Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The Oxford English Dictionary recently unveiled the word of the year 2022 as ‘Goblin mode’, which was selected by public votes.
According to Oxford University Press (OUP), it means ‘a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.’ The term was first used in 2009 but went viral on social media earlier this year.

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 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations organized an opening ceremony for the International Year of Millets 2023 (IYM2023) in Rome, Italy.
An Indian delegation led by Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of State, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and other senior officials were present at the opening ceremony. Raising awareness to create ‘Millet Mindfulness’ is an important part of this movement.

Notes:
Government of UT, Ladakh has approached the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) to develop Spatial Data Infrastructure geoportal ‘Geo-Ladakh’ for UT-Ladakh.
A Memorandum of Understanding was earlier signed between Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), ISRO and UT-Ladakh Administration. The portal provides geospatial data visualization and analytics for Ladakh.

Notes:
India’s largest botanical garden, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah, West Bengal, is under threat due to severe land erosion by Ganga River.
During a recent site visit, experts warned that parts of the fencing and inner plantation may get washed away by the swelling river. The garden is under the jurisdiction of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

Notes:
Sushmita Shukla, Indian-origin veteran of the insurance industry, has been appointed as First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The appointment was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System of New York. She has been appointed as First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, effective March 2023, as the second-ranking officer.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin launched sanitation workers’ development programme across the state and distributed safety equipment.
A survey will be carried out to identify sanitation workers and details will be uploaded on a mobile application. In the first phase, the scheme will be implemented in five urban local bodies and will be extended to all other local bodies.

Notes:
The 28 year old Denmark badminton player Viktor Axelsen claimed his eighth title in 2022 at the World Tour Finals.
He is the 2017 and 2022 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. Reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan defeated Tai Tzu Ying to claim the women’s singles crown. With that, Yamaguchi became the first women’s singles player since Ye Zhaoying in 1997 to claim the All England Open, World Championships and end-of-season finals all in the same year.

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.

Notes:
The Okavango delta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern African country Botswana and Murchison Falls is Uganda’s oldest and largest national park.
As per the report ‘Who is Financing Fossil Fuel Expansion in Africa?’, Oil companies are threatening these biodiversity hotspots in an effort to drill for oil, which will benefit other rich countries.