Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Yoginder K Alagh, a veteran economist and former Union minister, reecntly passed away at the age of 83.
He was the Union minister of state for Planning and Programme Implementation, Science and Technology and Power during 1996-98. He also served as the Vice Chancellor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Notes:
According to a recent clarification, the Central Government will allow a consortium of foreign funds and investment companies to own over 51% in IDBI Bank Ltd.
As per the current Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules, foreign ownership is restricted in new private banks. At present, the government and the Life Insurance Corporation of India hold 94.71% in IDBI Bank and are looking to sell 60.72%.

Notes:
The World Bank recently released a report titled ‘Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector’.
The report was released during the two-day ‘India Climate and Development Partners’ Meet’ being organised by World Bank in partnership with the Kerala government. As per the report, the country is experiencing higher temperatures that arrive earlier and stay far longer. India could become one of the first places in the world to experience heat waves that break the human survivability limit.

Notes:
At least six children have died of a common bacterial infection, Strep A, in the United Kingdom. When the bacteria enter the bloodstream, the infection can get severe and it is called invasive Group A Strep (iGAS).
The symptoms of Strep A include fever, skin rashes and a sore easily treated with antibiotics. As many as 851 cases of Strep A were reported in a week of November, compared to an average of 186 for the same time in preceding years

Notes:
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has been named as the 2022 person of the year by Time magazine.
The Times cited that the President has put up a feisty resistance against the Russian invasion for nearly a year now. Zelensky shares the 2022 title with the spirit of Ukraine. When Russia declared war against its neighbour, Zelensky announced his decision to stay in Kyiv and rally his country.

Notes:
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will launch India’s first-ever surety bonds insurance product to boost liquidity in the infrastructure sector, as per Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
The surety bonds will help in boosting the liquidity in the infrastructure sector by providing relief to the contractors’ working capital stuck in bank guarantees.

Notes:
A Gender Toolkit based on ‘Enabling gender responsive urban mobility and public spaces’ was launched by Greater Chennai Corporation.
The toolkit was launched at a session conducted by the World Bank and the Chennai Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority.  It aims to highlight the gender issues surrounding mobility and city design.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Researchers have developed an ‘Ocean Wave Energy Converter’ that can generate electricity from sea waves.
The Device was deployed at a location about 6 KM off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. The device targets generating 1MW of power from ocean waves in the next three years.

Notes:
UN General Assembly declared 2002 as the UN International Year of Mountains and designated 11 December, as “International Mountain Day” from 2003 onwards.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the coordinating agency for this celebration (IMD). ‘Women Move Mountains’ is the theme of this year’s International Mountain Day. International Mountain Day 2022 raises awareness about the need to empower mountain women.

Notes:
The International Day of Neutrality is commemorated on December 12. The day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, to focus on advocating and campaigning for intra-state peaceful relations.
The United Nations focuses on Preventive diplomacy, which is the diplomatic action taken to prevent disputes from escalating into conflicts, as well as limiting the spread of conflicts; as well as mediating in inter and intra-state conflicts at all stages, and peacekeeping.