactured by HAL in India. Alliance Air to function as ‘Independent Business Unit’ and it is no longer an Air India subsidiary.

Notes:
Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) is a research organisation, functioning under Indian Railways.
Indian Railways has announced that the operation of diesel locomotives with B-5 bio-diesel have been tested by Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO). Bio-diesel may be used for running diesel locomotives in a pilot initially.

Notes:
The Karnataka State Government in association with NIMHANS and Niti Ayog launched the Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (Ka-BHI) in January.
Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa has been recently appointed as the brand ambassador for Karnataka- Brain Health Initiative (Ka-BHI). Training of doctors and preparations to start Brain Health Clinics in the three pilot hospitals has also commenced.