Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Passport Index 2022, published by Arton Capital, is the ranking of the world’s strongest and weakest passports.
India has ranked 87 in the world’s strongest passport list, while UAE ranked first, followed by Germany, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain France. While Afghanistan stood last, Pakistan stood at 94.

Notes:
Stop TB Partnership is a United Nations-hosted entity based in Geneva, Switzerland, that has a goal to end the disease by 2030.
As per the ‘Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005–2021’ report, for the first time in history, funding for tuberculosis (TB) research and development (R&D) hit a billion dollars worldwide in 2021.

Notes:
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got a vote-share close to 13% in Gujarat Elections. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) rulebook, a political party can apply to be recognised as a national party if it is ‘recognised’ in at least four states; or polled at least 6% of the total votes in any four or more states in the previous Lok Sabha or assembly election, and sent at least four MPs to the Lok Sabha in the previous Lok Sabha election; it has won at least 2% of the total seats in the Lower House, from no less than three states.

Notes:
Three medicinal plant species found in the Himalayas have been added to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Meizotropis pellita, commonly known as Patwa and endemic to Uttarakhand, has been assessed as ‘critically endangered’, Fritilloria cirrhosa as ‘vulnerable’, and Dactylorhiza hatagirea as ‘endangered’.

Notes:
Scientists working with the European Space Agency (ESA) are developing batteries made of a nuclear waste called Americium, to power space missions
The space agency expects that the technology will be developed by the end of the decade to operate space missions in the dark side of the Moon or areas far-off from the Solar System where solar power is limited.

Notes:
University Grants Commission (UGC) announced new norms for undergraduate degrees. The draft regulations are mentioned in ‘Curriculum and credit framework for four-year undergraduate programmes'(FYUP).
Under this new system students will get a UG degree in three years on completion of 120 credits and a UG honours degree in four years on completion of 160 credits.

Notes:
International Universal Health Coverage Day is observed on 12 December every year. This year’s theme is ‘Build the world we want: A healthy future for all’.
Each year, Universal Health Coverage Day calls on leaders to make smarter investments and accelerate efforts towards achieving the target of ‘Health for All’.

Notes:
The Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced that India is the largest connected nation in the world today with more than 800 million broadband users.
The announcement was made during ‘India Internet Governance Forum 2022’, held on the theme ‘Leveraging Techade for Empowering Bharat’. It is an initiative associated with the UN Internet Governance Forum (UN-IGF).

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off India’s sixth Vande Bharat Express between Bilaspur (Chattisgarh)-Nagpur (Maharashtra) route.
It will be operated by the Southeast Central Railways (SECR). The Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes with better passenger amenities. The Prime Minister also launched phase-I of the Nagpur Metro.

Notes:
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has initiated investigations into around 23,000 rupees in Goods and Services Tax evasion by gaming companies.
These companies also include online gaming companies located in India as well as in other countries.  The tax evasion is related to the period between April 2019 and November 2022.