Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Cyclone Mandous lies over southwest Bay of Bengal, about 620 km southeast of Chennai. The storm is likely to cross the coasts of north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh between Puducherry and Sriharikota.
Under its influence, rainfall is expected over parts of coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh for two days. Red alert has already been issued for Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Notes:
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) saw a huge rise of 650 percent in value at the semi-urban and rural stores in India, according to a report by fin-tech company PayNearby.
According to the report, the demand for micro-ATMs and mPOS devices increased by 25 percent. There was sharp growth of over 200 percent in the cash collection business with a monthly average of Rs 1400 crores.

Notes:
Three Indian billionaires Gautam Adani, Shiv Nadar, and Ashok Soota find place in Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy list.
Business tycoon Gautam Adani, HCL Technologies’s Shiv Nadar, and Happiest Minds Technologies’ Ashok Soota are the three Indians in the 16th edition of the list. The list highlights individual altruists in the Asia-Pacific region who are donating from their own fortunes, and giving personal time and attention to their select causes.

Notes:
Supreme Court exempted Maharashtra’s Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) from its earlier order mandating the creation of a 1 km eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) around all protected areas in India.
It also stated that practical difficulties and ground realities will have to be taken into account before having a uniform order for creating ESZs as mandated. The Sanctuary is located in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Notes:
Haryana Government issues orders which prohibit dismissing an employee without a proper enquiry. The move comes after a recommendation of Punjab and Haryana high court which states that authorities have been ignoring the law regarding dismissal of an employee under Article 311 (2) (b) of the Constitution.
Article 311 empowers the competent authority to dismiss, remove or reduce in rank a government employee subject to various riders.

Notes:
University Grants Commission (UGC) has sought the translation of textbooks for undergraduate programmes in languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu.
UGC also constituted an apex committee to prepare the roadmap to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate courses in regional languages in disciplines including commerce, humanities, and science.

Notes:
In the 19th annual Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was ranked first for her leadership during the Ukraine war.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde came on second position while US Vice-President Kamala Harris was on third. From India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is at 36^th rank. SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, SAIL Chairperson Soma Mondal, Biocon Chair Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Nykaa CEO Falguni Nayar were on the list.

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:
Indian shuttler Anish Thoppani clinches silver medal in U-15 category at Badminton Asia Junior Championships, in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Anish lost the men’s singles final against Chinese Taipei’s Chung-Hsiang Yih to settle for silver. India’s under-17 men’s duo Arsh Mohammad and Sanskar Sraswat secured a silver medal.

Notes:
France football team entered the semifinals of the World Cup by beating England 2-1. Olivier Giroud scored in the 78th minute which helped Franc win the game.
France is also on course to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups. Kylian Mbappé is a 23 year old football player of the France team.