Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2022

Notes:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the recent attack on UN mission personnel in Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also called for an prompt investigation.
In the attack, two Indian peacekeepers were killed. In total, 177 Indian peacekeepers have made supreme sacrifice while serving in UN peacekeeping missions.

Notes:
CoWIN is being repurposed for the universal immunisation program (UIP), at present.
CoWIN head and CEO of the National Health Authority Dr. R.S. Sharma announced that the app will help in discovery of vaccination centres and reminders for subsequent vaccinations for preventable diseases for mothers and the newly born.

Notes:
Australia is the host of ‘Pitch Black’, an international Air Combat Exercise. India is set to participate in the 17-Nation Exercise.
It includes the participation of around 100 aircraft and 2,500 military personnel from 17 countries. Other participants include Australia, Canada, India, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the UAE, the UK and the US.

Notes:
Aurangabad has become the first in the country to release the Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) data from Google.
Under the EIE feature, cities measure the carbon emission sources, conduct analysis and identify strategies to reduce emissions. The EIE feature in India is only available for Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune and Aurangabad is the first city to make the transportation emissions data public.

Notes:
Recently, the Planet Earth took 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours to complete one rotation on June 29.
Scientists speculated various possible causes for time difference including ‘Chandler wobble’, a deviation of the planet’s axis of rotation. To compensate for the change, scientists monitoring atomic clocks have used the concept of ‘leap seconds’ to adjust the Universal Coordinated Time.

Notes:
The birth anniversary of Pingali Venkayya, the designer of India’s national flag, was celebrated recently. To mark the event, the Central government released a special commemorative postage stamp.
He was born in Andhra Pradesh on August 2, 1876. Pingali Venkayya designed many models of the national flag. In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi approved the design during the Indian National Congress meeting in Vijayawada.

Notes:
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently launched the Mission Bhumiputra Portal. The aim of this portal is to provide digitalized caste certificates to the students within a month.
The state government also launched Mission Basundhara in October 2021 with the aim of disposal of land-related problems.

Notes:
Lok Sabha has cleared the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021 which implements the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The amendment provides for better management of protected areas and expansion of number of species protected by the convention. CITES is an international agreement signed between governments in 1973 to ensure international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten species.

Notes:
Federal Bank has become India’s first bank to list its Payment Gateway platform on the income tax department’s TIN 2.0 platform.
The Payment Gateway enables tax payers to make their payments using modes such as credit/ debit card, UPI, NEFT/RTGS and internet banking.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) have approved the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar marketing year 2022-23 (October-September).
The decision of rising FRP to Rs 305 per quintal, will benefit around 50 million sugarcane farmers and their dependents, as well as about 500,000 workers employed in sugar mills and related activities.