Current Affairs Quiz - April 2022

Notes:
During the visit of the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to India, the two countries signed a number of agreements including two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) on Nuclear Energy Partnership and Global Innovation Partnership (GIP)
The MoU on Cooperation on Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership was signed between India’s Department of Atomic Energy and its UK counterpart. MoU on GIP was signed between India’s Ministry of External Affairs and UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Notes:
Microsoft recently announced that it had disrupted cyber-attacks from a Russian nation-state hacking group called ‘Strontium’.
The Hacking Group targeted Ukrainian firms, media companies, government bodies, and think tanks in the U.S. and the EU. Apart from Microsoft, security firms, government agencies and researchers have been watching the attack group, which has been operational for over one and a half decades.

Notes:
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in association with the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) is organising Asia’s biggest international food and hospitality fair AAHAR 2022.
The fair is being organised at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. As per the Commerce and Industry Ministry, more than 80 exporters from different segments of agricultural products will participate in the fair. APEDA has created stalls for exporters from North East Region and Himalayan states, women entrepreneurs, FPOs, Start Ups and exporters of millets.

Notes:
Kerala and Netherlands have signed an MoU for the Cosmos Malabaricus project to help illustrate the history of the southern state in the 18th century.
The agreement also aims to establish paint academics at two Kerala cities: Kollam and Malappuram. The Cosmos Malabaricas project is being implemented by the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), the National Archives of the Netherlands and the University of Leiden.  It aims to make the digitised Dutch archival material accessible to international scholars and the people of Kerala.

Notes:
Tea mosquito bugs (Helopeltis antonii) have attacked acres of cashew crops in Odisha’s Ganjam District.  Climate change is one of the reasons behind the infestation.
The bug generally infected the cashew plantations in the south Indian states. The market value of the crop is substantially reduced because of its warty appearance. Odisha is the third-largest state in cashew cultivation, production and processing in the country after Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
The ‘UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)’ was created in 1999 to ensure the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. It is based at Geneva, Switzerland.
UNDRR released the Global Assessment Report (GAR 2022) ahead of the Global Assessment Report (GAR 2022). As per the report, the world will face around 560 disasters every year by 2030. This is five times higher than the previous three decades. The rise in the disaster frequency can be attributed to climate change and inadequate risk management.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) organises the World Immunization Week between 24-30 April, every year.
As per the WHO, Increasing awareness about vaccines and closing immunization gaps could protect millions of people worldwide from vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio. After global efforts, there were just six cases of polio caused by the wild poliovirus in 2021.

Notes:
The Centre announced that the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the Kharif season (April-September, 2022) will be Rs 60,939 crore.
This is against Rs 57,150 crore for the whole of last year. Last year’s NBS subsidy included Rs 28,495 crore for the Kharif and Rs 28,655 crore for the Rabi season. The increase will protect farmers from the prices of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and other non-urea nutrients in the global markets.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved an additional funding of Rs 820 crore for India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) for expansion of its services to all post offices in the country.
Out of the 1.56 lakh post offices, IPPB currently operates from 1.3 lakh post offices. Since the launch, it has opened over 5.25 crore accounts with 82 crore aggregate number of transactions. The Cabinet has approved a future fund infusion worth Rs 500 crore for meeting regulatory requirements and technological upgradation.

Notes:
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) is an autonomous body under Ministry of Education. The Education Ministry has scrapped quotas in several categories including that of Ministry of Education, Sponsoring Agency, MPs, and District Magistrate (DM) for admissions to Kendriya Vidyalayas. It will free up about 40,000 seats in KVs across the country.
Earlier, the KVS had put on hold all discretionary quotas for admissions to KV schools across the country, following a review of KVS functioning was carried out by the Education Minister and Chairman KVS Dharmendra Pradhan.